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Description of the study The prison experiment carried out was a simulation study of the psychological imprisonment conducted at Stanford University. In the summer of 1971 Dr Zimbardo set out to find the answers to the following posed questions. What happens when you put good people in an evil place? Does humanity win over evil or does evil triumph? The planned two week experiment, hand to be brought to a halt in barely six days, because of how the students behaved of who participated. In a matter of a couple of days, the guards became sadistic and the prisoners became very stressed.
This shocking study about social psychology reveals the hidden truth about the nature of human nature. Volunteers for this experiment were chosen via a newspaper, asking for people to take part in a study of the psychological effects of prison life. The experiment was aimed in finding out what the psychological effects were of becoming a prisoner or prison guard. Setting up a simulated prison and noting the behavior of those inside created this.
Finally 24 college students were chosen from over 70 applicants. They were from the Stanford area and wanted to earn $ 15 per day by participating in a study. The 24 white, males were all normal, healthy middle class students. They were put into 2 groups by flipping a coin, and then randomly decided one group would be the guards and the other group would be prisoners.
Zimbardo and other researchers called upon help of others to simulate a prison environment close to a real one. Their prison was constructed in the basement of the psychology department at Stanford. Prison cells were created by taking off doors and replacing them with steel bars and cell numbers. The Hole was created to become solitary confinement. This was dark and very cramped.
The prisoners were blindfolded and in shock when brought in to Stanford County Jail. They were greeted by a warden who explained the seriousness of their offence. Each prisoner was searched and stripped. They were once again kept blindfolded at all times and deloused with spray in supposedly believing that he may have germs or lice. Many of the procedures carried out by the prison guards as a form of humiliation were very similar to methods undertaken in real life prisons, many in the past and some from prisons of today. The prisoners were issued with a uniform.
This consisted of a smock or dress with no underclothes. On this, was the prisoners ID number. They also wore a heavy chain bolted around the right ankle. Footwear was rubber sandals and they also covered their hair with a stocking cap made from nylon clothing. The prisoners were issued with ID numbers and could only refer to one another with these as this makes all prisoners anonymous. The stocking cap on prisoners heads is a way of minimizing individuality.
Prisoners could not therefore express themselves through hairstyle or length. The guards were given no specific training on how to be guards. Instead, they made their own sets of rules and these were carried out under supervision. The guards were also warned of the serious dangers involved in what they were about to carry out. The prisoners also expected some harassment, just like real prisoners.
They wouldnt have privacy and some of their civil rights violated while they were in prison. This was all part of their informed consent agreement which they had volunteered to. All the guards dressed identically. They wore identical uniforms and carried a whistle and club. They also wore sunglasses. This idea was used to prevent anyone seeing their eyes or reading their emotions.
This helped to promote anonymity. The cells in which the prisoners slept in were very small and there was hardly any room to do much else. The guards soon thought they needed to show authority over the prisoners. This was done by awaking the prisoners in the early hours of the morning. Counts took place so that the prisoners could familiarize themselves with their ID numbers. At the beginning, the prisoners did not take these counts seriously.
This therefore led to the guards feeling they did not have enough authority over the prisoners. Resulting in series of direct confrontations between the guards at the prisoners. Many forms of punishment were imposed onto the guards but push-ups were a common form. The guards adapted this idea, which was used in Nazi concentration camps. The guards would step on the prisoners back and make them do push-ups. Sometimes, the guards would use other prisoners to step on their fellow inmates back.
On the second day of the study, the prisoners broke out into a rebellion. They removed their stocking caps, ripped off their numbers and barricaded themselves inside the cells by putting their beds against the door. The guards were not at all happy with this sudden outburst that they reacted in extreme measures. All guards were called in to deal with the matter.
They treated force with force. They got a fire extinguisher and shot skin chilling carbon dioxide at the prisoners in order to move them away from the doors. The guards now went a step further and began to strip all the prisoners naked. They then placed the ringleaders of the rebellion into solitary confinement and took all the beds out of the cells. They generally harassed and intimidated the prisoners. The guards now decided to use psychological tactics instead of physical ones.
They designed a privilege cell where the prisoners who stayed in that cell received all their privileges back again. They got their beds, uniforms back. They were also allowed to wash and brush their teeth. This was brought about to break prisoner solidarity. After about half a day, the prisoners were now swapped around so that the bad prisoners were placed into the privilege cell while the others were put into solitary confinement. Due to the prisoners rebellion, the guards no longer felt that this was an experiment or a simulation.
Instead they thought the prisoners were troublemakers and that they were out to get them. They therefore stepped up their aggression, surveillance and control. The guards totally took away all the rights of the prisoners. They were no longer allowed to urinate or defecate in the toilets, but instead had to use buckets. These were then placed in the prison cells and could not be cleaned leading to the whole prison smelling of urine and feces. This degraded the environment further.
One of the prisoners, # 8612 soon began to suffer from emotional disturbance, disorganized thinking and uncontrollable crying and rage. He asked to be let out from the experiment, but researchers had become so into their role of prison authorities, that they thought the prisoner was conning them. When the next prison count came about, Prisoner # 8612 began to act so crazy and shouted You cant leave. You cant quit. This is when the researchers finally realized they had to release him. The experiment was soon taken out of hand when Zimbardo soon became fully into his role of a prison superintendent.
He soon lost the fact that it was only an experiment and not real life. Due to the prison escape turning out to be just a rumor. This made the guards considerably more aggressive. They now made prisoners clean the toilets out with their bare hands as shown below. The prisoners were also made to do push-ups more often. Counts were also increased to several hours each.
A priest was called in and interviewed each prisoner individually. Half of the prisoners introduced themselves by their ID number. This was the seriousness of the prison effect. The prisoners now also believed the only way they could leave the prison was by hiring a lawyer. There was a parole meeting being held, where all the prisoners who thought they had grounds for parole were lined up and chained together and brought before the panel, individually.
Prisoners were asked if they would forfeit the money if they were to be paroled. Most of the prisoners answered yes, even though they could have obtained the same result by simply asking to quit. They felt that they had to obey. They felt that they had no other choice. Their sense of reality had shifted and they no longer perceived imprisonment as an experiment.
By the fifth day, guards began to do thei...
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Research essay sample on Psychological Effects Of Zimbardo Prison Experiment
