Stanford Prison Experiment

By genericusername

  • Zimbardo's birth

    New York City

  • High School Friends with Stanley Milgram

  • Brooklyn College

    Graduated with 3 majors in Psychology, Sociology and Anthropology....summa cum laude (highest honor)

  • Yale University

    Graduated with PhD in Psychology
  • Period: to

    Taught at Yale

  • Period: to

    Taught at NYU

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    Taught at Columbia University

  • Joined Stanford University

  • Zimbardo considers aborting the study

    Due to the guards not living up to their roles, Zimbardo considers aborting the study. However, he decides to continue in order to obtain any kind of data.

  • The Prisoners

    9 pp were arrested without notice. Their fingerprints and mugshots were taken and a prisoner code was given to each person. The guards were told not to call them by names. Humiliation was enforced when the prisoners were blindfolded and stripped naked for a whole body search.

  • The Guards

    The researchers held an orientation session for guards the day before the experiment, during which they instructed them not to physically harm the prisoners. Zimbardo told the guards "You can create in the prisoners feelings of boredom, a sense of fear to some degree, you can create a notion of arbitrariness that their life is totally controlled by us, by the system, you, me, and they'll have no privacy... We're going to take away their individuality"

  • The Experiment

    Zimbardo and his team aimed to test the hypothesis that the inherent personality traits of prisoners and guards are the chief cause of abusive behavior in prison. Zimbardo selected the 24 males whom they deemed to be the most psychologically stable and healthy. These participants were predominantly white and middle-class. The group was intentionally selected to exclude those with criminal background, psychological impairments or medical problems. Their reward is $15 a day ($85 nowadays).
  • Period: to

    Stanford Prison Experiment

    The research had to be halt earlier than the intended 2-week research.

  • 1st Rebellion

    Zimbardo is awoken in the middle of the night to observe a rebllion, when the prisoners have barricaded themselves in their cells and are verbally abusing the guards. They are stripped naked and put inside the solitary confinement

  • Prisoner 8612's Breakdown

    Prisoner 8612 has a breakdown and has been suffering from emotional disturbance, disorganised thinking, crying and rage. The guards thought they were trying to con them into releasing him. He was verbally abused and then offered the option of becoming an 'informant' and receiving no more abuse from the guards.

  • 8612 Released

    Prisoner 8612 tells his cell mates that they are not allowed to leave. He then begins acting 'crazy,' swearing, raging and going out of control. The guards are finally convinced he is suffering and he is released.

  • Prisoner 819

    Prisoner 819 cannot stop his continual crying and is taken out of the prison to calm down. Meanwhile, the other prisoners chanted ' Prisoner 819 did a bad thing.' Prisoner 819 is offered to escape the experiment but says he cannot, as he has to prove to other experimenters that he is not bad.

  • Rumour of Attack

    A rumour spread that prisoner 8612 was going to return with friends and free some prisoners. The prison was moved and guards were put on patrol. Even Zimbardo himself sat outside the prison awaiting attack. The attack never came and the originial prison was re-assmebled.

  • Hunger Strike

    Prisoner 416 goes on Hunger Strike in a desperate attempt to escape. The guards throw him into the 'Hole' for three hours, despite the maxiumum allowed time being an hour. Instead of seeing him as a hero, his feollow prisoners see him as a troublemaker. The head guard gave the prisoners a choice; leave 416 in the 'Hole' all night or give up their blankets to free him. Prisoner 416 was left in the 'Hole'. This punishment exceeded the planned solitary time Zimbardo had marked (1 hour).

  • Girlfriend was not amused

    Christina Maslach, a graduate student in psychology whom he was dating (and later married),objected to the conditions of the prison after she was introduced to the experiment to conduct interviews. Zimbardo noted that, of more than fifty people who had observed the experiment, Maslach was the only one who questioned its morality. After only six days of a planned two weeks' duration, the Stanford Prison experiment was discontinued.

  • End of Stanford Prison Experiment

    The results of the experiment have been argued to demonstrate the impressionability and obedience of people when provided with a legitimizing ideology and social and institutional support. The experiment has also been used to illustrate cognitive dissonance theory and the power of authority.