Stanford Prison Experiment

Why did Zimbardo choose a prison?

A scenario in which there was:

• difference in power roles and rules
• a situation that would generally offend or horrify anyone
• Group identity

A prison would follow all of these preconditions

I had been conducting research for some years on the loss of individuality, vandalism and dehumanization that illustrated the ease with which ordinary people could be led to engage in anti-social acts by putting them in situations where they felt anonymous, or they could perceive of others in ways that made them less than human, as enemies or objects,"

What did the prison look like?

• 35 foot section of a basement of Jordan Hall
• 2 fabricated walls
• one at the entrance
• one at the cell wall to block observation.

- The corridor became "The Yard"

- At the end of the hallway there was a bathroom

- a small closet became "The Hole", or solitary confininment

- There were no windows or clocks so the prisoners were unable to tell the pass of time

- The guards were given rest and relaxation areas

- The role of superintendent was given to Zimbardo

Supervision

- An intercom system allowed them to secretly bug the cells

- At one end of the hall there was a small opening through which the experiment was recorded and videotaped

and monitor what the prisoners discussed

The day before the arrival

• The police guards had an orientation session

"they can create in the prisoners feelings of boredom, a sense of fear to some degree, you can create a notion of arbitrariness that their life is totally controlled by us, by the system, you, me, and they'll have no privacy ... We're going to take away their individuality in various ways. In general what all this leads to is a sense of powerlessness. That is, in this situation we'll have all the power and they'll have none."

• They would work in teams of 3 for 8 hour shifts

Arrival

- The prisoners were picked up at their houses and "charged" then they were taken to the "Stanford County Jail", where they were processed

- One by one they were taken to the fake jail, where they were greeted by the warden

- The prisoners were already in a state of mild shock

- The police guards were given:

- wooden batons to institute their superior status

- clothes that resembled that of an actual prison guard

- mirrored sunglasses

- On the other hand prisoners wore a dress with the number of the prisoner

Day #1

• Unlike in the first uneventful day, in the second day the prisoners organized a rebellion
• When the morning guards came and saw the problem they insisted on calling reinforcements, the night shift guards stayed and the three extra guards came
• The were able to quell the rebellion and to prevent any other uprisings, they gave three prisoners privileges, like having their bed and uniforms back

Day #1

- After half a day with this treatment, the guards changed the "good" prisoners and put them in non-privileged cells

- Further confusing the prisoners by making them think there were informants among them

- Contrarily this created greater solidarity among the guards, suddenly it was no longer just an experiment, the guards saw the prisoners as dangerous troublemakers who were "out to get them"

- Consequently the guards began stepping up their

control, surveillance and aggression

- They were specially tough on the ringleader #5401.

Day #2

- The second day, prisoner #8613 began suffering from acute emotional disturbance, disorganized thinking, uncontrollable crying, and rage. Zimbardo and the guards thought he was trying to trick them to leave the prison.

- He understood that they weren't letting him leave and told the rest of the prisoners so, this sent a chilling message and made the prison seem more as a prison than an experiment

- Soon prisoner #8613 started acting "crazy" again, Zimbardo finally accepted that he was really suffering and released him

Day #3

- Visiting day

- The parents complained about the strict rules, however they complied with them

- And so they, too, became bit players in the prison drama, being good middle-class adults.

DAY #3

The parents of an inmate got upset when they saw how fatigued and distressed their son was. But their reaction was to work within the system to appeal privately to the Superintendent to make conditions better for their boy. When one mother told me she had never seen her son looking so bad, I responded by shifting the blame from the situation to her son. "What's the matter with your boy? Doesn't he sleep well?" Then I asked the father, "Don't you think your boy can handle this?"

He bristled, "Of course he can – he's a real tough kid, a leader." Turning to the mother, he said, "Come on Honey, we've wasted enough time already." And to me, "See you again at the next visiting time."

Day #4

- On day number 4 Zimbardo heard rumors that the prisoner who had left on the second day was coming back to break out the rest of the prisoners. However, it ended up not happening. The guards took out their anger on the prisoners.

Day #5

"Son, what are you doing to get out of here?"

- Priest visit

- The priest met with each prisoner individually

- The visit further blurred the line between role-playing and reality.

- The only prisoner who did not want to speak to the priest was Prisoner #819, who was feeling sick

- When Zimbardo returned he found a boy crying uncontrollably in the corner of the room, eventually the boy accepted it and quit the experiment

Day #6

- All prisoners who thought they had grounds for being paroled were chained together and individually brought before the Parole Board

- The board was made up of people who were strangers to the prisoners

- In the parole hearing 2 remarkable things happened

- 1. when he asked the prisoners if they would forfeit the money they had earned in exchange for the leave the experiment, most said yes.

- 2. When he told the prisoners to go back to their cells, they obeyed, even though they could have just quit the experiment there and then

Day #6

Why did they go back to their cells?- Zimbardo

Their sense of reality had shifted, and they no longer perceived their imprisonment as an experiment. In the psychological prison we had created, only the correctional staff had the power to grant paroles

1st type of guards

1

The "tough but fair" guards that followed the prison rules

2nd type of guards

2

the "good" guards who did little favors for the prisoners and never punished them

3rd type of guards

3

the "hostile" guards, who were arbitrary and inventive in their forms of prisoner humiliation, they seemed to enjoy the power they had and tended to abuse it, however none of the personality tests done before the experiment were able to predict their behavior