“We all like to think that the line between good and evil is impermeable--that people who do terrible things, such as commit murder, treason, or kidnapping, are on the evil side of this line, and the rest of us could never cross it. But the Stanford Prison Experiment and the Milgram studies revealed the permeability of that line. Some people are on the good side only because situations have never coerced or seduced them to cross over.” PeopleThinkingEvilSidesLinesSituationStudyTerribleCrossesMurderPrisonExperimentsCommitGood And EvilTerrible ThingsTreasonKidnappingStanfordEvil Side Author:Philip Zimbardo
“In one sense, the Stanford prison study is more like a Greek drama than a traditional experiment, in that we have humanity, represented by a bunch of good people, pitted against an evil-producing situation. The question is, does the goodness of the people overwhelm the bad situation, or does the bad situation overwhelm the good people?” PeopleDoeHumanityEvilSituationStudyDramaGoodnessPrisonExperimentsBunchTraditionalGreekGood PeopleStanfordBad SituationsGreek Drama Author:Philip Zimbardo
“The [Stanford Prison Experiment] was readily approved by the Human Subjects Research committee because it seemed like college kids playing cops and robbers, it was an experiment that anyone could quit at any time and minimal safeguards were in place. You must distinguish hind sight from fore sight, knowing what you know now after the study is quite different from what most people imagined might happen before the study began.” PeopleKnowsHumansDifferentMightHappensKidsKnowingStudySubjectsCollegeResearchSightPrisonQuittingExperimentsCopCommitteesApprovedRobbersStanfordKids PlayingCops And Robbers Author:Philip Zimbardo
“The first time I spoke publicly about the Stanford Prison Experiment, Stanley Milgram told me: "Your study is going to take all the ethical heat off of my back. People are now going to say yours is the most unethical study ever, and not mine.” PeopleFirstsStudyMinesFirst TimePrisonExperimentsHeatSpokesEthicalStanleyStanfordUnethical Author:Philip Zimbardo
“We want to believe we are good, we are different, we are better, or we are superior. But this body of social-psychological research--and there are obviously many more experiments in addition to mine and Milgram's--shows that the majority of good, ordinary, normal people can be easily seduced, tempted, or initiated into behaving in ways that they say they never would. In 30 minutes we got them stepping across that line.” PeopleWayWantBelieveDifferentShowsBodySocialLinesMinutesMinesNormalResearchOrdinaryMajorityExperimentsSuperiorsPsychologicalTemptedPsychological Research Author:Philip Zimbardo
“The Stanford prison experiment came out of class exercises in which I encouraged students to understand the dynamics of prison life.” LifeClassStudentsExercisePrisonExperimentsDynamicsStanfordPrison Life Author:Philip Zimbardo
“Ideas for my first experiments in human aggression came from discussions we had in a research seminar about William Golding's 'Lord of the Flies.'” FirstsHumansIdeasLordResearchExperimentsDiscussionAggressionSeminars Author:Philip Zimbardo
