STANFORD PRISON EXPERIMENT Here, in a stylized version of a real photo from the Stanford Prison Experiment, guards are seen shoving prisoners against a wall, just one form of abuse prisoners endured. The prisoners are wearing head coverings to emasculate them. Art by Annie Zhou.
What happens when we accept
torture?
WHY THE STANFORD PRISON EXPERIMENT STILL MATTERS Text by SAURIN HOLDHEIM and JULIE CORNFIELD
T
HIN BEIGE WALLS STAND MERE feet from each other, forming the narrowest of corridors, and from the basement of Stanford University’s Psychology Department, no evidence exists that the warm summer sun is still shining brightly outside. A deafening silence resonates within the eerily lit passage as stale air cycles throughout the hall, and the extraordinarily low ceiling challenges visitors to overcome the claustrophobia that overwhelms them the second they step foot on the linoleum floor. This section of the department was the location of the study now known as the "Stanford Prison Experiment," just a few miles from the equally infamous “Third Wave” experiment at Cubberley High School. The study was led by psychology professor Philip Zimbardo in 1971 with the goal of gaining a better understanding of human nature. The results were astounding: both the college students who were assigned positions as guards and those who were assigned positions as prisoners completely assumed their roles after minimal prompting, prisoners adopting a sense of vulnerability and guards becoming hostile and cruel without hesitation. To many at the time, the experiment was simply a chilling story. However, now — 45 years later — the study is still relevant in relation to issues in the upcoming presidential election, especially the question of whether people can be swayed into committing acts of torture.
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