The Stanford Prison Experiment is one of my favorite cases of socialization ever. It perfectly exemplifies the power of one's placement in society to influence his behavior and values. Although the experiment itself is not a violent crime, it incorporated studies of previous bloody prison riots and their potential psychological sociological sources and so it examines the potential cause behind violent crime as a whole. Here is the story.
It all began when an advertisement when out in a local newspaper in Palo Alto, California for college students looking for a pat time job earning $15 dollars a day by participating in a psychology experiment. After preliminary evaluations and tests to eliminate any mentally ill individuals or those with a history of violence or drug abuse, 24 were left. The experiment was to see how normal civilians would react to being put in a stimulated prison scenario. Half were made guards and the other half were made prisoners. Recall that at the beginning, there was no difference between then and the allocations were made arbitrarily. The "prison" was set up in the basement of the Psychology building at Stanford University. Classrooms and laboratories were made into cells and the main hallway was the "yard." An intercom system was set up to listen to what the prisoners said and to communicate with them. Cameras were also set up to observe them. At one end of the hall, a solitary confinement room was constructed with just enough for a prisoner to stand up alone.
On a quiet Sunday morning in Palo Alto, the "prisoners" were taken from their homes, arrested publically, brought to the station, processed and read their rights. They were then blindfolded and put in "cells." They were told of the seriousness of their crimes and then stripped and sprayed with a louse spray as if they had bugs. This degradation process was intended to humiliate prisoners and help re-socialize them as prisoners. The prisoners were then issued a chain to be worn around the ankle, no underwear, and a uniform bearing their prisoner number. The uniform worn was of a dress-like fashion and the men also had nylon stockings to be placed on the head. This contributed to the emasculated state of the individuals. The chain served the function of a reminder of the continued oppressive nature of the surroundings...that each individual is still in prison and unable to leave. The ID number was the only way prisoners were called and the only way they could refer to each other. This resulted in a rapid loss of individuality.
The guards, under undergraduate David Jaffe, were given no rules and told to do what they felt was necessary to maintain order and command respect. They too were issued uniforms which included a whistle and a club, as well as mirrored sunglasses. These served to hide the emotions of the guards and gave the guards a sense of empowerment.
The experiment truly began at the first of many "counts" when the prisoners would be summoned into the hall and called in order by their numbers. Initially, the prisoners were not immersed in their roles and the guards were unsure how to manage their positions in power. Then confrontations began. One of the methods of punishment enforced by the guards was pushups. Although seemingly juvenile, observers noticed that it quickly turned into a very serious punishment, often with a guard putting weight on a prisoner's back in the process.
The first day was relatively uneventful, but on the morning of the second day, the prisoners rebelled by removing their stocking caps and numbers and barricading themselves in the cells. The morning shift of guards came on and, frustrated by the leniency of the night shift, took matters into their own hands. They called in back up, consisting of the other guards from other shifts, and together they got fire extinguishers and shot at the prisoners, forcing them away from the doors and breaking into the cells. All were stripped and the leaders were put in solitary confinement. The guards then needed a method of controlling the prisoners without so many guards, so they turned to psychology. They put some of the leaders in what they called "good cells," causing others to believe they were informants and resulting in mass distrust amongst the prisoners. At the same time that the prisoners were divided, the guards were united. Now, it was an "us verses them" situation where the guards needed to maintain power as a group. They began to control every aspect of the prisoner's lives, including when they could sleep and then they could use the restroom. At one point, one prisoner began exhibiting signs of emotional disturbance. The experimenters believed for a while that he was just trying to fake his way out, but when he began screaming to the others that they couldn't quit, inciting mass hysteria, he was released. An a later interview, he explained that he felt totally helpless...like it wasn't just an experiment anymore...like he really was a prisoner in this.
At one point, parents were brought in to visit their sons. Afraid of what they might see and react to, the experimenters did everything to make the prison appear arbitrary. They then went on to enforce rules for visitation. Parents complained, but ultimately complied. Everything was fitting together to give the complete impression that the prisoners really were prisoners.
When rumors of an escape plot orchestrated by the released prisoner got to the guards and experimenters, the experimenters responded as wardens, not as psychologists. They developed strategies and ways tor protect their prison. What was amazing was that even the psychologists who were running the experiment fell completely into the roles of wardens. The head of the experiment, Phil Zimbardo, recalled later how when asked during the experiment what the independent variable (something required in any form of experiment) he became angered at the implied threat to his authority as a warden. After the threat turned out to be fake, the guards responded with more violence, and one prisoner cracked. When he was removed to be released, the other prisoners gathered and chanted that he was a bad prisoner. He broke down hysterically crying and it wasn't until Zimbardo reminded him that he was a person and Zimbardo was a psychologist that he returned to reality and calmed down. This reaction demonstrates his complete immersion into the role as a prisoner. As time passed, more and more evidence was presented to demonstrate that the prisoners and guards had completely lost sight of this as an experiment and genuinely believed in their roles. By the end of the experiment, the re-socialization was complete. The guards were a unified mass who needed to maintain their power and authority in any way possible, and the prisoners were helpless individuals with no individual identity anymore.
The Stanford Prison Experiment
You can probably see why I find this to be the most perfect example of socialization. I am still amazed by the way the prisoners and guards fell so totally into their roles. I should add here that the experiment lasted a total of 6 days! That was all it took for them to lose their sense of individuality and identity and become the roles they were told to fill. One has to wonder what this means if such socialization can be done so easily. What are the ramifications for society and the culpability of individuals that are part of larger groups. If it is so easy to strip away identity, how do we really define ourselves. Could any one of us resisted the roles that they guards and prisoners were forced into? Probably not. It's scary to think that these were just normal boys. Any one of us would most likely have behaved in the exact same way. This experiment shows the power that one's attributed role or status has on controlling his behavior and emotions.
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