How a fake prison at Stanford revealed the unsettling power of roles.

[00:00.17]In the early 1970s, America was in turmoil.
[00:04.31]The Vietnam War had stoked widespread skepticism, civil rights clashes filled the news, and the nation found itself grappling with deep questions about authority, obedience, and the roots of violence.
[00:16.94]Against this backdrop, psychologist Philip Zimbardo at Stanford University wondered, "Are people inherently cruel, or does cruelty emerge from bad situations?" Determined to find answers, Zimbardo devised a bold experiment.
[00:32.24]He wanted to witness what happened when ordinary individuals were placed into an environment where some would have power and others would have none.
[00:41.24]To explore this, Zimbardo designed a prison simulation.
[00:45.25]The plan was simple in theory but dramatic in practice.
[00:49.18]Recruit students, assign them to be either guards or prisoners, and bring their roles to life inside a mock jail.
[00:56.53]What would happen when college kids became both captors and captives? No one suspected just how blurred the line between pretend and reality would become.

In the early 1970s, America was in turmoil. The Vietnam War had stoked widespread skepticism, civil rights clashes filled the news, and the nation found itself grappling with deep questions about authority, obedience, and the roots of violence. Against this backdrop, psychologist Philip Zimbardo at Stanford University wondered: Are people inherently cruel, or does cruelty emerge from bad situations? Determined to find answers, Zimbardo devised a bold experiment. He wanted to witness what happened when ordinary individuals were placed into an environment where some would have power, and others would have none. To explore this, Zimbardo designed a prison simulation. The plan was simple in theory but dramatic in practice: recruit students, assign them to be either guards or prisoners, and bring their roles to life inside a mock jail. What would happen when college kids became both captors and captives? No one suspected just how blurred the line between pretend and reality would become.

The Stanford Prison Experiment

The Question of Human Nature