“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
“There was zero time for reflection. We had to feed the prisoners three meals a day, deal with the prisoner breakdowns, deal with their parents, run a parole board. By the third day I was sleeping in my office. I had become the superintendent of the Stanford county jail. That was who I was: I'm not the researcher at all. Even my posture changes--when I walk through the prison yard, I'm walking with my hands behind my back, which I never in my life do, the way generals walk when they're inspecting troops.” WayHandsRunningThreeParentSleepWalksDealsBehindsWalkingOfficeReflectionThirdsPrisonBoardsMealsJailZeroPrisonerTroopsYardsCountyBreakdownPostureResearchersSleeping InParoleStanfordBehind My BackSuperintendents Author:Philip Zimbardo
“This is the woman who stopped the Stanford Prison Study. When I said it got out of control, I was the prison superintendent. I didn't know it was out of control. I was totally indifferent. She came down, saw that madhouse and said, "You know what, it's terrible what you're doing to those boys. They're not prisoners, they're not guards, they're boys, and you are responsible." And I ended the study the next day. The good news is I married her the next year.” KnowsYearsSaidNextBoysStudySawsTerribleMarriedNewsResponsiblePrisonPrisonerIndifferentNext DayGood NewsNext YearStanfordMadhousesSuperintendents 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
“We like to think there is this core of human nature – that good people can't do bad things, and that good people will dominate over bad situations. Infact, when we look at the Stanford prison studies, that we put good people in an evil place, and we saw who won. Well, the sad message in this, is in this case is the evil place won over the good people.” PeopleThinkingHumansWellsLooksEvilSituationCasesStudySawsHuman NatureMessagesPrisonCoreBad ThingsGood PeopleStanfordBad Situations Author:Philip Zimbardo
“I started studying shyness in adults in 1972. Shyness operates at so many different levels. Out of that research came the Stanford shyness clinic in 1977.” DifferentLevelsStudyResearchAdultsShyShynessDifferent LevelsClinicStanford Author:Philip Zimbardo
