Are prison officers evil? The prison simulation experiment

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Rohima Akhter

Are prison officers evil? The prison simulation experiment

The study that I am about to discuss was conducted by Zimbardo et al in 1973

Aim:

The aim of this experiment was to discover the validity of the dispositional explanation. If "ordinary" people where located in a prison environment and some of these ordinary people where made to be the prison guards while others are the prisoners, how would these two groups of people behave? If they chose to behave in a non violent approach then this would support the dispositional theory. However if these ordinary people chose to behave the same way as real prisoners and prison guards in an actual prison, then this would support the situational hypothesis. Moreover we can see that the surrounding plays a important role in influencing behaviour.

Procedure:

A couple of male students volunteered for a psychological experiment of "prison life", and where to be paid $15 a day. The 24 most physically and mentally stable men where selected and randomly chosen to be either a prisoner or a guard. There were 2 reserves and 1 person dropped out, which finally left 10