The Stanford prison experiment (SPE) was a psychological experiment conducted in August 1971. It was a two-week simulation of a prison environment that examined the effects of situational variables on participants' reactions and behaviors. Stanford University psychology professor Philip Zimbardo led the research team who administered the study.
Obedience, in human behavior, is a form of "social influence in which a person yields to explicit instructions or orders from an authority figure". Obedience is generally distinguished from compliance, which some authors define as behavior influenced by peers while others use it as a more general term for positive responses to another individual's request, and from conformity, which is behavior intended to match that of the majority. Depending on context, obedience can be seen as moral, immoral, or amoral. For example, in psychological research, individuals are usually confronted with immoral demands designed to elicit an internal conflict. If individuals still choose to submit to the demand, they are acting obediently.
Philip George Zimbardo is an American psychologist and a professor emeritus at Stanford University. He became known for his 1971 Stanford prison experiment, which was later severely criticized for both ethical and scientific reasons. He has authored various introductory psychology textbooks for college students, and other notable works, including The Lucifer Effect, The Time Paradox, and The Time Cure. He is also the founder and president of the Heroic Imagination Project.
Das Experiment is a 2001 German drama thriller film directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel. It is based on Mario Giordano's novel Black Box and deals with a social experiment which resembles Philip Zimbardo's Stanford prison experiment of 1971.
Deindividuation is a concept in social psychology that is generally thought of as the loss of self-awareness in groups, although this is a matter of contention. For the social psychologist, the level of analysis is the individual in the context of a social situation. As such, social psychologists emphasize the role of internal psychological processes. Other social scientists, such as sociologists, are more concerned with broad social, economic, political, and historical factors that influence events in a given society.
Andrew Hewitt is an English composer based in Los Angeles.
The Experiment is a 2002 BBC documentary series in which 15 men are randomly selected to be either "prisoner" or guard, contained in a simulated prison over an eight-day period. Produced by Steve Reicher and Alex Haslam, it presents the findings of what has subsequently become known as the BBC Prison Study. These findings centered around "the social and psychological consequences of putting people in groups of unequal power" and "when people accept inequality and when they challenge it".
Under the controversy of person–situation debate, situationism is the theory that changes in human behavior are factors of the situation rather than the traits a person possesses. Behavior is believed to be influenced by external, situational factors rather than internal traits or motivations. Situationism therefore challenges the positions of trait theorists, such as Hans Eysenck or Raymond B. Cattell. This is an ongoing debate that has truth to both sides; psychologists are able to prove each of the view points through human experimentation.
The Experiment is a 2010 American drama thriller film directed by Paul T. Scheuring and starring Adrien Brody, Forest Whitaker, Cam Gigandet, Clifton Collins Jr., and Maggie Grace, about an experiment which resembles Philip Zimbardo's Stanford prison experiment in 1971.
Matt Bennett is an American actor and DJ. He is known for playing Robbie Shapiro in the Nickelodeon sitcom Victorious. His film roles include The Virginity Hit, Bridesmaids, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, The Stanford Prison Experiment and Manson Family Vacation. He has guest-starred on shows such as The Big Bang Theory, American Vandal and Dynasty. Since 2022, he has primarily worked as a DJ, performing Disney and Nickelodeon songs at several venues.
Christina Maslach is an American social psychologist and professor emerita of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, known for her research on occupational burnout. She is a co-author of the Maslach Burnout Inventory and Areas of Worklife Survey. Early in her professional career, Maslach was instrumental in stopping the Stanford prison experiment. In 1997, she was awarded the U.S. Professor of the Year.
Brett Davern is an American actor known for his role as Jake Rosati on the MTV series Awkward.
Thomas Mann is an American actor. He is known for his roles in the films Project X (2012), As Cool as I Am (2013), Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters (2013), Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (2015), Kong: Skull Island (2017), and Halloween Kills (2021).
Tye Kayle Sheridan is an American actor. He is known for playing the young Scott Summers / Cyclops in the X-Men film series (2016–2019) and for his starring role in the science fiction film Ready Player One (2018).
Whiplash is a 2014 American drama film written and directed by Damien Chazelle, starring Miles Teller, J. K. Simmons, Paul Reiser, and Melissa Benoist. It focuses on an ambitious music student and aspiring jazz drummer (Teller), who is pushed to his limit by his abusive instructor (Simmons) at the fictional Shaffer Conservatory in New York City.
Crown Heights is a 2017 American biographical crime drama film written and directed by Matt Ruskin. Adapted from a This American Life podcast, the film tells the true story of Colin Warner who was wrongfully convicted of murder, and how his best friend Carl King devoted his life to proving Colin's innocence. The film stars Lakeith Stanfield as Colin Warner and Nnamdi Asomugha as Carl King.
Craig Haney is an American social psychologist and a professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz, noted for his work on the study of capital punishment and the psychological impact of imprisonment and prison isolation since the 1970s. He was a researcher on The Stanford Prison Experiment.
Kyle Patrick Alvarez is an American filmmaker and producer. He is known for directing the film The Stanford Prison Experiment (2015) and has worked as a director and producer for television.
The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil is a 2007 book which includes professor Philip Zimbardo's first detailed, written account of the events surrounding the 1971 Stanford Prison Experiment (SPE) – a prison simulation study which had to be discontinued after only six days due to several distressing outcomes and mental breaks of the participants. The book includes over 30 years of subsequent research into the psychological and social factors which result in immoral acts being committed by otherwise moral people. It also examines the prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib in 2003, which has similarities to the Stanford experiment. The title takes its name from the biblical story of the favored angel of God, Lucifer, his fall from grace, and his assumption of the role of Satan, the embodiment of evil. The book was briefly on The New York Times Non-Fiction Best Seller and won the American Psychological Association's 2008 William James Book Award.
Hala is a 2019 American drama film written and directed by Minhal Baig. The film was screened in the U.S. Dramatic Competition section at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival, and was released in a limited theatrical release on November 22, 2019, followed by digital streaming on December 6, 2019, by Apple TV+. The film received generally positive reviews. It is based on a previous short film by Baig made in 2016 by the same name.
