When we see somebody doing bad things we assume they’re bad people to begin with. What we know from the Stanford Prison Experiment is there are a set of social psychological variables that can make ordinary people do things they never could imagine doing. – Dr. Philip Zimbardo

It’s pretty obvious that people behave differently in different social settings. Just think about it for a quick second. Honestly, do you behave the same when your with your friends as you are with your family? You’re probably a little bit more lose, maybe a little more irresponsible, but nothing too bad. What about at work? How do you behave differently when you’re at work? Probably the opposite. More responsible with less swearing. With those social situations, we’re just changing our behaviors a little bit. What would it take though for us to change part of our identity? Is it possible to do that with social psychological variables alone? What would it take for a regular person to torture another human being? Dr. Philip Zimbardo tested that theory to great lengths in 1971 and his findings are used to explain actions from the every day workplace to the abuses at Abu Ghraib. Stay with me to talk about one of the most groundbreaking Social Psychology experiments of all time. I talk a little bit more about this particular study than I normally do, but that’s because this is one of my favorites. I could go on for days about this particular experiment and how it’s applied to our everyday lives. Instead, I’ll keep it to the highlight real.

Zimbardo set up a fake prison and had volunteers play the part of Guards or Prisoners

In 1971, Dr. Philip Zimbardo set up a fake prison in the basement of the Stanford Psychology building. To put this in perspective, this fake prison had bars over windows, different rooms as cells complete with beds and plain walls. Zimbardo and his team selected 24 male volunteers to participate in the study. Each participant went through physical and psychological testing before being able to participate. They were randomly divided into prisoners and guards by flipping a coin. Each prisoner was arrested and brought to the prison where they went through a set of rituals meant to degrade and strip a person of their identity. They were deloused, stripped, and dressed in plain clothes with a number on their chest. Each prisoner was cut off from their normal lives until the experiment ended. In contrast, the guards were working 8 hour shifts and continuing with their normal lives. They were also given uniforms, clubs, and thick sunglasses to help hide their face. This was also done in part to remove their identity. Zimbardo acted as the Warden and observed the prison from a distance.

The prison experiment was intended to last 2 weeks, but was cut off after 6 days because of the extreme changes to all involved.

To say that the prison experiment changed some individuals is an understatement. This experiment made good normal kids into abusive and aggressive guards. At the same time, it took normal and extroverted college students and made them submissive and complacent prisoners. One of the prisoners commented that the prison was real to him, it was just ran by a psychology department instead of The State. Guards had ordered prisoners to do push-ups, repeat demeaning chants, and In one case, a guard speaking to two prisoners ordered “You be the Bride of Frankenstein, and you be Frankenstein. I want you to walk over here like Frankenstein and say that you love (prisoner) 2093.” When one of the prisoners had hit his breaking point and left the experiment, the other prisoners were made to chant “prisoner 819 did a bad thing.” The participant could hear this in the background and was demanding to go back and prove that he wasn’t a bad prisoner. That showed the intense reality that this prison had come to represent for those participants.

Zimbardo himself went through some changes. After one prisoner had left the experiment, rumors circulated that he was going to “break out” the other prisoners. Zimbardo had the entire prison moved and watched over the prison himself to make sure that nothing would upset his experiment. After 6 days, Zimbardo was showing his now wife, and fellow psychologist, some of the changes that took place. She called out to him the changes that were made not only by the participants, but in himself as well. At that point, the experiment was stopped.

Power and behavior are heavily influenced by social and psychological variables.

Early in the article, we started talking about how your behavior is different in different social situations. We pointed out that people are slightly different when at work or with friends than they are typically with family. Those were just a couple small examples that hopefully everyone can relate to. Knowing those little changes hopefully opens up the realization of a larger picture. Let’s take work for example. Situations where one person is clearly above another on the corporate ladder can greatly influence both of their behaviors. Like the prisoners, the lower level person will typically behave in a slightly submissive manner. They might even agree to things that they don’t think are right. On the flip side, the higher level person might take the power they have and be aggressive in their behavior, much like the guards. Outside the workplace, there are power hierarchies within families. Often behavior is influenced by the family social situation. Especially around holidays. This is especially true when bringing in new members to the family, like meeting a fiance for the first time. Imagine the comfort level of that person and how their behavior might change.

It’s important to understand how social situations can influence our behavior so that we can decide whether to change that. Knocking down the social barriers in these situations is key. Building personal relationships with those at work and being more aware of your own behavior are great ways to start. The more that you know about how your brain works, the better your chances of bending it to your will. Learning these Social Psychology tricks is just a way of best using the tool that you have – your brain.

– Tim

Photo: [AndreasS], Brad Flickinger