Chapter 03 of 5
The Prison in the Basement
The Stanford Prison Experiment — and why its famous lesson is now doubted.
- 1971
A prison at Stanford
In August 1971, psychologist Philip Zimbardo turned a basement corridor at Stanford University into a mock prison.
- The Volunteers
Guards and prisoners
Two dozen male college students were randomly assigned to be either guards or prisoners.
- The Arrests
Picked up by police
The 'prisoners' were collected from their homes by real local police officers, adding to the realism.
17 more cards in this chapter
Could you answer this?
What did later recordings suggest about the guards in the Stanford Prison Experiment?
🧪 Experiments That Shocked Psychology
- 01Just Following OrdersMilgram's obedience experiments — and what they really showed.
- 02The Lines That LiedHow a room full of wrong answers changes what people say they see.
- 03The Prison in the BasementThe Stanford Prison Experiment — and why its famous lesson is now doubted.
- 04The Marshmallow TestA famous test of willpower — and what bigger studies found.
- 05The Replication CrisisWhen famous findings didn't hold up — and how science fixed itself.