FOR YOUR MEN AND THE MEN

Zimbardo’s Prison Experiment
One of the most illuminating role and identity
experiments was done a number of years ago by Stanford University psychologist
Philip Zimbardo and his associates.
25 They created a “prison” in the basement
of the Stanford psychology building; hired at $15 a day two dozen emotionally
stable, physically healthy, law-abiding students who scored “normal average” on
extensive personality tests; randomly assigned them the role of either “guard”
or “prisoner”; and established some basic rules.
It took the “prisoners” little time to accept the authority positions of the
“guards” or for the mock guards to adjust to their new authority roles. Consistent
with social identity theory, the guards came to see the prisoners as a negative
outgroup, and their comments to researchers showed they had developed stereotypes
about the “typical” prisoner personality type. After the guards crushed
a rebellion attempt on the second day, the prisoners became increasingly passive.
Whatever the guards “dished out,” the prisoners took. The prisoners actually
began to believe and act as if they were inferior and powerless, as the guards
constantly reminded them. And every guard, at some time during the simulation,
engaged in abusive, authoritative behavior. One said, “I was surprised at
myself. . . . I made them call each other names and clean the toilets out with
their bare hands. I practically considered the prisoners cattle, and I kept thinking:
‘I have to watch out for them in case they try something.’ ” Surprisingly,
during the entire experiment—even after days of abuse—not one prisoner said,
“Stop this. I’m a student like you. This is just an experiment!”
The simulation actually proved
too successful in demonstrating how quickly
individuals learn new roles. The researchers had to stop it after only 6 days
because of the participants’ pathological reactions. And remember, these were
individuals chosen precisely for their normalcy and emotional stability.
What can we conclude from this prison simulation? Like the rest of us,
the participants had learned stereotyped conceptions of guard and prisoner
roles from the mass media and their own personal experiences in power and
powerlessness relationships gained at home (parent–child), in school
(teacher–student), and in other situations. This background allowed them
easily and rapidly to assume roles very different from their inherent persona
lities and, with no prior personality pathology or training in the parts they
were playing, execute extreme forms of behavior consistent with those roles.
A follow-up reality television show conducted by the BBC that used a lowerfidelity
simulated prison setting provides some insights into these results.
26 The
psychological contract
An unwritten
agreement that sets out what
management expects from an
employee and vice versa.
role