Skip to content

featuring historical research, writing, and media at st. mary's university

  • World History

    World History

    Menu
    • World History
    • Pre-Classical History (to 600 BCE)
    • Classical History (600 BCE-600 CE)
    • Post-Classical History (600 CE-1492 CE)
    • Early Modern History (1492-1789)
    • Modern History (1789-1914)
    • Global History (1900-present)

    From the Ancient World

    The Battle of Zama: Rome's Vengeance

    Posted by Davis Nickle12/01/2020

    From the Modern World

    The Holy See Takes On The Fight Against Climate Change

    Posted by Victor Rodriguez11/30/2020

    Regional Histories

    Menu
    • African and African American Studies
    • Latin American Studies
  • US History

    Early America

    Menu
    • US-Three Worlds Meet (to 1620)
    • US-Colonization and Settlement (1585-1763)
    • US-Revolution and the New Nation (1754-1820s)
    • US-Expansion and Reform (1801-1861)
    • US-Civil War & Reconstruction (1850-1877)

    Diferencias Generacionales en el Aprendizaje de una Segunda Lengua

    Posted by Monserrat Silva Urbina12/02/2020

    Breaking Silence or Just Speaking Louder?: The Story of Larry Nassar and his 499 Victims

    Posted by Paola Arellano04/07/2019

    From Child to Commodore: How Cornelius Vanderbilt Became The Commodore

    Posted by Aaron Sandoval05/04/2020

    Segregation and Activism: Then and Now on the Eastside

    Posted by Shine Trabucco06/10/2019

    ¿Inglés sin barreras? Cómo Contribuye el Lenguaje de Internet a la Brecha Digital

    Posted by Felicia Cruz11/10/2020

    Trump vs The Vote: What Really Happened in the 2016 Election?

    Posted by Kendall Guajardo11/30/2020

    Hope and Grief: Robert Kennedy's Speech on the night of Dr. King's Assassination

    Posted by Matthew Swaykus05/12/2019

    Creating a Monster: Richard Ramirez, The Night Stalker

    Posted by Claudia Sanchez05/08/2019

    La práctica hace al maestro: Lo difícil que es mantener ser bilingüe

    Posted by Alexandra Cantu11/24/2020

    Diabetes: Don't Sugarcoat It

    Posted by Pablo Medina11/14/2019

    ¡Si, Se Puede! – Collective Organizing, Unions, and Non Violent Protests

    Posted by Eric Grant11/19/2020

    Innovations From NASA's X-15 Program

    Posted by Nathaniel Bielawski04/21/2020

    The Miracle on the Hudson: The 208 Seconds That Defined Captain "Sully" Sullenberger's Career

    Posted by Emmett Pena11/19/2020

    Quiet Man On the Run: The Story of Frank Abagnale, World-Renound Con-Artist

    Posted by Lilia Seijas11/01/2019

    Selena Gomez: Her Life Behind the Scenes

    Posted by Judy Reyes12/06/2019

    The Exorcism of Roland Doe

    Posted by Mitchell Yocham12/05/2019

    Big Nosed Kate - An Outlaw's Nightmare?

    Posted by Cameron Lopez04/04/2019

    Fyre Festival: Trouble in Paradise

    Posted by Chelsea Alvarez05/12/2019

    Holly Ordway: Finding Her Way To Christ's Arms

    Posted by Samantha Bonillas11/15/2019

    “Find a miracle, hold onto it, and keep going.” The Story of Elizabeth Smart

    Posted by Mia Hernandez11/07/2020

    How the Soviet Union Compelled the United States to Build the World's Fastest Jet: The Lockheed A-12 OXCART

    Posted by Nathaniel Bielawski05/07/2020

    Drugs, Alcohol, and Arrests: The Downside to Robert Downey Jr.'s Acting Career

    Posted by Nelly Perez03/02/2020

    Adrian Vidal: A Tejano Caught Between Two Wars

    Posted by Paul Garza10/22/2019

    Tulsa Massacre 1921: Buck Colbert Franklin in the Greenwood District

    Posted by Alicia Martinez11/05/2020

    Nothing keeps Amberley Snyder from getting back on the horse

    Posted by Amariz Puerta04/07/2019

    Silicon: the building block of technology

    Posted by Regina De La Parra11/08/2020

    There's No Place Like Home, In Hollywood: The Story Behind Judy Garland

    Posted by Audrey Uribe10/31/2019

    The Political Involvement of Twitter

    Posted by Janie Cheverie11/01/2020

    La pérdida del español en el sistema educativo de los Estados Unidos.

    Posted by Sami Bouls11/25/2020

    The Race for a COVID-19 Vaccine: Is the U.S. Nearing the Finish Line?

    Posted by Ratna Ramaraju11/03/2020

    Contemporary America

    Menu
    • US-Industrial United States (1870-1900)
    • US-Emergence of Modern America (1890-1930)
    • US-Great Depression & WWII (1929-1945)
    • US-Postwar United States (1945-early 1970s)
    • US-Contemporary United States (1968-present)
  • Themes

    SPICE Categories

    Specialty Categories

    Special Themes

    Menu
    • Social History
    • Political History
    • Environmental History
    • Cultural History
    • Economic History
    Menu
    • Art History
    • Business
    • Crime
    • Gender Studies
    • Human Rights
    • Public Health and Medicine
    • International Relations
    • Linguistics
    Menu
    • Military History
    • Music
    • People
    • Psychology
    • Religion
    • Science & Technology
    • Sports
    Menu
    • Catholic Heritage
    • The Year 1968
    • COVID-19
    • Social Justice
    • Spanish Language
  • Showcase

    Showcase Editions

    • Vol 1 – 2016
      • Vol 1 No 1 Aug-Sep 2016
      • Vol 1 No 2 Oct-Nov 2016
    • Vol 2 – 2017
      • Vol 2 No 1 Jan-Feb 2017
      • Vol 2 No 2 Mar-Apr 2017
      • Vol 2 No 3 Aug-Sep 2017
      • Vol 2 No 4 Oct-Nov 2017
    • Vol 3 – 2018
      • Vol 3 No 1 Jan-Feb 2018
      • Vol 3 No 2 Mar-Apr 2018
      • Vol 3 No 3 Aug-Sep 2018
      • Vol 3 No 4 Oct-Nov 2018
    • Vol 4 – 2019
      • Vol 4 No 1 Jan-Feb 2019
      • Vol 4 No 2 Mar-Apr 2019
      • Vol 4 No 3 Aug-Sep 2019
      • Vol 4 No 4 Oct-Nov 2019
    • Vol 5 – 2020
      • Vol 5 No 1 Jan-Feb 2020
      • Vol 5 No 2 Mar-Apr 2020
      • Vol 5 No 3 Aug-Sep 2020
    Menu
    • Vol 1 – 2016
      • Vol 1 No 1 Aug-Sep 2016
      • Vol 1 No 2 Oct-Nov 2016
    • Vol 2 – 2017
      • Vol 2 No 1 Jan-Feb 2017
      • Vol 2 No 2 Mar-Apr 2017
      • Vol 2 No 3 Aug-Sep 2017
      • Vol 2 No 4 Oct-Nov 2017
    • Vol 3 – 2018
      • Vol 3 No 1 Jan-Feb 2018
      • Vol 3 No 2 Mar-Apr 2018
      • Vol 3 No 3 Aug-Sep 2018
      • Vol 3 No 4 Oct-Nov 2018
    • Vol 4 – 2019
      • Vol 4 No 1 Jan-Feb 2019
      • Vol 4 No 2 Mar-Apr 2019
      • Vol 4 No 3 Aug-Sep 2019
      • Vol 4 No 4 Oct-Nov 2019
    • Vol 5 – 2020
      • Vol 5 No 1 Jan-Feb 2020
      • Vol 5 No 2 Mar-Apr 2020
      • Vol 5 No 3 Aug-Sep 2020
  • About

    Course Readings

    Article Indexes

    About Us

    Menu
    • Course Readings – SC 3300 – Nash
    • Course Readings – SMC 1301 – Wieck
    • Course Readings – PO 4334 – Dr Celine
    • Course Readings _ PO 3365 – Dr Celine
    Menu
    • Course Readings – HS 2321 – Whitener
    • Course Readings – HS 2322 – Whitener
    • Course Readings – SMC 1301 – Whitener
    Menu
    • Our Article/Author Index
    • Award Winning Articles
    Menu
    • Our StMU History Media Project
    • Our Faculty Consultants
    • Our Writers
    • Contact Us
  • Cultural History, Descriptive Article, Psychology, United States History, US-Contemporary United States (1968-present)
  • December 11, 2017

The Stanford Experiment: Scientific Breakthrough or Psychological Torture

Guard-Student | Courtesy of the official website of The Stanford Prison Experiment
Guard-Student | Courtesy of the official website of The Stanford Prison Experiment
Valeria Hernandez

Valeria Hernandez

It was a quiet Sunday morning on August 14 in 1971 in Palo Alto, California, where a prison was being constructed in the basement of Stanford University in order to test and examine the effects of simulated confinement on prisoners and guards. This would mark the start of a terrible experience for the participants of a psychology experiment that has been labeled “iconic.”

Psychologist Philip George Zimbardo was in charge of conducting a prison simulation designed to study the effects of an institution on an individual’s behavior. The case study illustrated the human brain attraction towards overriding power during a situation that can transform good people into authoritarians and sadists. The study illuminates the dark side of human nature, which can emerge under the right set of circumstances.1 There are serious objections to the findings and approaches used in this “classical” experiment. The published results of the experiment are considered by some scholars to be questionable.2 The experimental techniques that were used in order to study the effects of authoritative attitudes, roles, and social influences on the human brain were proven to be cruel and inhuman.

Naked Prisoner| courtesy of the official website of The Stanford Prison Experiment

The prison simulation was organized using two processes: de-individualization and dehumanization. The process of de-individualization was conducted by having the guards hide behind a disguise, stripping the participants of their identity and forcing them to create a new one. Using uniforms, badges, ranks, and titles, half of the participants were placed in the role of a dominant. The guards instructed the prisoners to address to them as “Mr. Corrections Officer,” all of which fueled sadistic behaviors, which they directed toward the inmates.3 The effect of the fake “Prison Institution” dramatically influenced the behavior of the student-guards. By creating a new identity, the participants were stripped of their old identities and were encouraged to assume the role of an authoritative alpha male.4 The inmates wore gown dresses, which were undignified and stripped away their individuality by making them feel uniform and feminine. It is important to note that neither the guards nor the prisoners suffered from emotional problems before the start of the experiment. In order to keep bias to a minimum, researchers randomly assigned the participants to their roles by using the coin toss method.

The mistreatment of the inmates was a form of depersonalization, an action that stripped human characteristics or individuality from the participants.5 The punishment brought by the guards over the inmates resulted in a mental breakdown among the prisoners as they were asked to perform exhausting exercises, placed in solitary confinement, given restricted privileges and mindless activities. Was the approach to test Zimbardo’s hypothesis reasonable or too extreme? The answer is yes, because “research participant-inmates were no longer individual students, but a collective caricature of prison dwellers.”1 The imprisonment caused the prisoners to develop submissive behavior, the roles ossifying as the experiment unfolded and eventually unraveled. The extent to which the experiment was taken demonstrated that even a small period of time in confinement can cause dramatic changes in human behavior.2 The results were a clear testimony to the short-term mental repercussions in a group of seemingly healthy young men.

Zimbardo was responsible for developing a contract that stated the rules of the experiment. He gave the guards enough freedom to engage with the prisoners, but, he stated to them that they had to maintain order in the prison with no acts of violence.2 In addition, skepticism arises in Zimbardo experimental approach, which encouraged the abuse by the guards. He most certainly supported the abuse by taking on himself the role of prison superintendent. In doing so, he lost a proper perspective and reasonable judgment when conducting the experiment.

#8612 Leaves the Study| Courtesy of the official website of The Stanford Prison Experiment

The bystander effect is a social-psychological phenomenon in which people are less likely to offer help to a victim when other people are present. There was evident proof of the bystander effect in the experiment, since the morality of the good guards was influenced by those who allowed the cruelest actions. The psychological aspect of the experiment proved to have some correlation to the concept of survival of the fittest; however, this does not account for the inhuman treatment. The dominant guards, who were physically and mentally abusive, created a natural hierarchy of leaders and followers, setting the stage and atmosphere for the guards to imitate and revel in the sadistic treatment of inmates. The intimidation of the alpha guards and the superintendent drove good guards to commit unexpected actions. “The inaction of others, especially the leadership, led the ‘good’ guards to conclude that the situation must be acceptable, which is an example of pluralistic ignorance and social proof.”1 The pressure of the prison forced some of the inmates to become emotionally damaged, as one of the students decided to attempt an escape. This caused a rebellion in protest of the harsh conditions of prison life. The revolt was followed by more mistreatment by the guards in order to prevent future bursts of opposition.

In the field of classical psychology, the Stanford Prison Experiment is one of the most recognized and controversial experiments. The prison simulation was created to bring realism to the experiment. The participants were subjected to a series of events that emulated the arrest of an individual. Zimbardo tried to dramatized the arrest by asking the Palo Alto Police Department to arrest the students and complete a real-life booking process. The psychological pressure started by submitting the participants to a strip-search, fingerprinting, photographing, and the assignment of numbers.1

The selection process of the experiment was unbiased, as participants were thoroughly assessed for any signs of mental illness, medical disabilities, and personality or character problems.1 Their screenings were conducted in order to ensure the safety of the participants and the validity of the experiment.

The stress of the experiment has driven the scientific community to question the purpose of the experiment. What happens when you place a stable individual in an unfamiliar and stressful situation? Did the participants experience a psychotic break due to the reality of the dramatic simulation of prison life? The prisoners were neglected by the guards in various ways. For example, the convicts were sleep deprived, sexually humiliated, physically abused, and placed in solitary confinement.1 The psychological strain of the experiment drove many of the participants to leave the radical study.

Cleaning a Toilet as Punishment| Courtesy of the official website of The Stanford Prison Experiment

The Stanford Prison Experiment was terminated on August 20, 1971, after only six days of observation. Scientists ensure that extensive interviews were conducted by professional staff on the participants in order to determine whether they were permanently affected by the experiment.2 In other words, they tested them to ensure that none suffered from any long-term effects of post-traumatic stress. Zimbardo was then forced to end the study. He debriefed the participants to understand their experience and to address any chronic mental health problems they might have.

Years after the Stanford Prison Experiment, Thomas Carnahan and Sam McFarland recreated the famous case study in order to test the validity of the researchers’ approach. Carnahan and McFarland’s hypothesis tested whether students who volunteered for a similar case study might exhibit similar symptoms.14 In order to gather their subjects, researchers posted an ad in the newspaper advertising the study. The message included the term “prison life” while the ad for the Stanford Prison Experiment had not. “Those who volunteered for the ‘prison study’ scored significantly higher on measures of aggressiveness and authoritarianism, which are directly related to the propensity toward aggressive abuse, and lower on empathy and altruism, which are inversely related to the propensity toward aggressive abuse.”1 The results gathered in the experiment demonstrate skepticism in the data gathered from the Stanford prison experiment, which demonstrate the relationship between a person’s behavior and the environment. The skepticism that surrounded the Stanford Prison Experiment was due to the unethical approach taken by Zimbardo. The mistreatment of the inmates was taken to the next level.1 The experiment was ended at the sixth day out of the scheduled fourteen days due to the increase in the prisoner’s mental instability and emotional trauma, and the escalating abuse of the guards. Based on the overwhelming evidence, one can see that the experiment did not prove its purpose. It was only a psychological torture to young undergraduate men.

 

  1. Salem Press Biographical Encyclopedia, January 2016, s.v. “Stanford Prison Experiment,” by Author J. Lurigio. ↵
  2. David Bornus, “The Stanford Prison Experiment: The Fundamentals of a Secure Residential Environment,” Corrections Today, Vol. 78 (June 2016): 48. ↵
  3. Salem Press Biographical Encyclopedia, January 2016, s.v. “Stanford Prison Experiment,” by Author J. Lurigio. ↵
  4. Teresa C. Kulig, Travis C. Pratt, and Francis T. Cullen, “Revisiting the Stanford Prison Experiment: A Case Study in Organized Skepticism,” Journal of Criminal Justice Education, Vol. 28 (March 2017): 82. ↵
  5. Teresa C. Kulig, Travis C. Pratt, and Francis T. Cullen, “Revisiting the Stanford Prison Experiment: A Case Study in Organized Skepticism,” Journal of Criminal Justice Education, Vol.28 (March 2017): 90. ↵
  6. Salem Press Biographical Encyclopedia, January 2016, s.v. “Stanford Prison Experiment,” by Author J. Lurigio. ↵
  7. David Bornus, “The Stanford Prison Experiment: The Fundamentals of a Secure Residential Environment,” Corrections Today, Vol. 78 (June 2016): 48. ↵
  8. David Bornus, “The Stanford Prison Experiment: The Fundamentals of a Secure Residential Environment,” Corrections Today, Vol. 78 (June 2016): 48. ↵
  9. Salem Press Biographical Encyclopedia, January 2016, s.v. “Stanford Prison Experiment,” by Author J. Lurigio. ↵
  10. Salem Press Biographical Encyclopedia, January 2016, s.v. “Stanford Prison Experiment,” by Author J. Lurigio. ↵
  11. Salem Press Biographical Encyclopedia, January 2016, s.v. “Stanford Prison Experiment,” by Author J. Lurigio. ↵
  12. Salem Press Biographical Encyclopedia, January 2016, s.v. “Stanford Prison Experiment,” by Author J. Lurigio. ↵
  13. David Bornus, “The Stanford Prison Experiment: The Fundamentals of a Secure Residential Environment,” Corrections Today, Vol. 78 (June 2016): 48. ↵
  14. Teresa C. Kulig, Travis C. Pratt, and Francis T. Cullen, “Revisiting the Stanford Prison Experiment: A Case Study in Organized Skepticism,” Journal of Criminal Justice Education, Vol.28 (March 2017): 77. ↵
  15. Salem Press Biographical Encyclopedia, January 2016, s.v. “Stanford Prison Experiment,” by Author J. Lurigio. ↵
  16. Salem Press Biographical Encyclopedia, January 2016, s.v. “Stanford Prison Experiment,” by Author J. Lurigio. ↵

Tags from the story

  • Philip George Zimbardo, Stanford Prison Experiment

Share this post

Share on facebook
Share on google
Share on twitter
Share on linkedin
Share on pinterest
Share on print
Share on email
Valeria Hernandez

Valeria Hernandez

Author Portfolio Page

Selena Quintanilla-Perez: A Star That Will Always Shine

Texas is known for its unique culture, food, traditions, sports, and music. The Texan attitude

Read More »

Frida Kahlo’s Artistic Growth: From Divorce to Fame

“Me pinto a mi misma porque soy a quien major conozco” (“I paint myself because

Read More »

This Post Has 78 Comments

  1. Avatar
    Diego Oviedo 18 Oct 2020 Reply

    I remember watching this in my Psychology class in high school and it was very shocking to see what happened in the experiment. It’s sad because the ones conducting the experiment did nothing till the last minute, but it’s terrifying because they sat and watched everything that was going on. It’s inhumane because they were changed after everything they went through but they were still seen as convicts and not victims to this experiment.

  2. Savannah Palmer
    Savannah Palmer 18 Oct 2020 Reply

    I remember learning about the effects of the Stanford Prison experiment in a psychology class that I had previously taken. I was amazed at how abusive the guards were towards the prisoners, even though they were chosen in an unbiased way. The bystander effect prevented the guards from intervening with the abusive behavior that was taken place. This resulted in many of the prisoners experiencing physical and mental trauma. This experiment reveals how unethical experiments can lead to damaging results for the subjects involved.

  3. Avatar
    Eric Hernandez 20 Sep 2020 Reply

    I like to read about crazy experiments gone wrong. It’s super interesting to see all of the different head sicknesses play out as the experiments go on. It’s really inhuman to see this but it’s also very effective in the sense that we see these mental illnesses so that we have a way to observe them and stop them in different life situations.

  4. Avatar
    Madison Downing 11 Nov 2018 Reply

    It was so crazy that when I was reading this article I thought this experiment happened for a long period of time but in fact it was only a small total of 6 days. I can’t believe that it was schedule for a 14 day trail but people thought it was so inhumane that they stopped not even half way through the allowed plot. I also think it is insane how normal college students would start to inflict so much pain on their fellow peers, it shows that the option of increased power does to a normal person’s mindset. This article gave me the chills and I would love to learn more about this topic, great job!!

  5. Avatar
    William Rittenhouse 7 Nov 2018 Reply

    This sounded like a very inhumane experiment. Even if your a prisoner no human should have to go through this. I believe it is different if your detaining a terrorist that knows other terrorist acts that are happening or going to happen like on Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. There is probably lots of inhumane things that go on there. In that case though your treating a few humans bad in order to save the lives of hundreds or thousands of innocent victims that could die in future terrorist acts. In this case though it seems it was pretty inhumane.

  6. Avatar
    Belene Cuellar 28 Oct 2018 Reply

    I’m a major in psychology so I’ve actually heard and watched the movie on this experiment quite a few times. It’s interesting to see how quickly the guards went into a state of authority and abused their power. I wonder who was the first guard to decide that they wanted to abuse the prisoners. What did the prisoners do when they realized that the guards where abusing their station in this experiment?

  7. Avatar
    Sebastian Carnero 14 Oct 2018 Reply

    This is the first time I read about a research like this. I really don’t know how can you come up with something like this. I agree in the idea that at least he shouldn’t have taken the role of superintendent, someone should have kept his distance from the authoritarian role and those type of influence in order to make proper observations and ensure the safety of students.

  8. Avatar
    Brianna Ford 2 Oct 2018 Reply

    I have never head about this, but now that I have it is really sad that the convicts were faced with physical, sexual, and mental abuse. It is hard to know that they were treated in a very inhumane way. Like I get it, they did it on convicted convicts who have done thing illegally, however they are humans as well. No one should get treated in a way where the form of punishment breaks you down in all types of form. This was however a good informative article read.

Comments navigation

Previous commentPrevious

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

StMU History Media

A Student Organization of St. Mary's University of San Antonio Texas

Sponsors

  • College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, St. Mary's University
  • Department of History, St. Mary's University
  • Department of Political Science, St. Mary's University
  • Center for Catholic Studies, St. Mary's University

Support Services

  • The Learning Assistance Center, St. Mary's University
  • Louis J. Blume Library Services, St. Mary's University
  • STRIVE Career Center, St. Mary's University
  • Academic Technology Services, St. Mary's University

About

  • About Us
  • Our Authors
  • Our Archive
  • Contacts

© All rights reserved

Twitter
Facebook
Pinterest