Sunday, August 15, 2010

the stanford prison experiment

experiment conducted by stanford university in 1971 to study the effects of becoming a prisoner or prison guard

24 uni students were selected to play the roles of both guards and prisoners and live in a mock prison in a basement at the university

the experiment got out of hand - it was supposed to go on for 2 weeks but was shut down after only 6 days

many of the guards became increasingly cruel and sadistic (including not letting prisoners go to the toilet and making them sleep on concrete or do heaps of exercise)

afterwards many prisoners showed signs of severe emotional disturbances. they had to wear chains around their ankles and many of them got so upset that they quit the experiment early

there was a riot on the 2nd day

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