In 1971, Philip Zimbardo, a behavioral researcher at Stanford University, pioneered an experiment that would forever change the history of psychology . With this initiative, Zimbardo wanted to find out how people who had been leading a normal life adapt to their day-to-day lives in a prison environment . In addition, the test would also serve to know how the differences in power between inmates and officials are reflected in the penitentiaries and, above all, if an individual with good feelings ends up being corrupted in that environment.
The test was carried out in an area of the basement of the university, which had been specially adapted for it, in a way that mimicked the appearance and had the characteristic equipment of a prison. There, some students went to play the roles of prisoners and others those of jailers. The selection would be made at random.
The idea was that the test would last several weeks, but it had to be suspended when only six days had passed . On the first day, everything passed normally and there were no major incidents between the two groups, but very soon it was observed that the volunteers were getting too involved in their role: over time, the jailers became real sadists and many of the prisoners who had been mistreated ended up suffering psychological disorders.
Although the Zimbardo experiment was widely criticized, it showed that environment exerts a great influence on behavior . The essay inspired the 2015 thriller The Stanford Prison Experiment , directed by Kyle Patrick Alvarez.
Image: IFC FILMS
