Zimbardo's experiment

• Stanford Prison Experiment:

  • mock prison in the basement of Stanford Uni
  • 24 US male student volunteers
  • psychological assessment done before to choose psychologically healthy participants
  • agreed to participate for 7-14 days
  • paid $15 a day
  • randomly assigned the role of prisoner or guard
  • prisoners unexpectantly arrested at home
  • prisoners deloused, given prison uniform and ID number
  • guards were given uniforms, clubs, whistles and reflective sunglasses
  • guards were told to run prison but NOT harm prisoners
• Zimbardo took the role of the superintendent and investigator
• Planned duration was 2 weeks but stopped after 6 days
• Zimbardo wanted to see how how readily people would conform to social roles
• Evaluation:

  • Demand characteristics- the participants were just playing a role
  • lack population validity as sample comprised of only US male participants
  • ethical criticisms such as uninformed consent and right to withdraw