What Zimbardo’s Experiment taught me About People and Conformity?
Zimbardo’s experiment was a classic experiment in social Psychology in the 1973. It is also a Key Study for the Conformity area of this unit. The whole experiment taught me that good people will soon rebel and would be difficult to handle in a complex situation.
When the prisoners arrived to their jail they were blind folded and in a state of mud shock over their surprise arrest by the city police. They were put into a car and driven to the “Stanford County Jail”. After arriving at the jail the prisoners where searched and stripped naked and then sprayed to get rid of any unwanted germs or lice. However the psychological consequences of stripping, delousing, and shaving the heads of prisoners or members of the military, can cause series of mental emotions to form. This can destroy the independence of the person and make them seem as though they are a number and nothing else. To further promote the prisoners anonymity, the guards wore mirror like sunglasses prevented anyone from seeing their eyes or reading their emotions. This slowly formed a huge impact on the prisoners and cause distress to them as well.
