Philip Zimbardo was born on March 23, 1933 in New York City. Zimbardo attended Brooklyn College and majored in psychology, anthropology, and sociology. He earned his bachelors and Ph.D. from Yale University. Zimbardo taught at Yale, New York City University, and Stanford University. Zimbardo created The Stanford Shyness Clinic and it was developed in 1977 to help people with their shyness and give them treatment. The clinic is now in Palo Alto, California. Zimbardo continues to work on research at the Shyness Clinic. In 2002 Zimbardo was president of the American Psychological Association.
Zimbardo is best known for his Stanford Prison Experiment. The Stanford Prison Experiment was done in August of 1971 for six days. According to Vetter, S. (2007), “He wanted to find out what happens when average people are put into an evil place”. Philip Zimbardo states on his website, “How we went about testing these questions and what we found may astound you. Our planned two-week investigation into the psychology of prison life had to be ended after only six days because of what the situation was doing to the college students who participated. In only a few days, our guards became sadistic and our prisoners became depressed and showed signs of extreme stress”. As he stated, the experiment was supposed to last two full weeks.
Twenty-four men were used for this experiment. Whether you were a prisoner or a guard was decided on a coin flip. To start, the prisoners were arrested from their homes by the Palo Alto police and taken into custody. They had their fingerprints taken, pictures, and they were given a different set of clothes to wear. The uniform for the prisoners was a dress-type outfit with numbers on it. The numbers were how to prisoner referred to themselves and how they were identified. They were also required to wear a chain. The fake prison set up was in the basement of the Stanford psychology department. The guards were given sunglasses and sticks.
The guards took their roles very seriously. One guard in particular, went by John Wayne. His real name is Dave Eshelman. Eshelman, for the sake of the experiment, wanted to see how much he could get away with. Eshelman was the most abusive guard emotionally and psychologically. He made the prisoners work out in the middle of the night, he put them in solitary confinement for almost any reason, and he made them say sexual things to one another. When the experiment was over Eshelman said, “What came over me was not an accident. It was planned. I set out with a definite plan in mind, to try to force the action, force something to happen so that the researcher would have something to work with” (Tartakovsky, 2016). The prisoners had unusual requirements. “Professor Zimbardo also acknowledges initiating several procedures that do not occur in actual prisons, such as blindfolding incoming “prisoners”, making them wear women’s clothing, not allowing them to wear underwear, not allowing them to look out windows, and not allowing them to use their name” (“Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison,” n.d.).
The Stanford Prison Experiment ended early because the guards were becoming overly aggressive to their peers and the prisoners were showing signs of psychological damage. Zimbardo has had a big impact on psychology and the way the mind works when put into different and evil situations that require you to take on a role.
The Stanford Prison Experiment has been controversial from the start. Many people as well as scientist claim the findings from the experiment are incorrect. The research is considered unethical. Cherry (2018) explains in her article a few of the controversies’ concerning the prison experiment. A few of these controversies include: the Ethics Code of APA (American Psychological Association), the lack of variety for the types of men in the experiment, and the fake prison set up. It is hard to make a real prison setting considering the need for environmental factors and situations within the life of prison.
Philip Zimbardo has also written psychology textbook that are used in college courses. The titles of a few of his books are: Psychology Core Concepts, The Time Paradox, and The Lucifer Effect. The Lucifer Effect is about good people turning evil, as well as the prison experiment he conducted.
References
- Meliseandpsychology, W. B. (2017, December 06). Dave Eshelman, AKA “John Wayne”: The Guard. Retrieved October 12, 2018, from https://stanfordprisonexperimentproject.wordpress.com/2017/11/28/and-another-blog-post/
- Home. (n.d.). Retrieved October 12, 2018, from http://www.prisonexp.org/
- Z., & Stanford. (n.d.). How Zimbardo’s Prison Experiment Reveals Social Roles’ Effect On People’s Behavior. Retrieved October 12, 2018, from https://www.psychologistworld.com/influence-personality/stanford-prison-experiment
- Vetter, S. (2007). Understanding Human Behavior in Times of War. Military Medicine, Volume 172 (Issue suppl_2), pp.7-10. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7205/MILMED.173.Supplement_2.11
- Cherry, K. (2018, May 23). The Stanford Prison Experiment Is Still Surprising Decades Later. Retrieved October 12, 2018, from https://www.verywellmind.com/the-stanford-prison-experiment-2794995
- Tartakovsky, M. (2016, June 10). Zimbardo’s Infamous Prison Experiment: Where the Key Players Are Now. Retrieved October 17, 2018, from https://psychcentral.com/blog/zimbardos-infamous-prison-experiment-where-the-key-players-are-now/
- Philip Zimbardo. (2018, August 29). Retrieved October 21, 2018, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Zimbardo
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