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Setting Up
24 males flipped a coin and were divided into two groups: one prison guards and one prisoner. Each prisoner was systematically searched and naked, and then sprayed with delousing spray, in order to convey the belief that he was assumed to have germs or lice.They wore dresses with no underclothes. This is a common degradation process used to humiliate prisoners.The guards wore sunglasses that were tinted to hide their eyes so prisoners couldn't detect emotion (Zimbardo). -
Suprise Police Arrest
The prisoners are arrested and handcuffed after having agreed to be a part of the study, where they are driven to a police station and put into squad cars. They are fingerprinted, photographed,and then thrown into a cell blindfolded to disorienate them (McLeod). -
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Stanford Prison Experiment 1971
In 1971, psychologist Philip Zimbardo and his colleagues set out to create a 2 week experiment that looked at the impact of becoming a prisoner or prison guard. 24 Stanford college students answered an ad to become apart of a study that examined the psychological effects of becoming a prisoner or prison guard.They were screened with a series of tests for physiological problems, medical disabilities or a history of crime or drug abuse (Zimbardo). -
Asserting Authority
At 2:30 AM the prisoners are awoken by the guards blasting whistles for "counts", which served to familiarize the prisoners with their ID numbers. These provided to be regular happenings that allowed guards to excerise controls. They forced the prisoners to do endless amounts of push-ups, which seem juvenile but were actually were used as punishment in Nazi camps, as the guards would step on the prisoners backs or sit on them to show how powerless they were (McLeod). -
Prisoner Rebellion
In the morning, the prisoners removed their stocking caps, ripped off their numbers, and barricaded themselves inside their cells by putting their beds against the door. The prisoners began to taunt the guards. The guards sprayed them with fire extinguishers and the ringleaders are thrown into "The Hole" the solitary confinement room (McLeod). -
Special Priveleges
The guards decided to take psychological tactics instead of physical to make up for the uneven ratio. One of the three cells was designated a "privilege cell", where three prisoners were given the ability to wash and have their clothes back, as well as eating in front of those whose food privilege was suspended, to break solidarity between prisoners. Eventually, the prisoners switched cells and the "good" were thought to be informants of the rebellion and distrust brewed (Zimbardo). -
First Prisoner Released
Prisoner #8612 suffered from acute emotional disturbance, disorganized thinking, uncontrollable crying and rage. The prison guards thought he was trying to "con" them into releasing him, until he told the other prisoners "You can't leave. You can't quit." He began to scream and curse, which heightened their sense of imprisonment and he was released by Zimbardo (Zimbardo). -
A Mass Escape Plot Rumor
After a planned day of visiting hours, the guards got wind of a rumored escape plot- Prisoner #8612 was going to show up with his friends and "liberate the prison". Instead of recording the pattern of rumor transmisson, Zimbardo and his team acted like real prison counsel- planning ways to foil their plan. They put bags over the prisoners head and chained them together, leading them to the fifth storage room and Zimbardo waited alone in the basement for a gang that never came (Zimbardo). -
Catholic Priest visits
Zimbardo invited a former prison chaplain to evaluate how realistic the prison was, where he interviewed each prisoner individually. Astonishingly, each prisoner introduced themselves by their number, something they had lost their identity to versus their actual name. Prisoner #819 refused to see the priest, eat, vandalized his cell, felt sick and wanted to see a doctor. He broke down and cried hysterically and Zimbardo unchained him and told him to rest (McLeod). -
Second Prisoner Release and New Prisoner
One of the guards lined up the prisoners and had them chant aloud "Prisoner #819 is a bad prisoner. Because of what Prisoner #819 did, my cell is a mess, Mr. Correctional Officer!" #819 broke down into tears, refusing to leave because others had called him a bad prisoner, wanting to prove himself. Until Zimbardo dropped the act and reminded him it was an experiment, he changed, stopped crying, and agreed to be released. New Prisoner "Sarge" had a military way of obeying orders (Zimbardo). -
One Final Act of Rebellion
Prisoner #1037 goes into a depressive state after a Parole Hearing with the "Prison Board". Guards attempt to force #416 to eat, but he refuses, to force his release. Guards threw him into solitary confinement for three hours, when their rules stated it was only supposed to be an hour at a time. The others saw him as a troublemaker, refusing a deal to get him out of solitary by giving up their blankets and forcing him to stay there all night (Zimbardo). -
Action by Prisoners
5704 refuses to eat at assigned times, which results in degrading punishments such as cleaning the toilet bowls with his bare hands. Prisoner #3045, who was silent and obedient snapped and started uncontrollably crying and was distressed. He had to be released early due to his behavior (Zimbardo). -
Experiment Ends
Later that morning, participants are gathered to hear Zimbardo tell them they are all free, where they erupted in cheers of joy. Zimbardo decided to end it because he discovered late at night, the guards were escalating their abuse of the prisoners, degrading them sexually and emotionally. Christina Malech, who was brought in to conduct interviews also questioned it's morality and ethics. She was the only one of the 50 outsiders who had seen the prison to do such a thing (Zimbardo). -
Official Termination of the Study
On August 20,1971, the "Stanford County Jail" was closed forever at 5 pm. The question that now stood for the world was how to change out institutions to promote human values, ethical values, rather than destroy that humanity, something relevant to this very day (McLeod).
