Central question of the experiment (answer this before viewing the documentary):

1. “Does the situation outside of you—the institution—come to control your behavior, or do the things inside of you—your attitude, your values, your morality—allow you to rise above a negative environment?” –Philip G. Zimbardo

Stanford Prison Experiment Introduction from http://www.prisonexp.org/

“What happens when you put good people in an evil place? Does humanity win over evil, or does evil triumph? These are some of the questions we posed in this dramatic simulation of prison life conducted in the summer of 1971 at Stanford University.

“Our study of prison life began with an average group of healthy, intelligent, middle-class males. These boys were arbitrarily divided into two groups by a flip of the coin. Half were randomly assigned to be guards, the other to be prisoners. It is important to remember that at the beginning of our experiment there were no differences between boys assigned to be a prisoner and boys assigned to be a guard.”

Learn about the Stanford Prison Experiment:
Watch the BBC Documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gb4Q20z0T1

OR Read about the experiment: http://www.prisonexp.org/

2. Background: What had Milgram’s study shown?

3. Consider the psychological consequences of stripping, delousing, and shaving the heads of prisoners or members of the military. What transformations take place when people go through an experience like this?

4. During the experiment, how did the prisoners and guards conform to their roles?

5. How did even Zimbardo, the psychologist conducting the experiment, conform to his role as a prison superintendent?

6. How did the guards break the solidarity of the prisoners?

7. How did the good guards react to what the bad guards were doing?

8. How did the prisoners cope? (Name at least two ways)

9. What are Zimbardo’s conclusions about human behavior, based on this experiment?

Recent Events Connection

10. In 2003, U.S. soldiers abused Iraqi prisoners held at Abu Ghraib, 20 miles west of Baghdad. The prisoners were stripped, made to wear bags over their heads, and sexually humiliated while the guards laughed and took photographs. How is this abuse similar to or different from what took place in the Stanford Prison Experiment?

11. What other historical events could this experiment help us to understand?

12. What do you think of this question now? “Does the situation outside of you—the institution—come to control your behavior, or do the things inside of you—your attitude, your values, your morality—allow you to rise above a negative environment?” –Philip G. Zimbardo

Answer rating: 100% (QA)

Background What had Milgrams study shown In the 1960s psychologist Stanley Milgram conducted a series of experiments that explored the limits of obedience to authority In one of these experiments subj... View the full answer