The Zimbardo Experiment

Fatima Mekkaoui
SOCI 1301
Dr. Ruth Dunn
Exam 1

Question 2:

Describe Zimbardo’s experiment.

Dr. Zimbardo is a psychologist who decided to conduct an experiment on the psychological impact a prison atmosphere has on both prisoners and guards. He planned for the experiment to last 2 weeks. After setting out an ad in the paper they were left with 24 prime college students who were healthy and mentally stable. By the randomness of a coin they decided who would be guard and who would be prisoner. 9 prisoners and 9 guards were chosen. The rest were to stand by in case they were needed.

The role-play began with an actual arrest on the curb with neighbors watching. Everything was done by the book, rights were read, records and thumbprints were taken into account. The prisoners were blindfolded, shackled at the ankle with heavy chains and locks. They were made to wear stockings on their hair, which was later shaved off. No longer were they to be called by their names, instead they had numbers printed on the fronts and backs of their frocks (under which they wore nothing).

From this day one prisoners began to sit differently, hold themselves more cautiously/protectively. It was very apparent they began to feel insecure. Two days into the experiment the guards became comfortable with their roles and learned to become more aggressive and authoritarian over the prisoners. The prisoners gradually started breaking down one by one. They began to believe their roles as reality, they no longer used real names but numbers. On radical prisoner even wrote letters trying to sell the experiment to an underground newspaper when he got out – believing it was targeting students such as himself.

The experiment encompassed a preacher, a lawyer, family visits, a good looking cheerleader – the works. Even Dr. Zimbardo and other colleagues became so absorbed with their roles that they became flustered when brushed with reality. Prisoners broke out into manic episodes and the guards became quite sadistic – without any instruction.

The aggression and the depression – the gravity of the situation compelled Zimbardo to end his experiment early, on the 6th day of the planned 14.
 

How does the Zimbardo experiment explain what happened at Abu Ghraib?

At first glance the most obvious connection between the Zimbardo Experiment and the Abu Ghraib scandal is the scene of the prisoners with the bags on their heads. The Zimbardo experiment was carried out in the 1970’s. Iraq and the mess that came with it happened now in 2003-05. There may not have been a dog or any animal abuse involved in the Zimbardo experiment, but the prisoners did get a taste of the humiliation that the prisoners in Abu Ghraib felt.

Reportedly, at night when they thought no on was monitoring them, the guards in the Stanford prison “were escalating their abuse of prisoners in the middle of the night when they thought no researchers were watching and the experiment was "off." Their boredom had driven them to ever more pornographic and degrading abuse of the prisoners” (Zimbardo). The same thing was going on in Abu Ghraib. The soldiers felt like they had complete freedom over their prison and none above them. If they had any surveillance it is doubtful that they would have taken pictures with clear headshots of themselves.  




References

www.prisonexp.org/

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4715540.stm