Power of the Situation (cont.) Stanford Prison Experiment

The Power of the Situation Last time we learned about how social conditions affect human behavior, thoughts, and feelings Social influence and obedience affected how people responded to the Asch “line experiment” and the Milgram “obedience study” Today we will discuss *why* the situation can influence us by learning about the “Stanford Prison Experiment”

Stanford Prison Experiment: some background information Conducted in 1971 by Philip Zimbardo and others in the basement of the Stanford Psychology Department. Volunteers were randomly assigned to play the role of guards and prisoners in a mock prison in the basement. Both prisoners and guards rapidly adapted to their assigned roles, and lead to genuinely dangerous and psychologically damaging situations

Stanford Prison Experiment Video about the experiment http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7923487947922730773

Stanford Prison Experiment: What would you have done? If you were a prisoner, how would you have acted? If you were a guard, how would you have acted? After the study, how do you think the prisoners and guards felt when they saw each other in the same civilian clothes again?

Stanford Prison Experiment: What happened next? Prisoner #416, who broke down within 36 hours, got a clinical psychology Ph.D., did his internship in a California prison, and became a forensic psychologist in the San Francisco County Jail. "John Wayne“ is now a mild-mannered real estate broker. Zimbardo recently retired from Stanford after a long career in social psychology.

Stanford Prison Experiment: Criticisms of the experiment Unethical Unscientific No scientific controls because it was a field experiment Small sample size of 24, but really just 1 group so N=1 Conclusions and observations were anecdotal Participants acted how they were expected to behave Zimbardo gave guards no rules, said they could “create fear” Zimbardo admitted he was not a neutral observer but acted like a “superintendent” who enabled the bad behavior

Stanford Prison Experiment: A replication? In 2002 two psychologists from England conducted a partial replication with the assistance of the BBC who broadcast scenes from the study as a reality TV program called The Experiment. Their results and conclusions were very different from Zimbardo's

BBC “The Experiment How was it similar to Zimbardo’s study? Randomly selected volunteers assigned to “guards” and “prisoners” Mock prison created in the George Lucas soundstage in London. End early (ended two days earlier than planned)

BBC “The Experiment” How did it differ from Zimbardo’s study? Psychologists only observers, not involved “Guards” were given guidelines and instructions Very different results Guards were not sadistic or abusive, made peace with prisoners Some guards were “repelled” by the situation, two left in “disgust” What does this imply about Zimbardo study? What does this imply about human nature?

Abu Ghraib prison What do these experiments tell us about what happened at Abu Ghraib prison? Did the power of the situation influence the guards? Were there other factors involved?