Summary Of The Zimbardo Experiment

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In, 1971 the Stanford University psychology department created a stimulated jail using students as prisoners and guards. This experiment was to see what effects prisons have on behavior. Professor Philip Zimbardo and his team aimed to test the hypothesis that the inherent personality traits of prisoners and guards are the cause of abusive behavior in prison.

Zimbardo designed the experiment in order to induce disorientation, depersonalization, and deindividualization in the participants. Professor Zimbardo intended on the experiment to last two weeks with no problems. However, after only 6 days he was forced to end the simulation.

The guards and prisoners took to their roles more than Zimbardo expected, leading to dangerous and psychologically