Episode 297: The Stanford Prison Experiment

In 1971, Philip Zimbardo recruited participants to take on the roles of “prisoners” and “guards” to investigate the psychological effects of perceived power; Zimbardo's primary reason for conducting the experiment was to focus on the power of roles, rules, symbols, group identity and situational validation of behavior that generally would repulse ordinary individuals. But the experiment had to be terminated over a week earlier than expected due to how the participants began to act. Today, the findings of Zimbardo are debated, as is the methodology and ethical considerations of the actual experiment.

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