The Stanford Prison Experiment

[Ivory_Tower]

I wasn't aware of (or had forgotten about) this simulated prison that was a psychology experiment at Stanford in 1970. Just saw a link to a web site about it:

http://www.prisonexp.org/index.html

Click on on the "Slide Show" at the top and read the whole thing. The ease in which the participants settled into their assigned roles is absolutely chilling.

From the intro:

"Our planned two-week investigation into the psychology of prison life had to be ended prematurely after only six days because of what the situation was doing to the college students who participated. In only a few days, our guards became sadistic and our prisoners became depressed and showed signs of extreme stress."

You are free to create your own analogies. (I especially found the prisoners' assignment of the "cowboy" persona to the most sadistic guards to be an interesting observation...)

[NYC]

1. Everyone should read

Obedience to Authority by Stanley Milgram. It's about 125 pages long, but very revealing, as is the experiment you listed above.

[bicentennial_baby]

2. I own that book

picked it up at the used bookstore...read it several times now.

[WhoCountsTheVotes]

3. www.stanleymilgram.com

Great website - http://www.stanleymilgram.com

His experiments remind me of an early form of reality TV.

[NYC]

4. Thanks for the link.

I never thought of looking him up on the web.

[Hamlette]

6. Obedience to Authority

I've never been very interested in self help books

[twilight]

7. right you are

That particular experiment was frightening as hell! I happen to have a degree in psychology and I studied that experiment several times!

I couldn't remember the guy that wrote it and was trying to remember the other day. Thanks for that piece of info!

I also saw the Stanford Prison experiment - equally as frightening. It takes a bit of wear and tear and boredom and down you go!

:nuke:

[NYC]

5. Ivory Tower, I read the full report.

I have bookmarked it so I can watch the video tomorrow. You should bump this article before retiring for the evening so the daytime readers will have a chance to see it. Thanks for posting it.

[Ivory_Tower]

8. Bump for the morning

(since I had already retired for the evening)

I haven't watched the videos yet, but I plan to.

[Ivory_Tower]

9. Well, that bump sank like a rock...

One more gratuitous bump for the lunch crowd. That's all, I promise.

[realFedUp]

10. IT- your nick reminds me of the Hoover Tower

on Stanford's campus.