Stanford Prison Experiment

Physiologist Philip Zambardo conducted the Stanford Prison Experiment as a means to find out the ways people would behave if randomly given authority over other people. In this study, Zambardo used 24 students to play the roles of either prisoners or guards. Through his experiment, he was able to conclude that when given permission to handle extreme situations without proper training, violence and torture was the inevitable tactics guards would use when dealing with troublesome inmates. Through improvising roles, both inmates and guards were so deeply involved in their personal roles that they actually began to think they were real prisoners and guards. Inmates began to revolt against what the believed was unjust treatment and guards did their best to deal with their disobeying behavior. Ultimately, the experiment had to conclude early due to a string of mental breakdowns and protest posed by inmates.