A study of prisoners and guards in a simulated prison - Haney, C., Banks, C. and Zimbardo, P. (1973)

By AdiRahman

  • The Start of the Stanford Prison Experiments

    24 male students were 'arrested' and contained in a mock up prison set up in the basement of Stanford University's psychology department. They were randomly asigned jobs as either prisoner or guard. It was originaly planned to last 2 weeks,

  • Zimbardo considers abandoning the experiment

    After an uneventful day, Zimbardo considers abandoning the experiment
  • Period: to

    The Standford Prison Experiment

  • The Rebellion

    The experiment took a suprising turn as the prisoners revolted against the guards, barricading themselves inside their cells and ripping off their sewn-on prisoner numbers. Zimbardo told the "Guards" to handle the situation on their own in which they responded by breaking up the rebelion and punishing the people responsible by means of humiliation as they were ordered not to use violence.

  • The first prisoner released

    After showing signs of extreme stress, one of the prisoner was released from the experiment. That prisoner was Prisoner 8612, who was one of the people who were responsible for the rebellion. He returned to announce to the inmates that they can't leave even if they requested for it.

  • A new prisoner

    A prisoner was arreseted to replace Prisoner 8612. the new prisoner, Prisoner 2093, was nicknamed "Sarge" for Millatry-like obedience.

  • Prisoner 819 did a bad thing!

    After continuous sobbing and harrassment from both the guards and the prisoners, Prisoner 819 was asked to leave after showing signs of a mental breakdown. However, he refused Zimbardo's request after continuous chanting of "Prisoner 819 did a bad thing!" from the other prisoners saying that he needed to prove concious to them

  • A chain of events

    During this time, many of the prisoners were realeased early due to signs of a mental breakdown. those who remained defied the guards by going on hunger strikes and desobeying orders.

  • Release

    After seeing the punishment of the prisoners by the guards and realising how horrific their actions were, Zimbardo anounced that the experiment was over and they were all free to leave.

  • The offical end of the experiment

    The experiment was ended abrubtly after Christina Maslach, a former graduate student, accused Zimbardo of cruelty. The experiments either turned the students into powerless prisoners or sadistic guards.