The Stanford Prison Experiment

Do you think that your behaviour is affected by your surroundings? If yes, do you wonder how your environment might be affecting your behaviour? The Stanford Prison experiment was conducted in August 1971 to find out the answer to a similar question. It was reported that the prison guards in America were exhibiting brutality. Philip Zimbardo and his colleagues were thus intrigued to find out whether this behaviour was a result of disposition (the sadistic personality of the guards, or a personality that opposed that of the prisoners) or if it was because of the situation (being present in a prison environment). Before experimenting, Zimbardo predicted that the situation was responsible for shaping the behaviour of these guards. Further, his decision to experiment was based on his will to expand on Stanley Milgram’s research. Milgram was a former classmate of Zimbardo, and is famous for his ‘Obedience Experiment’.

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Zimbardo was a psychology professor at Stanford University. After receiving permission to perform his experiment from the university, he gathered participants from the local community by offering $15 per day to male students. Through his ad in the newspapers, Zimbardo looked for volunteers to participate in the “psychological study of prison life”. This article explores the path that this 2-week simulation took, while also looking into the findings of the experiment that Philip Zimbardo is famous for.

How was it Conducted?

Before the commencement of the experiment, participants had to be chosen from 75 respondents. To choose the final 24, Zimbardo conducted assessments and interviews that deemed them physically and mentally healthy. None of the participants knew each other before the experiment. These participants were then randomly assigned as prisoners or prison guards. The guards were provided with uniforms and were instructed to prevent prisoners from escaping during the experiment. While the prisoners were to stay at the simulated set-up 24/7, guards were divided into teams of three, each working eight-hour shifts, after which they could go back to their homes.

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Experiment Setup:

• The prison set-up consisted of prison cells that were 6x9ft. Each cell held three prisoners, for whom three cots were arranged.
• Rooms across from these prison cells were designated for the guards and prison warden.
• A small space in the set-up was used as a solitary confinement room.
• Another such room was used as the prison yard.
• Hidden phones and cameras were used to observe the behaviour of the prisoners and the guards.

Procedure:

The experiment officially began when real police officers from Palo Alto arrested the prisoners from their own homes without warning. They were also photographed, fingerprinted and booked to make the situation more real. These ‘prisoners’ were blindfolded and taken to Stanford’s Department of Psychology, where the basement was set up as the prison.

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The officers handed them over to the experimenters at the set-up that resembled a prison. Upon their arrival, the prisoners were stripped and deloused. Their possessions were taken away, and they were given prison clothes to set them apart and deindividuate them. In an attempt to stimulate an oppressive environment faster, they were also made to wear padlocks around their ankles with chains. They were also made to wear a tight nylon cap that covered their hair and were not given any underclothes. They were dehumanized and made anonymous, only being referred to by their allotted numbers.

On day 2 of the experiment, the prisoners staged a revolt. The guards reacted to this by setting up a system of rewards and punishments. To make the situation more realistic, Zimbardo invited a Catholic Priest to the set-up on one of the days. Having been a prison chaplain himself, he informed the prisoners that they could only get out with the help of a lawyer. Over the days, the behavioural patterns of the prisoners and guards were noted by the experimenter to reach conclusions regarding the experiment.

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How did it Come to an End?

The experiment, which was originally set for two weeks was halted after six days itself. Three prisoners were released within the first four days of the experiment due to immense trauma. However, the experiment continued. The set-up resulted in disturbing changes in the guards’ and prisoners’ attitudes. Christina Maslach, a psychologist who visited and evaluated the conditions of the experimental setup, was shocked by the behaviour of the participants. Although close to 50 outsiders had visited by then, she was the only one to object to the experiment and question its ethics. After she confronted Zimbardo about the situation, he came to realize that he was not a prison superintendent, and was prompted to end the experiment early.

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Experiment Findings:

It did not take long before the situation became extreme. Within just hours since the experiment began, the guards had started to harass the prisoners. Prisoners, due to the experiment, became disoriented and depressed. The guards, on the other hand, became cruel and oppressive, taking advantage of their authority in the situation. The prisoners in the experiment behaved like real prison mates, who complained about each other to the guards. They also talked about issues in the prison a lot.

On the second day of the experiment, the prisoners revolted by removing their caps, ripping their numbers, and blocking the cell doors with their beds. The guards tackled this attempt of rebellion by releasing carbon dioxide in the cells using fire extinguishers to get the prisoners away from the door. Then, these prisoners were stripped naked and placed into solitary confinement.

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After this incident, the guards became more brutal towards the prisoners. Punishments induced by the guards, such as doing pushups, made the prisoners take the rules and regulations very seriously. Those prisoners who were least involved in rebelling were given special privileges, such as being allowed to brush their teeth or wash their hair. Over the days, the guards gained more control, whereas the prisoners became submissive. This only got worse as time passed.

During the experiment, the guards arranged a visiting hour for the parents and friends of the prisoners. However, they were worried that the state in which the prisoners were kept would make the parents take them home. So, the guards made these prisoners clean their cells, take a bath, play music for them, and feed them a big dinner.

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After the visit, a rumour of a mass escape broke out. The worried guards and experimenters tried to get help from the Palo Alto police department. The guards became harsh with the prisoners again, making them do tedious and lowly tasks such as cleaning the toilets with bare hands. During the Catholic priest’s visit, most of the prisoners introduced themselves using their assigned numbers, rather than their names.

For Some, Six Days Was Also Too Much:

While this experiment ended after six days, it was still unbearable for a few prisoners. Prisoner

#8612 was one of them, and suffered from acute emotional disturbance, uncontrollable crying, rage, and disorganized thinking, less than 36 hours into the experiment. After a meeting with the guards, he seemed as if he was going crazy, and the psychologists were forced to let him go. Another incident occurred with Prisoner #819 during the priest’s visit. Just like the two other prisoners released, he began crying hysterically. While the psychologists removed his cap and chain to let him rest in another room, one of the guards lined up the other prisoners. They were made to chant the following: “Prisoner #819 is a bad prisoner. Because of what Prisoner #819 did, my cell is a mess, Mr. Correctional Officer.”

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Upon realizing that he could hear this, the psychologists checked on the prisoner in question and found him sobbing again. He believed that he was a bad prisoner because the others had labelled him that. He had to be brought back to reality by telling him his real name, and a few more details before he was also let go.

Philip Zimbardo explained the final submission of the prisoner through two concepts. Deindividuation lets the prisoners submerge in norms, forgetting their sense of self. Learned helplessness, on the other hand, convinced them that their actions had little effect on what happened to them. The unpredictability of the guards’ actions makes the prisoners more submissive. At the end of the experiment, the participants said that the research setup had felt real to them. Both the prisoners and the guards were surprised at their reactions and attitudes in the situation.

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The Stanford Prison Experiment (SPE) has raised many ethical concerns over time. The ethics taken into consideration were questioned by many. SPE is one of those experiments that led to the ethical guidelines for experiments that included human subjects much more strictly. The experiment was looked down upon since it was continued even after participants expressed their desire to withdraw. The validity and reliability of the SPE were further questioned since Zimbardo had published the experiment in the International Journal of Criminology and Penology (IJCP), the New York Times Magazine, etc, before publishing through peer-reviewed journals.