[Music] okay this is it right down here yeah it's right down the hallway here yeah this is where it all happened in the summer of 1971 right down this CA in the base from the psychology department is where we converted these offices and storage rooms to prison cells and we had students like yourself college students from all over the country play the roles of either prisoners or guards this was the yard the prison yard uh here in this closet was solitary confinement the infamous hole where the guards put uh prisoners for punishment that part was screened off and there was a hidden camera that we recorded everything that happened exactly where the video crew is now here's one of the rooms that was in fact I have a box of old stuff from the experiment I'd like you to see here here's a box with a old memorabilia from our study the sign this is one of the prison's uniform pris prison 819 you can see it's really a dress here are the chains that the guards gave made the prisoners wear to remind them of their status military unit kind of uniforms the guards wore their billy club symbols of power and authority and you can see over in the wall one of the prisoners etched the days of the week to Mark the passage of time starting on Sunday Monday through the rest of the week well how long did this Study last well we're going to run it for two weeks but we had to end it after only six days what was that did a bad thing prison 819 did a bad thing prison 819 get a Bad Thing 819 a bad thing [Music] our goal back in 1971 was to study the behavioral and psychological consequences of becoming a prisoner or prison guard to do this we decided to simulate a prison environment both physically and mentally and then observe the effects of this institution on all those within its walls we Ed the basement of the psychology building to Stage our little drama scheduled to run for two weeks a card of small offices was converted into a functional prison environment it was complete with three cells there was a guard's room the warden's office my superintendent's office and a closet used if necessary for solitary confinement we recruited the help of some prison experts to assist us with our prison design and construction foremost among them was Carlo Prescott an ex-convict recently released from serving 17 years behind bars in San Quenton and solidad prisons we placed an ad in the City newspaper asking for participants for an experiment studying the psychological effects of prison life they would be paid $15 a day over 70 people applied they were given diagnostic interviews and psychological tests to weed out all those with any signs of psychological abnormality medical disabilities or history of crime or drug use 24 were selected they were all healthy normal intelligent middle class males from colleges throughout the United States and with a flip of the coin each was ran rly assigned to play the role of prisoner or guard it was only by chance that someone was chosen as prisoner or guard now it is important to remember that at the start of this experiment there were no psychological differences between those students assigned The Prisoner role and those assigned to be guards an undergraduate student David jaffy took on the role of prison Warden I acted as the prison superintendent while psychology graduate students Craig Haney and Kurt Banks handled a variety of prison staff responsibilities I met with a student students selected to be guards on the day before the experiment was to begin I had to explain to the guards that they could not in any way hit the prisoners but they could create in the prisoners feelings of boredom a sense of frustration FR can create a sense of fear in them to some degree you can create notion of arbitrariness that their life is totally controlled by us by the system you me uh jaffy um that they'll have no privacy at all their cells uh they're going to sleep be sleeping in rooms with bars on them that there'll be constant surveillance nothing they do will go unobserved they have no freedom of action they can do nothing or say say nothing that we don't permit but to take away their individuality in various ways in general what all this leads to is a sense of powerlessness that is we have total power in the situation and they have none so what's going to happen tomorrow is we tell the students to wait in their houses or rooms living squad car is going to pull up somebody two policemen are going to come out ask his name and visit him have you've been suspected of a crime I don't know he'll just leave a bag you'll say drugs or something come with us handcuff them put him in the car take him down to the police station take him to the security underground entrance detain him fingerprint him book him blindfold him and then Cur and C are going to pick him up uh cuz they'll be blindfold they won't know and say come on moving out then bring them down here and take the blindfolds off then they'll be in the prison then we're going to take their clothes off um uh delouse them uh with a powder spray uh put on the uniform we have some people make a uniform sente which is just going to be like long smoks with numbers on and they'll have rubber you know rubber shower shoes and that's all no on the clothes or anything and they're going to wear a chain on one leg which is just a symbolic thing of their loss of freedom so the police have agreed to do this I just have to go down and double check and give them the give them the names and so forth this be done by campus security [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] police car pulls up in front and a cop comes to the front door and knocks and says he's looking for me so they right there they you know they took me out the door they put my hands against the um car car it was a real cop car it was a real policeman and there were real neighbors in the street who didn't know that I was this was a experiment and there was cameras all around and neighbors all around it they put me in the car then they drove me around Palo Alto they took me to the to the police station the basement of the police station then they put me in the cell I was the first one be picked up so they put me in a Cell which is just like a room with a door with bars on it uh you could tell it wasn't a real jail they locked me in there in this degrading little outfit they were taking this experiment too seriously well when I first got here even though there was uh like I had to strip and go through the process and they would call me names and uh made me look in the mirror and see how ridiculous I was and stuff I still didn't feel at all I he was in the prison I was just looking at it as a job and I was told not to talk say anything I was placed in the cell and there was another prisoner in there but still I looked at it as a job the whole first day everybody well gentlemen here it is time for count at 2:30 a.m. the prisoners were rudely awakened from their sleep by the night guard shift for their count the guards were told to routinely perform counts to familiarize the prisoners with their numbers and determine that they were all present and accounted for but more important it provided a regular occasion for the guards to interact with and exercise control over the prisoners there were several counts every day and night as you can see in this first count the prisoners were not yet into their roles they weren't taking it too seriously they were still trying to assert their independence if we the guards were also having some trouble with feeling out there new roles trying to assert some authority over their prisoners I don't want anybody well the uh the first the first day I was on the job uh I U I knew it was going to be tough because I from uh what we was supposed to do was supposed to try to make prisoners lose all sense of identity and I really didn't think I was going to be able to do it so the first day I was I just sort of oh watched the others on my ship really because the first day passed without incident we were surprised and totally unprepared for the Rebellion which broke out on the morning of the second day when waking the prison for the 10:00 count the morning guardship found that the prisoners in cell number one had removed their stocking caps ripped off their numbers and barricaded themselves inside the cells by putting their beds against the door the prisoners began to taunt and curse the guards to their face this of course embarrassed and upset the guards the morning shift immediately called in reinforcements they asked the night shift to stay on and they called up three other standby guards to help put down the rebellion in ret one of the Ring leaders of the Rebellion prison 8612 protested loudly and they don't keep and fle fucking sitation violation of the rules fuck simulation it's a fucking simulated experiment no PR they take your B your clothes in prison do the guards threw him into the hole [Applause] the other leader of the Rebellion prison 5704 had his feet chained together by the guards the rebellion was temporarily crushed but a new problem faced the guards they realized that nine guards could of course control nine prisoners but how could a regular shift of only three of them maintain control over the prisons without using physical force one of the guards came up with the idea of using psychological tactics instead of physical ones the guard set up a privilege cell and prisoners who were least involved with the Rebellion were put in there and given special privileges they got their uniforms back they were allowed to wash themselves and brush their teeth the others were not beds were returned to the privileged cell prisoners in the privileged cell were offered a special meal while the others were only allowed to watch yet the privileged prisoners refused to eat the special meal showing their solidarity with the punished prisoners prisoners 1037 refused to come out of the hole until all the beds had been returned the prisoners seemed to be winning the guards took measures to increase their control over the prisoners making them do push-ups sit-ups and jumping jacks to punish them the guards began to implement more strip searches every aspect of a prison's Behavior fell into the total arbitrary control of the guards or On Any Given shift prisoners who had been rewarded were now punished by the guards for no reason going to the toilet became a privilege that a guard could Grant or deny and after the 10 p.m. lock up the prisoners had to urinate and defecate in a bucket which was left in their cells and on occasion the guard would refuse to let the prisoners empty that bucket until morning and the cells began to smell the harassment by the guards in the worsening of prison conditions got to prison 8612 the Rebellion leader he decided he had enough he wanted out so he started complaining of headaches and stomach pains 8612 was interviewed by the staff the warden was unsympathetic our ex-convict prison consultant Carlo Prescott ridiculed him as a white boy unable to cope with minimal prison hardships and I as the superintendent offered him a deal no more guard harassment of him in return for some information from time to time in short I asked him to be a snitch I told him think it over and let me know your decision later that night confused 8612 returned to the yard during the evening count and told the other prisoners that no one could get out 8612 against the wall against the wall 8612 somebody help him you got the key the hand I just gave like if I got to be in here I'm not going to put up with any shit I mean you know really I mean I could get out all talking to doctors and Liars against the wall [Music] me obviously this news coming from one of their respected leaders had a dramatic impact on the other prisoners you said you can't get out and then you really felt like you were a prisoner you know it may be as Z Bar's experiment and maybe you were getting paid for it but damn it you were a prisoner you you were really a prisoner there MH I was told that I couldn't quit and at that point I felt that well it was really a prison and at that point uh I don't know I just there's no way I can describe how I felt I just felt totally hopeless more hopeless than I'd ever felt before there were no more signs of rebellion in the prison but prison 8612 couldn't believe that he had lost all control over his situation his confusion Amplified the frustration and feelings of helplessness that he was experiencing 8612 decided that the only way to get out was to show everyone he had gone crazy then they would have to release him he began to play the role of the crazy person but soon the role became too real as he went into an uncontrollable rage I feel so fucked up inside I feel really fucked up inside you know no I got to go I to a doctor anything I mean Jesus Christ I'm burning up inside don't you know I can't stand I fucked up I don't know how to explain it all fucked up inside less than 36 hours into the experiment we had no choice but to release prison 8612 Tuesday was visiting day we were worried that once the parents saw the condition of our jail they would want to take their sons home we decided to manipulate both the prisoners and the visitors to preserve our institution first we clean the prison and groomed the Prisoners the guards took down the sign over the hole fed the prisoners a hot meal and warned them not to complain or the visiting hour would be cut short when the visitors arrived they were first greeted by an attractive receptionist Susie Phillips music was piped in over the intercom system the visitors were made to register and then to wait half an hour while their sons were finishing a late dinner with some extra dessert we wanted to undercut any complaints the prisoners would make by having the situation be so obviously Pleasant and benign also we wanted to parents to attribute some unexpected inconveniences to the son's neglect in writing to them about a number of visiting rules and regulations visits were monitored by a guard limited to only two visitors per prisoner and to only 10 minutes total of course these adults complained about such arbitrary rules but since they obeyed despite their descent the institution had retained its Authority in this situation visitors left their distressed sons in our jail content that we were doing a good job in running the simulated Prison Experiment visiting hour went off without a hitch the hitch came after the visit when the parents had left the guards had picked up a rumor that the prisoners were planning an escape Escape according to the rumor prisoner 8612 whom we had released the day before was going to return with a bunch of his friends and force the release of the other prisoners next we decided to dismantle the prison and move all the prisoners up to a remote storage room on the top floor extra guards were called in to help clean it out and transport the inmates and bolster security the plan was for me to be waiting in the basement in the empty CA when 8612 returned with his friends I would tell him that we decided to end the experiment early and that everyone had gone home after they left we would rebuild the prison we even discussed luring 8612 back and then imprisoning him because he had been paroled under false pretenses the confrontation never came off no one ever showed the guards had wasted the whole day tearing down and then rebuilding their prison and even miss lunch someone was going to pay for all this down the guards again escalated very noticeably their level of harassment of the prisoners and increased the humiliation that they made the prisoners suffer push-ups increased in number and severity the counts became grueling ordeals lasting for several hours they made the prisoners clean out toilet bowls with their bare hands and polish the guard shoes prisoners and I began to uh lose all sympathy I had for them and any respect that might have been present I I just shut out and I began to uh treat them as coldly as possible as harshly as possible and by you know by the third day I I had done such a good job convincing myself that I was I was acting like that I I treated the prisoners like they were of a of a distinct inferior order than myself I would say smoking privilege smoking is a privileg what is smoking a privil what a privileg smoking prisoner 819 was our next problem he refused to take part in the 6 a.m. count and to do any exercises then he messed up his cell and barricaded himself in in retaliation the guards made his cellmates do mindless work of moving boxes back and forth you're not only not getting a cigarette but for as long as cell's blocked you're going to be in you get out a we now now keep an eye on you 819 was put in the hole just then we were visited by a Catholic priest who had been a real prison chaplain he had agreed to come down to assess the reality of our situation compared to those he had known the prisoners were invited to talk with him and only 819 refused some surprising things happened when introducing themselves half of the prisoners used their number not their name when asked why they were in jail most answered with the charge told to them by the palalo police the priest asked them what action they were taking to get out of jail while they were waiting trial the prisoners really got confused he ched them for not knowing their civil liberties and for not getting a lawyer to bail them out he followed through with his role as prison chaplain by calling some parents to get a public defender for their imprisoned Sons prison 819 finally agreed to meet with the priest as soon as he was taken out of the hole and he started talking with the priest 819 broke down crying I tried to calm him down and took him to a special rest and Recreation room down the hall after a good meal he could leave if he wanted to the priest told me that 819 and our other prisoners were acting just like first timers who were confused frightened and emotional before they got hardened by the prison system our jail seemed very real to him meanwhile the guards were assembling the prisoners for the 11:30 count pris 819 did a bad thingis 819 did a bad thing 819 819 a as soon as I realized that 819 could hear this I rushed to the room where I had left him and what I found was a boy crying hysterically while in the background his fellow prisoners were chanting and yelling that he is a bad prisoner and that they were being punished because of him because of what prisoner 819 no longer was this account disorganized and full of fun as it was on the first day of the experiment now the account was marked by its Conformity compliance and absolute Unison it was as if one voice called out that 819 is bad I tried to console prison 819 by offering to let him go but he insisted on staying he told me that he couldn't leave knowing that the other prisoners thought he was a bad prisoner I managed to get through to him by reminding him who he really was and what this place really was and who I really was as that other reality broke through he agreed to be released from his imprisonment and quit the experiment to replace prisoner 819 we brought in a new prisoner from the standby list prisoner 416 like the others he was stripped deloused and placed in the prison environment we wondered what effect would this newcomer have on our oldtimers if i' had been through so much and how would this all Look to Him The Madness of this place which had evolved gradually for the other prisoners was for him full-blown upon arrival if he rebelled against the guards Authority would the others follow this new leader or not prisoner 416 began his Revolt by refusing to eat he went on a hunger strike amazingly the prisoners were so divided among themselves that instead of rally ing around 416 they refused to join him to them he was just a troublemaker the guards used this lack of solidarity displayed by the other prisoners to try to break and control prisoner 416 ironically they began by making him sing Amazing Grace 416 while they do push-ups you sing Amazing Grace Ready down [Music] to like me keep going once I was blind and now I see I was blind but now I see I saw God not bad everybody over on your back on the floor oh stay down there stay down there by this stage in the experiment the prisons had displayed three ways to cope with their feelings of frustration absolute powerlessness and their growing sense of helplessness and despair at first most prisoners fought and rebelled against the guards by now four of them had reacted passively by breaking down emotionally forcing us to release them and still others had reacted by becoming model prisoners one such prisoner 2093 was nicknamed Sarge by the other prisoners because of the way he followed the guard's orders so readily it was also apparent that there were three types of guards the good guards who felt sorry and did little favors for the prisoners tough but fair guards who followed the rules and the sadistic guards who constantly degraded and humiliated the prisoners as a group the guards now had total control of the prison except for prisoner 416 they had The Obedience of every prisoner they could literally dictate whatever Behavior they wanted from them the guards tested their control over the prisoners by making them write a letter home no need to visit [Music] [Music] yours truly your again again let's hear yours truly yours truly your loving son your and put the name there that your mother gave you at dinner prisoner 416 refused to eat his sausages left over from lunch 416 is um is a prisoner who was extremely dazed at first and upset um and found that to his surprise he couldn't respect himself unless he found means to resist and means that were uniquely his own means that he that were best adapted to him and 416 has found those means and 416 it means something to me now that's a the number is a source of Pride like a name it's it's important to me that I'm 416 get in that prate then he was thrown into the hole and ordered to hold the sausages in his hands the guards threatened to cancel Thursday's visiting hour for all prisoners if 416 did not eat his sausages 416 refused again the guards then channeled the frustration of the other prisoners by having them Express their anger directly at 416 who was in the hole thank you 416 okay 209 thank you 416 over there I do the same oh yeah you do just the same way too thank you 416 okay that's enough to the guards 416 represented Disobedience he was a solitary threat to their total power he was taken out of the hole for the next count the count was run almost single-handedly by one guard the prisoners named him John Wayne because of his Macho guard performance and tough guy attitude he used every tactic he could think of public humiliation homophobia whatever to dominate the prisoners 416 hands in the air why don't you play Frankenstein 2093 you be the Bride of Frankenstein you stay here you come over there should I act out you should act it out you be the Bride of Frankenstein and you be Frankenstein I want you to walk over here like Frankenstein and say that you love 2093 Frankenstein walk like Frankenstein you to walk like you I love you get up close get up close I love you3 I love you9 SM you get down here and do 10 push-up 2 3 4 5 6 even Sarge the obedient prisoner was abused why you I don't know sir why did you try to be obedient so much it it's my nature to be obedient to inspiration La you a li you a stink Li if you take some inspiration La what if I told you to get down on that floor and fuck the floor what would you do then I would say we didn't no helmet for not one of the prisoners protested the harshness and cruelty of the count before lights out 416 was again put in the hole because he refused to eat his sausages now filthy from being thrown all over the floor John Wayne made a final attempt to get 416 to submit by setting the other prisoners against him he gave the prisoners a choice choice now there's a couple ways that we can do this depending upon what you want to do now if 416 does not want to eat his sausages then you can give me the blankets and sleep on the bare mattress or you can keep your blank and 416 will stay in another day now what would it be what will it be over here how about 546 I'll give my offer you don't want to well now you boys got to come to some kind of decision here you to how do we feel about this we got three in keep your blanket we got three gu one keep your blankets 416 you're going to be in there for a while so just get used to it I was watching all this on the television monitor in my office with one of my graduate students I was amazed that the guard would keep that boy in solitary all night as punishment for not eating cold dirty sausages I was amazed that the prisoners would keep their blankets instead of letting 416 out of the hole this was a true prison where frustrated guards acted sadistically against prisoners like 416 who would not submit to their control and where demoralized prisoners acted selfishly and shamefully I told her that I was really impressed with what we had accomplished in less than a week she looked at me and said I think what you are doing to those boys is [Music] horrible and she was right I had to end the experiment because that's what it was an experiment not a prison these were real boys who were really suffering and that fact had escaped me I and everyone else around me except for that graduate student had gotten so far into their prison roles prisoner guard superintendent whatever that it was hard to separate reality from the simulation it just didn't occur to me until she spoke out that I as a psychologist as a human being had to do something about that suffering I had to end the experiment but it's important that we look back at what happened during the six days of our prison study because there were many people other than psychologists who accepted our prison as a prison instead of as a psychology experiment and their actions or lack of actions added to the reality of our simulation first they were the parents who accepted our arbitrary rules for visiting day they too became drawn into our prison Society by working within our prison system to try and better their son's condition but even though some of the prisoners told their parents that this was the worst thing that ever happened to them the parents accepted the perspective the prison authorities had created and they rejected that of their sons the power of the situation was stronger than the individual and what about the priest who came to visit the prison he didn't question the ethics of the experiment as he should have he ended up giving the boys legal counsel instead of spiritual counsel so he made the line between reality and illusion even more obscure after the priest left he called some parents who in turn called a public defender to come to the prison the public defender watched as one by one the boys were brought in handcuffed wearing bags over their heads to discuss their individual cases he was only concerned with informing the prisoners of their rights as prisoners not acknowledging that they were in fact college students locked up for a week in the basement of the psychology building on day five the prisoners were brought in front of the parole board consisting of psychology graduate students secretaries and others the head of the pr board was Carlo Prescott our prison consultant what was really interesting was that Carlo was finally sitting on the other side of the parole proceedings and like all the others who had participated in our study he took on a role or rather the role took over him he became the same kind of parole officer who had rejected his parole request year after year when he was doing time what I'm trying to say is that uh you went outside the door and you had a little time to think now you're back in here trying to con us and looking at you in a different uh a different view but what real social Consciousness do you have what do you really think you of society I'd like to hear something real from you well I've got a valid job working does not make you a good citizen everybody it's a teaching job it's a good job I feel a worthwhile job that may even make you more suspect I don't think I'd want you to teach any in my youngsters it was only afterwards that he realized that he was using the same rationale against them the students that his parole offices had used against him to reject his parole requests I've got nowhere to go while I'm in here and I don't know what my sentence is so the only hope I have is to just wait it out and try and live it as pleasantly as I can I tell you something with your attitude and the way that you you've expressed yourself in this particular board meeting if we were going to definitely make recommendations you know I would see to it personally that you were here until the last day personally so we had to stop the experiment after only six days the prisoners and guards were then debriefed and they all vented their feelings and then we got together a few months later to analyze the whole experience they had some interesting things to say about it I don't know I just it at first I thought that maybe I could I could manage prison for a while uh right now I don't think I could manage it at all I don't see how anybody really could without coming out uh really hateful what made the experience most depressing for me was the fact that we were continually called upon to act in a way that just it's contrary to what I really feel inside I don't feel like I'm the type of person that would be a guard just continually giving out shit and forcing people to do things and pushing and lying it just it just didn't seem like me and it to continually keep up put on a face like that is just really one of the most impressive things you can do I I had really thought that I was incapable of this kind of behavior I I was surprised you now I was dismayed to find out that I could I could really be a uh that I could act in a manner so so absolutely unaccustomed to anything I would even even really dream of doing and I and while I was doing it I U I didn't feel any regret I didn't feel any uh uh guilt it was only after afterwards when I began to reflect on what I had done that this began to this Behavior began to dawn on me and I realized that this was uh uh this was a part of me I hadn't really noticed before I began to feel that I was losing my identity that that the person that I call Clay the person who who put me in this place the person who volunteered to to go into this prison because it was a prison to me it still is a prison to me I I don't look on it as an experiment or a simulation it was just a a prison that was run by psychologists instead of run by the state I began to feel that that that identity that the person that I was that that had decided to go to prison was distant from me was was remote until finally I wasn't that I was I was 416 I was really my number and 416 was going to have to decide what to do once you put a uniform on and are given a role I mean a Job saying your job is to keep these people in line then you're not certainly not the same person as if you were in Street cloth and in a different role you really become that person what you put on that khaki uniform you put on on the glasses you put on you take the night stick and you know you you act the part that's your that's your costume and uh you have to act accordingly when you put it on it harms me I mean harms I mean in the present tense it harms me how did it harm you how does I know what you can turn into I know what you're willing to do if you say oh well I'm not going to hurt anybody oh well it's a limited situation it's over in two weeks well you in position what would you have done I don't know I can't tell you that I know what I do would you I don't think I don't believe I would have been as inventive as you I don't believe I would have applied as much imagination to what I was doing do you understand yes I understand uh I think I would have been a guard I don't think it would have been such a masterpiece uh I didn't see where it was really harmful it was degrading and that was that was part of my particular little experiment to see how I could uh your particular little experiment why you tell me about that I was I was running little experiments of my own tell me about your little experiments I was curious I wanted to to see just what kind of verbal abuse that people can take before they start objecting before they start flashing back yeah under the circumstances that it surprised me that no one said anything to stop me no one no one I started started to get Abus people so much I started to get so profane that and still people didn't say anything right now in this uh jail I'm the uh one of the staff psychologists this I'm I've been doing for 14 years practically uh the length of time I've been away from Phil's ard's experiment I can't say I'm fucked up I don't know how to explain it all fucked up inside God damn it as an experience it it was unique I've never screamed so loud in my life life um I've never been so upset in my life and it was an experience of being out of control both of the situation and of my feelings and maybe I always have had difficulty with the notion of losing control I wanted to understand myself so I went into psychology so that the unconscious wouldn't so control me as it did that when I that whole experiment that whole situation I was confused I didn't know what my role was and I figured well I me I'm thinking now I'll go into psychology I'll learn how what what makes a person tick I won't be so afraid of the unconscious the Stanford Prison was a very benign prison situation and it still caused guards to become sadistic prisoners to become hysterical other prisoners to break out in hives I mean here you had a benign situation it didn't work it promoted everything a normal prison promotes the guard role promotes ISM The Prisoner role Pro promotes a feeling of confusion and [Music] shame anybody can be a guard it's harder to be on guard against the impulse to be sadistic because it's a quiet rage a malevolence that you you you can you can Dam up but there's nowhere for it to go it comes out sideways s sadistically or whatever whereas I think you have do have more control maybe because this is my experience um everybody needn't be a prisoner I think if I went through the experience now I wouldn't have been nearly so confused I would have been able to do a lot of things differently and not have felt so unsure of what to do I would have known I would have known much more about my options and there are real prisoners I have met in jail who were people of exceptional dignity who did not um put down the guards who are very respectful of the guards and do not create in the guard a sadistic impulse and they could rise above the um uh The Shame of the role and they knew uh knew how to preserve their dignity within that situation Dr zardo I'm concerned about this subjects what happened to them afterwards yeah were there any long-term negative effects hopefully no we did do extensive follow-ups both bringing all the subjects back individually or in groups uh for over a period of that first year and then for the next 10 years we've surveyed them by mail and phone and the consensus is that they did suffer during that that week but they learned a great deal about themselves and about human nature that uh most of them say was quite valuable in addition the effects were really situation bound limited to that situation for several reason reasons one we picked boys who were normal and healthy in every way and so they were able to rebound back to that position of of mental physical health after they were out of that situation and then we were able to explicitly make the point that what we saw what they experienced was the power of the situation so it told us about the situation they were in and not anything about themselves that what they did was not diagnostic of any personal pathology it was diagnostic of the pathology of prison likee situations why didn't you stop it sooner it seems unethical to let it go on for so long it was unethical there's no question about that people suffered uh in this experiment as subjects uh it went it went on too long because I got trapped in the Dual role of principal investigator of the research project and prison superintendent of the Stanford County Jail which I never should have done the other issue the the central issue about the ethics of this study uh weighs the cost to the subjects which were real and tangible this their suffering against possible benefits to them and benefits to science and society and uh we were able to use this study to to promote prison reform lastly the study makes a very profound point about the power of situations that situations affect us much more than we think that more more uh human behavior is much more under the control of subtle situational forces in some cases trivial ones like rules and roles and symbols and uniforms uh and much less uh under the control of things like character and personality traits that we ordinarily think as determining behavior I'm a college undergraduate I can't possibly imagine myself ever being a prisoner or a guard what relevance would this have for the everyday person yeah and is there as much relevance for females as well yeah it's important not to think of this as prison prisoner guard in real prison the important issue is the metaphor of prisoner and guard what does it mean to be a prisoner what does it mean to be a guard and a guard is somebody who limits the freedom of someone else uses the power in their role to control and dominate someone else and that's what the study is about and so any situation you're in where there's this power relationship between husbands and wives and and parents and children and teachers and students and and doctors and patients and in the military in so many situations we think this study has relevance for you in thinking about this kind of research uh we began to think what are the situation which people voluntarily give up their freedom well the one obvious kind of person who internalizes both the prisoner and guard mentality the part of you that says you can't do it I which puts coer of limitations on you and the part of you which says okay I have the ability and motivation but if you say so I won't do it and limits his or her own freedom is the shy person and that we begin to see shyness as a self-imposed psychological prison and right after we finished the the the prison experiment we began thinking about shyness and studying and it turns out nobody had ever studied it seriously and so for the next 15 years we have been doing research on shinness at Stanford and then set up the first Stanford shinness Clinic the first shinness clinic in America the Stanford shinest Clinic and so we went from imprisoning people in our experiment to doing research and then therapy which has exactly the opposite goals to try to help people free themselves from prisons that they create so we think it has uh very important implications for uh for all of us in our everyday Liv [Music] is [Music]