In the Stanford Prison Experiment (1971) Professor Philip Zimbardo made the basement of Jordan Hall at Stanford into a make-believe prison. The students who signed up to take part were divided by chance into guards and prisoners. The experiment was to last 14 days, but was stopped after only six days when it became a bit too Abu Ghraib.
Even though everyone knew the whole thing was make believe, the “guards” and “prisoners” started to take the thing too seriously and acted like they were, in fact, guards and prisoners. Even Zimbardo himself, who acted as the head of the prison, lost all sense of proportion. It was not until his girlfriend came to visit and was sickened by what she saw that the thing was called off.
In fact, of the 50 people in the outside world who knew about it, Zimbardo’s girlfriend was the only one who raised any moral concerns: that young men who had done nothing wrong were suffering in the name of science.
Stanley Milgram, a friend of Zimbardo’s, had done the Milgram Experiment ten years before. He found out that most people will hurt a complete stranger if someone in authority tells them to do it in the name of science. When they are told, “The experiment requires that you continue,” most throw their conscience out the window.
The students who took part in the prison were paid – for them it was a quick way to make some money over the summer. And, like with the Milgram Experiment, they thought they were helping a professor in the name of science.
The first day was quiet. But then on the second day the prisoners rose up against the guards. The guards then turned on them. Not allowed to use violence, the guards tried to break their spirits. For days it went on like that, back and forth, each trying to gain the upper hand. But then the spirits of the prisoners began to break one by one.
Once the guards gained the upper hand, all power fell into their hands. The prisoners were powerless. Both sides began to believe that it was just, as cruel as the guards were.
Not all the guards were cruel, only about a third of them. But the “good” guards would not stand up to the evil ones. And so evil took over. It became the new moral order. Even to Zimbardo.
But, as interesting as it is, it is more a “Lord of the Flies” tale, not true science: it cannot be repeated over and over again with the same outcome.
In 2003 Haslam and Reicher in Britain repeated the experiment, as much of it as they morally could. Part of it was seen on the BBC as “The Experiment”. This prison did not lose its sense of make believe so quickly. That made it hard for the guards to exercise power, so the prisoners broke free. It seems that what made the Zimbardo prison so evil was Zimbardo himself and how he led it.
– Abagond, 2008.
See also:
- The Milgram Experiment
- Orwell
- white patriotism
- Cindy McCain: always proud of her country
- Hitler
- whites-only proms – throwing conscience out the door
- The blue-eyed/brown-eyed exercise
Given the right circumstances, I believe many people succumb to evil but it is only the lucky few who recognize something is wrong and only a handful who do something about it.
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Your last sentence made me think about the nature of power structures…as a psych major, it’s one of the most important experiments in the discipline
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Perhaps this experiment should be a requirement for acceptance with law enforcement agencies. It explains why some officers cannot be trusted with tasers.
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An old friend of mine, who has been a prison guard for some 20 years or so, offered Me a chance onetime, of becoming a Guard. I was currently out of work, and a veteran too, so he told me that the chances were good, for My success.
One of his first attempts to convince Me to do this, involved him, telling Me how to treat prisoners.
I had asked about having friends who were prisoners…Knowing his past, I knew some distant family friends who went to prison, that he knew of.
Anyhow, he said, that automatically, EVERY prisoner, is to be treated like garbage.
They are prisoners and that if they were not guilty, they would not be there.
So, I guess, basically, there was NO making friends of the prisoners! Even if they are a distant relative or even friends before hand.
Its funny, and disturbing, how society and certain customs, can have such a negative effect.
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This hit the nail on the head in regards to the prison dynamic in many cases. Many feel that they have to dehumanize the inmates in order to work in these types of jobs. they don’t. By doing so you only dehumanize yourself.
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its really happening, I was stuck in jail with no charges for four months, the guards acted like animals…everyone involved in the situation was receiving a govt/state salary benefits and pension so nobody gave a damn why you were being held….elderly women in there too, severely mistreated. No one is interested in investigating or fixing this situation at all. Wyatt Earp syndrome, as one former prison guard said…DO NOT CONFUSE POWER WITH AUTHORITY….too many people who were simply born inside the borders have been given jobs that give them power, …..yet they didnt study hard enough to light up tehir brains sufficiently to be able to make a discerning decision regarding the use of that authority…and POWER CORRUPTS ABSOLUTELY>…
Watch the film The Wave, the german version. its the most disturbing thing i had ever seen, but somewhat prepared me for the morons i had to deal with draggin me around jails and thru a system that has no benefit except jobs for those who were born inside the borders and have not the intellect to do anything else…
what will happen when they take away birthright? Anyone of you could find yourself losing your life/freedom because your grandmother wasnt born here…where does it end? Treblinka, Auschwitz? There are very few people like me who have seen it up close like i have. Its real, and its happening…but as Nietsche said, if it aint happening to you, it dont matter, right?
Most americans wont get off the couch until the oil is lapping up against it…sad, but already true.
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oh, and btw, i was never illegal. there were born here us citizens in the jail, but no one would do anything about it. YOU DIE IN THERE. There are no records kept, and I cant trace ahardly anyone who was in there…MCHENRY COUNTY IL etc…
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IT WAS 40-YRS AGO TODAY… join Dr. Zimbardo in an intimate and exclusive retelling of the Stanford Prison Experiment across the course of the next six days at https://www.facebook.com/hipcommunity.
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