Stanford Prison Experiment

[Teacher]

Do we always adapt to the circumstances?

Our behavior is determined by conditions

(circumstances) in which we find ourselves.

Today we are going to talk about a tricky experiment. The Stanford Prison Experiment is one of the most famous. The experiment was run by the American psychologist Philip Zimbardo. The purpose of the experiment is to investigate the psychological reactions of a person to the restriction of freedom, in conditions of confinement (prison life) and the assignment of certain roles to the participants. In other words, Zimbardo studied human behavior. In this experiment, he proved that when gaining power, a person will dominate those who are lower in status and, possibly, show aggression and cruel treatment towards him.

However, this is not an easy experiment. And now we will get to know him a little closer.

To recruit people, Zimbardo and his team posted an ad in the newspaper. More than 70 people responded to the ad. All passed diagnostic interviews, personality tests, in order to exclude candidates with psychological and medical disabilities or a history of crime or drug abuse. As a result, 24 people remained (all men). By "flipping a coin", that is, randomly dividing the group into 12 guards and 12 prisoners.

The experiment was supposed to last 14 days, and ended at 6.

The very place where the experiment was carried out - corridors in the basement of the building of the psychology department of Stanford University. The corridor served as a courtyard where people were allowed to walk, eat, exercise. The laboratory auditoriums of the university served as cameras. The only thing that was replaced was the doors to these cells - they installed doors with steel bars.

It all started on a quiet Sunday morning ...

To make the experiment look more believable, all people (participants) were sent home and told to wait. It all started on a quiet Sunday morning. The guards were simply invited to the "prison", and a police car arrived at the prisoners, the policeman read out the rights, voiced the article according to which the participant was taken away. So that the prisoners did not know where the prison was and did not try to escape, they were taken with their eyes closed. When they were brought to the place, they carried out a complete sanitization (as in a regular prison), the blindfold was removed only in the cell. The only thing they didn't do was shave their heads. I would like to note that a hairstyle is a manifestation of oneself, distinguishing oneself from others, a hairstyle can even be a protest to something. Since this is not a real prison, but an experiment, it was decided not to shave off the hair, but to put on a special net on the head, which completely hides the hair, the prisoners were also exposed in special "robes" and assigned a number to each. There was a heavy chain on the right ankle, which was worn with bolts all the time. The shoes were rubber sandals. This is necessary in order to quickly create similar effects as in a real prison. This is partly intended to minimize the individuality of each member, as mentioned above, some people express their individuality through hair or length. In doing so, it is a way to get people to start complying with the coercive rules of the experiment. to minimize the individuality of each member, as stated above, some people express their individuality through hair or length. That being said, it is a way to get people to start complying with the coercive rules of the experiment. to minimize the individuality of each member, as stated above, some people express their individuality through hair or length. That being said, it is a way to get people to start complying with the coercive rules of the experiment.

The guards did not receive special training on how to be guards. Instead, they were relatively free. They were allowed to do what they thought was necessary to maintain law and order in the prison and ensure the respect of the prisoners. It should be noted that they were forbidden to use physical force against prisoners.

The guards also wore the same khaki uniforms, wore a whistle around their necks and a baton borrowed from the police, and dark sunglasses to hide their eyes from inmates.

Zimbardo made the following statement to the guards at the meeting:

“Create in the prisoners a sense of longing, a sense of fear, a sense of arbitrariness, that their life is completely controlled by us, the system, you, me, and they have no personal space ... We will take away their individuality in different ways. All this together will create a feeling of powerlessness in them. It means that in this situation we will have all the power, but they will have none. "

So, the experiment itself.

The experiment ended earlier than expected. The experiment is out of control. The guards quickly sensed power. The prisoners began to experience the abusive and sadistic attitude of the guards. Most of the inmates had severe emotional distress upon completion.

The first day was relatively calm. But the guards felt too much of their power and began to communicate rudely with the prisoners. On the second day, a riot began. The guards worked in shifts, so some went out overtime and on their own. The prisoners were forced to do push-ups at night, to sit for offenses in a cramped solitary confinement cell, which served as a small closet, in which there is only an opportunity to sit or stand. The guards calmly broke into the cells, could force them to strip naked, intimidate the prisoners, play them off and divide them among themselves. Even going to the toilet became a privilege.

Less than 36 hours later, one of the inmates began to suffer from emotional distress. The organizers began to think like the real prison authorities. They thought that he was deceiving them, that he was feigning.

Completion of the experiment

Zimbardo ended the study prematurely for two reasons.

First, they learned through videotapes that the guards escalate the mistreatment of prisoners in the middle of the night when they think that none of the researchers is watching and the experiment is turned off.

Secondly, Christina Maslach, who recently received her Ph.D. from Stanford. Brought to conduct interviews with guards and prisoners, she strongly objected when she saw prisoners marching in the toilet, running around, shackled hand and foot between themselves. She was furious and said, "It's scary what you are doing with these boys!" Of the 50 or more outsiders who saw the prison, she was the only one who questioned the morality of the prison. However, after confronting the force of the situation, it became clear that the research should be stopped.

And so, just six days later, the planned two-week prison simulation was canceled.

One French writer Thibault Le Texier wrote that this experiment removes guilt from the participants, saying that the guards are not aggressive and inherently good people, it was the environment that made them behave that way. In fact, to some extent he is right, because there is bullying among the participants in the experiment. However, we can manage the situation (in most cases) in which we find ourselves. In this case, the work of not one person is important, but people in general.

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