Stanford Prison Experiment Philip Zimbardo

The Stanford Prison Experiment is a well known experiment. It was lead by Philip Zimbardo in 1971 at Stanford University. The experiment was titled A Study of Prisoners and Guards in a Simulated Prison. It was conducted to prove that when in a setting such as prison, guards will fall into roles that would fit their title rather than a role that would follow their personal morals or beliefs. On the other hand, the prisoners were expected to show how someone would act when they have nothing and are stripped of their personal identity with almost all rights taken away. The fact that the results of this experiment are still talked about today proves that it was a fundamental view on how correctional facilities are conducted today. Despite that

The method chosen for conducting such an experiment was to construct a fake correctional facility in the basement of Stanford University. To be in the experiment, Zimbardo offered participants $15 dollars a day for up to two weeks. They selected 24 of the most mentally and physically stable subjects. They were divided evenly and randomly in two groups: guards and prisoners. The guards were given uniforms similar military clothing, wooden batons, whistles, and mirrored shades. The shades made eye contact inaccessible for anyone interacting with the guards. Zimbardo acted as the warden of the prison. The only rule instructed by him was that no physical harm was to come to the prisoners. The prisoners were provided prison outfits, a mattress, tooth brush, bar of soap and metal necklaces with an identity number that they were instructed to answer by only. The prisoners were told to wait at home until called in for the experiment. Their homes were then raided and they were arrested by police and convicted of armed robbery. They were stripped, fingerprinted, and escorted to the prison like someone would be

There were rebellions against the constant surveillance, oppression, and invasion of privacy such as refusing to eat, being “sick” to require attention, direct force, setting up a grievance committee. There was a loss of personal identity within the prisoners. When surrounded by others who are dressed exactly alike, and given only a number to be referred to as there is no self identity. During the Stanford Prison Experiment the prisoners were given the opportunity to give up their payment and leave, “One of the most remarkable incidents of the study occurred during a parole board hearing when each of five prisoners eligible for parole was asked by the senior author whether he would be willing to forfeit all the money earned as a prisoner if he were to be paroled (released from the study) Three of the prisoners said ‘yes,’ they would be willing to do this. Notice that the original incentive for participating in the study had been the promise of money, and they were, after only four days prepared to give this up completely. and, more surprisingly when told that this possibility would have to discussed with with the members of the staff before a decision could be made, each prisoner got up quietly and was escorted back to his cell.” (Craig Haney, Curtis Banks, and Philip Zimbardo, page 13, paragraph 2) The prisoners were so