Level 6 Unit 3 Part 3 Listening: Prison Experiment 1

In 1971, psychologists created one of the most important experiments in the history of psychology.

The experiment, known as the Stanford Prison Experiment, looked at the impact of situations on human behavior.

The researchers, led by Philip Zimbardo, wanted to know how situations could affect how people behave.

In particular, they wanted to know if good people would change their personalities and lose their values.

In the experiment, participants were divided into two groups.

One group became prison guards and the other group became prison inmates.

The experiment was set up in Stanford University’s psychology building.

A group of 24 students was chosen to play the roles, 12 guards and 12 prisoners.

The students came from a large group of volunteers who wanted to participate in a psychology experiment.

Those who were chosen had no criminal background and had no significant medical or psychological problems.

They agreed to participate in the experiment for one to two weeks’ period.

The prisoners had to remain in prison 24 hours a day during the experiment.

Guards worked in teams of three and were assigned to work in eight-hour shifts.

Unlike the prisoners, they were free to return to their homes between shifts.

Hidden cameras and microphones were used to observe the behaviors of both the prisoners and guards.

The simulated prison including three small prison cells, six feet by nine feet.

Each cell had three small beds and held three prisoners.

There was also a closet that served as a solitary confinement room.

This was used to isolate prisoners who needed to be punished for bad behavior.

Guards were instructed not to physically harm the prisoners in any way.

Prisoners were to be addressed by their assigned numbers and never by name.

To prevent eye contact with the prisoners, guards wore mirrored sunglasses.

This was done to dehumanize the relationship between guards and prisoners.

Level 6 Unit 3 Part 3 Listening: Prison Experiment 2

Though the experiment was designed to last for 14 days, it had to be stopped after just six days.

It had to be stopped because of what was happening to the participants.

The interactions between the prisoners and guards had become hostile and degrading.

The guards had become aggressive and brutal, and the prisoners were passive and depressed.

As a result, five of the prisoners had to be released early because of the severe negative emotions.

Even the researchers were affected, and they began to overlook what was happening.

Instead of halting the experiment, they let it continue.

They themselves had become dehumanized by the situation they had designed.

Finally, they realized that the experiment had to be stopped.

What the experiment demonstrates is the powerful effect that situations can have on human behavior.

Given a position of power, people can begin to behave differently than they normally would.

They can begin to behave in an aggressive manner while those with no power can become passive and depressed.

In other words, the experiment shows that situations can cause abuse of behavior.

There are some important criticisms of this experiment.

One criticism is that it is an example of unethical research.

It went on longer than it should have.

It is also unrepresentative since the participants were mostly white, middle-class males.

Despite the criticism, the experiment remains an important study of human behavior.

Recent examples of the Stanford Effect may include the treatment of prisoners of war by American soldiers in the Iraq war.

Other possible examples including bullying at school and gang behavior.

According to the head researcher, Philip Zimbardo, it helps to explain how ordinary people sometimes turn evil.

If situations do influence people behavior, then managing situations can be a way of controlling people.