Graduate Level Psychology

The Results Transcript

Speakers: Dr. Philip Zimbardo, Guard 1, Prisoners, Guard 2, Dr. Steve Taylor

DR. PHILIP ZIMBARDO: The guards tested their control over the prisoners by making them write a letter home.

GUARD 1: No need to visit. It's seventh heaven. Yours truly.

PRISONERS: Yours truly.

GUARD 1: Your loving son.

PRISONERS: Your loving son.

GUARD 1: And put the name there that your mother gave you.

DR. PHILIP ZIMBARDO: The results were surprising because I did not expect the transformation of good kids into pathological prisoners or abusing guards to occur so quickly and so extremely. That is, we had to assume from all other research, you know, that there would be verbal abuse. They would make fun of them. There would be teasing. There would be bullying, but not this kind of -- I would call it creative evil. That is, thinking about ways to demean, degrade, dehumanize other human beings, and the critical thing there in that transformation is becoming the role or the role becoming you. It's suspending your usual morality, your usual thinking.

GUARD 2: You really become that person once you put on that khaki uniform. You put on the glasses. You put on -- you take the nightstick and, you know, you act the part.

DR. STEVE TAYLOR: So what Zimbardo's research demonstrates so dramatically, is that situations can affect us more than we think. It can often outweigh individual characteristics. So if we're going to use psychology to try to reduce the possibility for evil, maybe we need to focus more on systems and less on individuals. But should the research ever have been done? After all, the participants suffered real harm.

DR. PHILIP ZIMBARDO: In hindsight, again, I have mixed feelings about the study. Should it have been done? Well, not if it means suffering of anybody. Would I like my son to have been in that study? No. On the other hand, does it tell us something vital about human nature that has enduring value? There, I have to say yes. It's been used in lots of prisons as a training device to get people to be sensitized to how easy it is to abuse power. So in that sense, it has widespread enduring value, therefore, I'm saying, well, I'm glad I did it.

(Music)

(On-screen text: Although scheduled to last for 2 weeks, the study was stopped after 5 days.)

[End of Audio]

From “Classic Studies in Psychology.” Copyright 2012 by Films Media Group. All rights reserved. Adapted with permission.