The Stanford Prison Experiment was a psychological study conducted by Philip Zimbardo in 1971. It aimed to investigate the psychological effects of perceived power, focusing on the struggle between prisoners and prison officers.
Think of it like a school play where students are assigned roles as either heroes or villains. Over time, they start behaving like their characters even off-stage because they've become so immersed in their roles.
Role-playing: This is when individuals act out or perform specific roles, often different from their personal identities. In the context of the Stanford Prison Experiment, participants were asked to role-play as either prisoners or guards.
Deindividuation: This refers to losing self-awareness in groups, which can lead to changes in behavior and lessened responsibility. During the experiment, guards started losing their individuality and began acting cruelly towards prisoners.
Conformity: Conformity is adjusting one's behavior or thinking to match those of other people or a group standard. Both 'prisoners' and 'guards' conformed to what they believed were expected behaviors for their roles.
Why did the assigned prison guards abuse prisoners in the Stanford Prison Experiment?
Why were some participants ejected from the Stanford Prison Experiment?
The Stanford Prison Experiment conducted by Philip Zimbardo studied the effects of…
In the Stanford Prison Experiment, how were prisoners identified?
Which of the following was the independent variable in Philip Zimbardo's Stanford Prison Experiment?
Study guides for the entire semester
200k practice questions
Glossary of 50k key terms - memorize important vocab
© 2024 Fiveable Inc. All rights reserved.
AP® and SAT® are trademarks registered by the College Board, which is not affiliated with, and does not endorse this website.