The Stanford Prison Experiment & The Psychology of Evil

In this video, we're going to explore the social psychology of the Stanford Prison Experiment. This famous study by Zimbardo is famous for its revelation about the power of social influence, and the effects of evil on human behavior.

We'll be discussing the experiment, its results, and the implications of its findings. We'll also look at some of the key psychological concepts that were uncovered by the experiment, and how they can be used to improve your own social interactions. If you're interested in the psychology of evil, or the power of social influence, then this video is for you!

Researcher/Writer: Chloe Avenasa
Editor: Michal Mitchell
Script Manager: Kelly Soong
Animator: Grace Cárdenas Cano @‌gracecardenascano1

References:
Zimbardo, P. (2011). The Lucifer effect: How good people turn evil. Random House.

[TheycallmeJasJas]

I’ve always wondered why people think it’s ok to bully each other.

[metarunner]

Sometimes I do question if I’m rude, or weird, or what. I get treated like a 5 year old by my peers, and get weird looks whenever I say anything. No one else treats me like this, and no one else in the school is treated like this. Last year, it became a huge trend to just randomly shout my name when I’m in earshot, and act like nothing happened. I became unresponsive to my own name, until I became good friends with people who actually see me, and appreciate me.

[iirovaltonen]

The Stanford Prison Experiment did not go down exactly as you described. Zimbardo repeatedly told and even intimated the guards to act as evil as possible. He manufactured the whole experiment. In fact, the first day or two started pretty peacefully but he was not satisfied so he stepped in to make sure the guards were more aggressive. Most of the guards did not want to bully or torment the prisoners but were forced into it by Zimbardo. He for example argued that the peaceful guards stood in the way of science.

The whole experiment shows us nothing about humans, or evil in general. It is a case study of a corrupted researcher who influenced the process all the way through.

[BogoEN]

This experiment was largely discredited since its initial acceptance. Zimbardo was unhappy with the outcome of the first few hours of the experiment (prisoners and guards largely getting along, guards even expressing a desire to conduct themselves with the rights of prisoners in mind) and intervened to encourage the guards to be more cruel (because he wasn’t getting the results he wanted). Some guards refused, others went along thinking it was for the sake of an unbiased (read: scientific) experiment. Then prisoners were encouraged to rebel by those with knowledge of the desired outcome.
While the general message P2G is promoting at the end of this video is commendable, giving voice to a discredited social experiment carries the consequence of giving credence to bad science.

[rynplayz]

I recently learned about this in my sociology class and I was horrified by the outcome of the experiment.

[nicholasleipzig]

Thanks for your videos. I have now decided that once I'm 18 I would move out and go to a better place away from my family. I will make myself capable of doing better things. I won't let anyone including my family make me think I'm worthless.

[mikedenver]

Phillip Zimbardo actually pushed the "gaurds" to be mean to the "prisoners". They were just hanging out playing guitar together...look it up

[insertwordshere]

People are never born evil. It comes from their environment they came from and how they respond to it.

[Aan]

Timestamps
1). A brief history 0:55
2). The lucifer effect 3:28
3). The hero effect 4:28

Hope this helps you out. Hope you have a nice day. 💙💙💙💙💙💙

[seemranhoro]

We aren't evil as true nature of human beings, we have higher consciousness which transcends evilness. It's how we have been raised and treated as we grew up. It's natural if we have been grown on toxic environment we'll become good or evil to protect ourselves. We all have both goodness and evilness it's how we choose to act and our evil actions comes from past hurt and traumas.

[hpx]

ooh so glad you’re covering this the power that social roles can have on a person is so fascinating and how the brain just fully takes control in these situations. super cool stuff

[Motivational-Moments-with-Femy]

Hello, Psychtogo! I really just want to say your videos are so wholesome, and so helpful to me and many more more people! You helped me learn about mental health, and you made tough to talk about topics look normal to talk about. Thank you for your wonderful videos! I hope Psychtogo will be known to more people across youtube, as you guys work so hard to make animations, and of course make mental health more assessable to everyone.

[MobiusTrip]

Brilliant video as always!
Ive heard talk of people having a "Hero Complex" or of people accusing others of having such a complex, i.e. wanting to help out a lot.

Do we think that this video concludes that a Hero Complex is better than no heroic tendancies at all? (i.e. wanting to help a lot would be better than always being a bystander). That picturing yourself as a hero in waiting may help to reduce "evil" tendancies?

[EclecticMusicMan]

I believe that nobody is born evil, we are all born a blank canvas and it’s life experiences that shape our personalities and behaviour.

[abigailaceves]

I remembered this while being a student at a community college, and boy was it terrifying.

[vit.budina]

Although I don't want to disregard the experiment, nor the findings of a learned psychologist, I can't help but notice a big flaw in the experiment: from my personal experience, people that are generally good are more submissive and prone to adapt their behaviour to their bolder peers. At school, there is often just one bully, but many bystanders who say nothing, either because they are scared of becoming a target, or join their side to keep themselves separated from the victim. That means that there's a high chance that if the participants were picked only from the students that were more submissive and less prone to wanting power, the outcome would probably be different. For example, many of my classmates from high school were good people at their core but would be willing to fight, argue or create drama just for the fun of it, while most of the more quiet and reserved students were generally those who would often offer help without being asked for it, genuinely care for others and never willingly hurt people. Although it would be dangerous to repeat the experiment, I believe that if these precautions were followed, the outcome would be different. At the very least, the people would take much longer than the original few days to turn like this. That's why there are psychological evaluations for prison guards.

[bobcornwell]

Power without accountability is the surest path to evil. This is a central truth I have observed in my lifetime.

[Leoo]

This whole experiment is just a case of bad association. We are all influenced by those we associate with. So if someone does bad things, or is rude and mean, and we hang around them a lot, we are likely to ruin our good habits and pickup their bad habits. Its almost inevitable. I remember a bible scripture that says that bad association spoils useful habits. So its important for us to be careful with whom we associate with. This is really what his experiment proved.

[galaxyunicornpop]

I haven't seen of youe videos since a while your art style changed alot

[Nedmar]

There is a German film called "Das Experiment", which deals with this very subject. Chilling stuff.