Stanford Prison Experiment

via <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_prison_experiment">wikipedia</a>:

"Twelve of the twenty-four participants were assigned the role of prisoner (nine plus three potential substitutes), while the other twelve were assigned the role of guard (also nine plus three potential substitutes). Zimbardo took on the role of the superintendent and an undergraduate <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Research_assistant" title="Research assistant">research assistant</a> took on the role of the warden. Zimbardo designed the experiment in order to induce <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disorientation" class="mw-redirect" title="Disorientation">disorientation</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depersonalization" title="Depersonalization">depersonalization</a>, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deindividuation" title="Deindividuation">deindividuation</a> in the participants.

The researchers held an orientation session for the guards the day before the experiment, during which guards were instructed not to harm the prisoners physically or withhold food or drink. In the <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=760lwYmpXbc">footage</a> of the study, Zimbardo can be seen talking to the guards: "You can create in the prisoners feelings of boredom, a sense of fear to some degree, you can create a notion of arbitrariness that their life is totally controlled by us, by the system, you, me, and they'll have no privacy ... We're going to take away their individuality in various ways. In general what all this leads to is a sense of powerlessness. That is, in this situation we'll have all the power and they'll have none."<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_prison_experiment#cite_note-14">[14]</a>

The researchers provided the guards with wooden <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Club_(weapon)" title="Club (weapon)">batons</a> to establish their status,<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_prison_experiment#cite_note-15">[15]</a> clothing similar to that of an actual prison guard (khaki shirt and pants from a local <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surplus_store" title="Surplus store">military surplus store</a>), and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirrored_sunglasses" title="Mirrored sunglasses">mirrored sunglasses</a> to prevent <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye_contact" title="Eye contact">eye contact</a>. Prisoners wore uncomfortable, ill-fitting smocks and stocking caps, as well as a chain around one ankle. Guards were instructed to call prisoners by their assigned numbers, sewn on their uniforms, instead of by name."

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<a href="https://www.activistpost.com/2020/08/3-ways-human-psychology-is-being-exploited-to-create-an-obedient-self-policing-society.html">https://www.activistpost.com/2020/08/3-ways-human-psychology-is-being-exploited-to-create-an-obedient-self-policing-society.html</a>

Stanford Prison Experiment

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