A friend of mine was recently talking to me about the summer of 1971 when the famous prison experiment in Stanford, California took place. He was at that time taking Japanese language classes in that reputed University and recounted about the Stanford Prison experiment, the brainchild of a brilliant but controversial Psychology professor -Phillip Zimbardo.
My friend always wanted to attend Zimbardo's classes. But he could not, as the Professor's classes were invariables full with long waiting list. His razor sharp mind, ready wit and mesmerizing intelligence attracted students in droves towards him like moth to fire, also attracted its share of controversies.
And nothing more controversial than the Stanford Prison Experiment, a topic covered in most introductory psychology textbooks. It was an attempt to investigate the phychological effects of perceived power, focusing on the struggle between prisoner and prison guards, who like Mother-in-laws and Daughter-in-laws have a AHI NAKULA SAMPARKA (the eternal enmity between Snake and Mongoose).
The project was funded by the U.S. Office of Naval Research as an investigation into the causes of conflict between guards and prisoners in the United States Navy and Marine Corps. Professor Zimbardo selected students chosen randomly from the volunteering college students who were known to be sane, sturdy and mentally well balanced to play the role of prisoners and guards respectively.
As the experiment commenced, the students playing Prison Guards ruthlessly enforced dictatorial measures and psychological tortures on their prisoner subjects. Many of the prisoners passively accepted psychological abuse and by the officers' request actively harassed other prisoners who tried to stop it. Zimbardo, playing the role as the Prison Superintendent allowed the abuses to continue.
Two of the prisoners left midexperiment. The whole exercise supposed to last 2 weeks was abandoned after six days as the simulation of the real life situation became too real and too close for comfort to be continued further. The enacting students started acting the real tormentors and victim.
the program was scrapped based on one of Zimbardo's student volunteers, a girl names Christiana Maslach who objected this Prison experiment and proclaimed her hatred for Professor Zimbardo. Interestingly, she ended up dating and eventually marrying him. It vindicates another psychological human behavior - your open critic could be your secret admirer with a crush on you, something more seen amongst women.
To give a background of this - the Ivy league schools like Stanford aren't designed to make you rote your subject overnight, vomit it on answer paper next morning and grab a job with license to loot for life. Those Universities provide a natural platform to nurture innovation and creativity. Those schools are the cradles of scientific inventions, producing innovators and Nobel laureates in dime a dozen.
Not all of these experiments succeed. Many fail and pass into oblivion. Some succeed and crash into limelight. That is the nature of innovations and inventions. The Wright brothers failed multiple times before they were able to fly their man made bird. C V Raman struggled a lot before coming up with his "Raman Effects" which earned him Nobel prize. Zimbardo's experiment might have failed but was harbinger and stepping stone towards further experimentations, some daring. Why not - as No risks, no gains.
My friend always wanted to attend Zimbardo's classes. But he could not, as the Professor's classes were invariables full with long waiting list. His razor sharp mind, ready wit and mesmerizing intelligence attracted students in droves towards him like moth to fire, also attracted its share of controversies.
And nothing more controversial than the Stanford Prison Experiment, a topic covered in most introductory psychology textbooks. It was an attempt to investigate the phychological effects of perceived power, focusing on the struggle between prisoner and prison guards, who like Mother-in-laws and Daughter-in-laws have a AHI NAKULA SAMPARKA (the eternal enmity between Snake and Mongoose).
The project was funded by the U.S. Office of Naval Research as an investigation into the causes of conflict between guards and prisoners in the United States Navy and Marine Corps. Professor Zimbardo selected students chosen randomly from the volunteering college students who were known to be sane, sturdy and mentally well balanced to play the role of prisoners and guards respectively.
As the experiment commenced, the students playing Prison Guards ruthlessly enforced dictatorial measures and psychological tortures on their prisoner subjects. Many of the prisoners passively accepted psychological abuse and by the officers' request actively harassed other prisoners who tried to stop it. Zimbardo, playing the role as the Prison Superintendent allowed the abuses to continue.
Two of the prisoners left midexperiment. The whole exercise supposed to last 2 weeks was abandoned after six days as the simulation of the real life situation became too real and too close for comfort to be continued further. The enacting students started acting the real tormentors and victim.
the program was scrapped based on one of Zimbardo's student volunteers, a girl names Christiana Maslach who objected this Prison experiment and proclaimed her hatred for Professor Zimbardo. Interestingly, she ended up dating and eventually marrying him. It vindicates another psychological human behavior - your open critic could be your secret admirer with a crush on you, something more seen amongst women.
To give a background of this - the Ivy league schools like Stanford aren't designed to make you rote your subject overnight, vomit it on answer paper next morning and grab a job with license to loot for life. Those Universities provide a natural platform to nurture innovation and creativity. Those schools are the cradles of scientific inventions, producing innovators and Nobel laureates in dime a dozen.
Not all of these experiments succeed. Many fail and pass into oblivion. Some succeed and crash into limelight. That is the nature of innovations and inventions. The Wright brothers failed multiple times before they were able to fly their man made bird. C V Raman struggled a lot before coming up with his "Raman Effects" which earned him Nobel prize. Zimbardo's experiment might have failed but was harbinger and stepping stone towards further experimentations, some daring. Why not - as No risks, no gains.
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