Stanford Prison Experiment

(text-size: 3)[''Beneath the (text-color:red)[ Stanford Psychology Department]''] (b4r-color: red)+(b4r: "dotted")[A journey through the infamous Stanford Prison Experiment] K.K. [[Introduction]] [[Bibliography]] [[Commentary]] [[Content Warning]]

It is August 17th, 1971. You've previously volunteered for the Stanford Prison Experiment and completed a series of evaluations to confirm your fitness. In the experiement you will be a: (either: "[[Prisoner]]", "[[Guard]]")

You are startingly woken up by blaring sirens outside your door. Pulling the curtains back from your window, you spot a Palo Alto Police car. An officer steps out from the car and walks to your door with haste. Before she can knock, you have bolted to the front of the house and opened the door. She grabs your wrists, turning you around, and cuffing you. As you begin to protest, she starts to recite your Miranda Rights and states you have been arrested for violating Penal Codes 211 and 459, armed robbery and bulgary. You get into the back of her police car, and she begins to drive. The two of you arrive at the Palo Alto Police Station, where you are fingerprinted, booked, and finally blindfolded to be moved to a holding cell. (3) After less than an hour, someone retrieves you, puts you in another car, and leads you down to the basement of the Stanford Psychology Department. They present you with a consent form. You glace at it quickly, only catching the phrases "harassment", "violation of privacy and civil rights" and "minimally adequate diet". Suddenly, you realize you have a choice to make. Do you sign the form of withdrawl from the experiment? [[sign the consent form]] [[withdraw]]

You have been selected as a ''Guard''. The experimenters lead you to an empty room and begin to introduce you to the experiment. (a) You are joined by eight other active guards, as well as three that are on stand-by in case you need them. (7) The superintendent, who you recognize from the psychological assessment (3) to be Zimbardo, uses very coarse language. You are startled, because it seems to condone violence. Are you meant to be hostile? (1) They tell you that your role, in summary, is to "maintain the reasonable degree of order within the prison necessary for its effective functioning", which seems vague. (5) The experimentors give you a khaki uniform, a whistle, and a billy club. Most importantly, they tell you to wear mirrored sunglasses. (7) (b) The experimentors ask you if you are sure you would like to participate. What do you do? [[continue]] [[leave experiment]] (cycling-link:"(a)", "This instructions may not have been communicated to the guards in quite this fashion. They were likely communicated to the group of guards as a whole, but individualizing it helped build the game's player agent. ") (cycling-link: "(b)", " the mirrored sunglasses hid emotions and maintained anonymity")

You tell the experimenters you wish to continue. It's only $15 a day for two weeks (2), but you need anything you can get to chip away at the debt you went into to attend Stanford. Men you have never seen before grab you and pull you into another room, where you are strip searched and deloused with spray. The process is degrading and humiliating, and you know it is only the beginning. They then give you your uniform, a smock with a number on it, a heavy chain to be bolted around you ankle, rubber sandals, and a nylon stocking cap. (7) They allow you to walk around the prison for a few minutes, though they keep close eyes on you. (c) The prison is the basement of the Stanford Psychology Department building. You approximate the boarded off corridor to be about thirty-five feet, smaller than you expected. (1) The experimentors tell you this corridor, as a whole, is "The Yard". You enter the corridor at one end, and notice there is a small opening with a video camera embedded in it. This does not surpise you, as you know the recording is likely necessary for deep analysis of the experiment, but you feel slightly uncomfortable with the idea of being so closely monitored. You begin to walk down the hall. It is studded with small rooms closed by steel-barred doors. Each door has a number on it, one through three. In each room, or cell as you realize they are, has three cots. You make it to the end of the hall, which only has a tight, dark closet. (7) [[next passage]] (cycling-link: "(c)", "The students likely had different motives for participating in the experiment. Choosing the financial motive seemed like the best way to keep the player relatively neutral, as they are written. It is also not written in any of my sources that the participants were able to explore the prison before the experiment began, but I wanted to build the setting.")

You decide this is much too much for you. You cannot participate in an experiment of this sort. You leave the experiment and do not look back, until you see an article about it months later. When you read the article, you realize it was the right move to leave. [[Afterword]] [[Opening Page]]

It is the morning of the second day, and other prisoners speak of a rebellion.(7) You have decided you will not participate, because you believe it will only hurt you throughout the duration of the experiment. The other prisoners take off their stocking caps, rip off their numbers, and try to barricade themselves in their cells with their cots. You do not allow your cell mates to use your cot as a barricade, instead you continue to sit on it even when they demand you move. (i) You hear continued shouting and cursing, back and forth, between the prisoners and guards. You start to feel very uneasy about how the situation is escalating. As they try to break down the door, you realize there are more than the typical three guards per shift outside. They must have called for reinforcement. The banging on the door halts and there is a clank of metal before ''WHOOSH''. White gas fills the room and you fall to the ground, along with the other prisoners in your cell. The door falls open, revealing a red, empty fire extinguisher discarded on the ground. The guards rushed in and took your clothes and bed. (7) You see the leader of the rebellion escorted to the closet at the end of the hall, which the guards are now calling, "''Solitary Confinement''. (7) This is not what you expected. Do you withdraw or remain in the experiment? [[withdraw]] [[stay in]] (cycling-link: "(i)", " Some prisoners did not want to participate in the rebellion, but many of them did anyway. This resistance was not explicitly described, but it was a possible choice a prisoner could have made. I believe it is an important choice opportunity for the player agent because it puts them in a difficult position of choosing between the favor of the guards or prisoners. ")

At 2:30 AM, you are startingly awoken by the sound of blaring whistles for what the guards call a "''count''". They make the prisoners recite their numbers, to familiarize them with being called by it. (7) Something about the dehumanizing act makes you untamingly angry.(5) On your way back to the cells, you start to whisper a plan for rebellion. You tell them to remove their stocking caps, rip off their numbers, and use their cots to barricade the cell doors. (7) When you return to your cell, you and your cellmates remove your stocking caps, take off your numbers, and stand your cots against the door. Then, you start yelling and cursing at the guards, prompting other prisoners to follow. The guards grow angrier and angrier, screaming and banging against the cell doors. You hear one of them call for reinforcement and the guards from the last shift come back through the door. Suddenly, white gas fills the room, and your lungs burn. The door comes crashing down, and you see a discarded, empty fire extinguisher on the ground.(7) The guards rush in and take your and your cellmates' clothes and cots. Then, one guard grabs you by the arm and leads you down the hallway to the small closet you saw earlier. He throws you in and says, ''"Hope you like solitary confinement"'' [[solitary confinement]]

You spend what you approximate to be an hour in solitary confinement. It bothers you more than you expected - to be alone in a tight, dark space like that. You felt like you were truly ''imprisoned.'' (2) When the guards finally let you free, you notice three of the prisoners have gotten their clothes and cots back. It is the three that resisted your plan of rebellion. (7)This angers you, but you brush it off. You walk up to your cell mate, and he tells you another prisoner, 8612, was released for acute emotional disturbance.(7) You laugh at first, but then you remember how you felt when you were trapped in that closet. (k) You are infuriated. You cannot believe that those guards stuffed you in a closet and locked the door. You are compelled to exhibit another form of rebellion, but what shouldl it be? Will you, more peacefully, go on a hunger strike or yell at the guards? [[go on hunger strike]] [[yell at the guards]] (cycling-link: "(k)", "It is unclear whether the other prisoners understood why 8612 was released, but one prisoner telling another felt like the best way to work the point into the story. It is important as the first instance of a prisoner being so traumatized they were released. ")

You decide a hunger strike will prove your point and hopefully get you released.(m) They cannot let you starve...right? When lunch comes, you refuse your food. The guards are angry and withhold your clothes and bed, but they cannot force you to eat. You do the same at dinner and then fall asleep on the cold floor. You are woken up the next morning by the superintendent, who says you need to be shaved and cleaned. You are confused, because you have not yet been allowed proper access to hygenic processes like this. You go along with him, passing freshly groomed prisoners cleaning their cells. After the superintendent cleans you up, you are brought to breakfast. Sticking to your strike, you refuse your food. The superintendent pushes through guards yelling at you and tells you that your parents are here today, but they will not be allowed to speak to you unless you eat your breakfast. (7) You want out. You just do not know whether it will be more effective to try to tell your parents what is happening or force your release by refusing to eat. Do you break your strike, so you can go talk to your parents, or do you keep going with the strike? [[break your strike]] [[keep going]] (cycling-link: "(m)", "prisoner 416 actually executed a hunger strike until he was released from the experiment. ")

"''Who do you think you are? Throwing me in a closet? Leaving me in there? '' "Don't talk to me like that. Remember, I'm a guard, you're a prisoner." He clenches his fist around his club. "''No. We are both students. You think you have the right to treat me like that because you got lucky on a coin flip? '' You approaching him, making yourself tall. "Keep talking, and you will be back in confinement again." ''"Confinement...confinement. It's a closet!''(l) He just grunts and extends his arm, pushing you back from him. Something about this situation feels incredibly wrong to you. You keep falling in and out of reality, and it seems you are not the only one. (2) You think you can get out, but should you? Do you demand to leave or stay in the experiment? [[demand to leave]] [[stay]] (cycling-link: "(l)", "This conversation did not actually happen, but is rather a quick summary of arguments that did occur between guards and prisoners.")

You eat your breakfast so you will be allowed to talk to your parents. After breakfast, the guards escort you and the other prisoners to a bland room and sit you each at your own small table. After a few minutes, parents begin filing into the room. You see your mom and dad, who smile at you and sit down across from you. There are guards and experimentors scattered throughout the room, closely supervising. You want to tell you parents what is happening, but the ten minutes you get to talk to them goes by without an oppurtunity arising. All of the parents leave and the guards walk around to the tables to collect the prisoners. As one of your cellmates stands up, a slip of paper falls from his pocket. A guard bends down to pick it up and begins to read. "''Mom, this is bad. Please get me out. They are abusing us.'' The guard crumples up the piece of paper and grabs the prisoner. He then throws him to the ground and begins to kick him. The superintendent rushes over, but struggles to pull the guard away from the prisoner. You are surpised that none of the participants step in. You are even more suprised that you did not move. (7) (n) You do not like what this experiment is doing to you. You are starting to feel too much like a prisoner; too powerless and trapped. ''But it does not seem like there is anyway out now.'' [[Day 5]] (cycling-link: "(n)", "There was a visiting day during the experiment, in which prisoners got ten, closely monitored minutes to talk to their parents. There is not a reported instance of a prisoner being beaten for trying to tell his parents what was happening. I included this story because it shows how intensely the experimenters and guards were trying to cover up what was truly happening.")

You decide to keep to your hunger strike. You are almost certain that the conversations with parents will be closely monitored, so you are doubtful you would get an opportunity to tell them what is truly happening. It has been another day of you refusing to eat. The superintendent, Zimbardo, pulls you from your cell and into a small room outside the corridor. He tells you that you are being released from the study and will only receive pay for the days you were in the simulated prison.(7) You feel simutaneously a sense of pride and shame. You are proud you got yourself out of the situation, but feel slightly guilty that you are leaving other innocent students behind. You leave the experiment and do not look back until you see an article about it months later. As you read the article, you realize it was right to get yourself out of the situation quickly. [[Afterword]] [[Opening Page]]

You decide to stick it out, but only because you are worried about the reprocutions if you try to leave and cannot. The next day, you are woken up early by the sound of blaring whistles. It is time for a ''count.''All the prisoners line up against the hallway wall and begin to read off their numbers. As the line works its way closer to you, you catch a glimpse of a door with a stuck lock. The door is cracked, so slightly open, so you can tell it is unlocked. You think you could make it...you are closer to the door than any of the guards. Do you try to run for the door or keep your head down for the rest of the day? [[Run away]] [[Keep your head down]]

You decide this is much too much for you. You cannot participate in an experiment of this sort. You burst through the open door run until you reach the parking lot, where you take a taxi back to your apartment. You do not look back, until you see an article about it months later. When you read the article, you realize it was the right move to leave. [[Afterword]] [[Opening Page]]

It is the fifth day of the experiment. While you are doing push-ups as punishment for speaking back to a guard (7), you notice an unfamilar woman observing from the end of the corridor. She is standing next to Zimbardo, who you recognize as the experimenter conductor and superintendent. She looks as if she will break down into tears at any moment, and Zimbardo appears shocked by this. As you walk back to your cell, you whisper to your cell mate. ''"Who is that?"'' ''"I heard the warden talking about it. That's Zimbardo's girlfriend, Christina. He invited her to see the experiment, but she's against it."''(4) The next day, Zimbardo gathers the guards and prisoners. He seems exhausted, emotionally and physically, as if something intense has been weighing on his mind. ''"It's over. This...this is over. We cannot do this anymore. None of us", ''he gestures to the other experimentors standing close,''expected this outcome so quickly. Guards, you've become too violent. Prisoners, each and every one of you seems to be, well, losing your mind. Go home. You're students, not prisoners and guards.'' Your involvement in the Stanford Prison Experiment is over. The trauma of the experience stays with you for your whole life, constantly brought to the surface by new media investigating the study. [[Afterword]] [[Opening Page]]

You tell the experimenters you wish to continue. It's only $15 a day for two weeks (2), but you need anything you can get to chip away at the debt you went into to attend Stanford. They allow you to walk around the prison for a few minutes, though they keep close eyes on you. (c) The prison is the basement of the Stanford Psychology Department building. You approximate the boarded off corridor to be about thirthy-five feet, smaller than you expected. (1) The experimentors tell you this corridor, as a whole, is "The Yard". You enter the corridor at one end, and notice there is a small opening with a video camera embedded in it. This does not surpise you, as you know the recording is likely necessary for deep analysis of the experiment, but you feel slightly uncomfortable with the idea of being so closely monitored. You begin to walk down the hall. It is studded with small rooms closed by steel-barred doors. Each door has a number on it, one through three. In each room, or cell as you realize they are, has three cots. You make it to the end of the hall, which only has a tight, dark closet. (7) The prisoners enter. You see they are dressed in striped smocks with numbers attached to both their front and back. You also notice the chains around their ankles and nylon caps on their heads. (7) The experimentors quickly leave, so it is just you, eight other guards, and the nine prisoners. The prisoners are talking and laughing, which you find innapropriate for the circumstance. (d) Do you try to command them or let another guard do it? [[take charge]] [[stay quiet]] (cycling-link: "(c)", "The students likely had different motives for participating in the experiment. Choosing the financial motive seemed like the best way to keep the player relatively neutral, as they are written. It is also not written in any of my sources that the participants were able to explore the prison before the experiment began, but I wanted to build the setting.") (cycling-link: "(d)", " this is just a possible situation that may have given a guard an authoritarian opportunity.")

You yell at the prisoners, "''Hey! Line up. I want to hear each of you say your number. '' Eight of the prisoners file into a line quickly, obviously stunned by your tone. However, one turns his back to you. You read his number ''5401''. (7) ''"5401, are you disobeying direct orders? You're my prisoner now. Turn around and read your number.'' 5401 keeps his back turned to you. ''Alright. If that's the way you want to do this, I'm sure you'll like having everyone turned against you by night one. Everyone else, start doing push-ups ''(5)'' You can stop when 5401 decides to recite his number.'' The prisoners look around at first, stunned and confused. But, to your suprise, they listen. Each and every college boy, exclusing 5401, starts doing push-ups. (7) It goes on for minutes and you start to become very frusturated. (f) Do you get harsher or try to reason with 5401? [[become harsher]] [[try to negotiate]] (cycling-link: "(f)", " this situation is not entirely described in any of the sources I used, but the major components of it, like the guards forcing prisoners to recite their numbers and do push-ups, is factual. The psychological tactic of turning the other prisoners against a rebel was also employed by guards.")

One of the other guards shoves his way past you towards the prisoners. He starts to yell, telling them to line up and read their numbers to him. Though eight obey, one, with the number 5401 (7), turns his back to the guard. You watch with bated breath, hoping for the prisoner's sake he turns around. Your fellow guard continues to yell, slowly approaching 5401. You think, "No, no he won't do it", but then he does. The guard takes a swift swing of his club to the back of 5401's knees. The prisoner's joints fold, and the guard is kicking him before he crumples to the ground. You cover your mouth, but do not make a sound or attempt to interfere. After what seems like too long, Zimbardo rushes in and pulls the two apart. He seems almost as shocked as you are. He throws his arms in the air and declares the study is off and the experiment will not continue. ''You leave and never truly process or understand what happened that day. '' [[Afterword]] [[Opening Page]]

You take a deep breath and start to walk towards 5401. You can hear someone breathing heavily, but cannot tell whether it is the prisoner or yourself. You place your hand on his shoulder, still unsure of what will come out of your mouth. Suddenly, he bends his elbow and quickly snaps his fist back against your face. Everything goes black. (g) You wake up in the hospital with a broken nose and painful concussion. The experiment is over, for you at least. [[Afterword]] [[Opening Page]] (cycling-link: "(g)", "The prisoners got aggressive, in some ways, with the guards but there is no record of an instance like this. I used this to quickly express the anger and defiance of some of the prisoners and how the study angered many of them.")

You decide you have to call the superintendent. You look around for a way to communicate with him, and see the intercom system. You press the button to speak ''"Help! We need help - real, medical help. This prisoner, he's really hurt. I've..I've really hurt him"'' Within seconds, Zimbardo and three other men comes bursting through the door. You pant as one of the unfamiliar men pulls you out of the room. You can hear from outisde the door as Zimbardo yells, ''"We're done! This is over. It's too far...it went too far."'' The man escorts you out of the building without saying a word. You leave the Stanford Psychology Department building and never speak of that day again. You push it out of your mind until you read an article about the shocking study months later. [[Afterword]] [[Opening Page]]

When 5401 hits the ground, you begin kicking him in the ribs. You keep kicking, harder and harder, even as blood starts to spill from his lips. He is completely silent the entire time. He does not scream or beg for you to stop. It makes you feel powerful, dangerously powerful. Suddenly, you notice his eyes have closed and he has grown very pale. Just then, Zimbardo bursts through the door, grabbing you by both shoulders and pulling you backwards. You look down at 5401, certain he is no longer breathing. (v) ''What have you done? It was just an experiment.'' [[Afterword]] [[Opening Page]] (cycling-link:"(v)", "There were instances of physical abuse from the prisoners to the guards, but nothing lethal. I included this because it is more difficult in text than video to depict the violence. This shows the player how far the guards went to feel powerful.")

The Stanford Prison Experiment was a social psychology experiment that took place in the summer of 1971 in the basement of Stanford University. The head of the experiment, whom guards and prisoners will later know as the superintendant, was Dr. Phillip Zimbardo, a young psychologist who was clueless as to what he would begin. The purpose of Zimbardo's research was investigative on the front of how situational factors shape behavior. His initial, dispositional hypothesis was merely an opinion-based explanation of the condition of the United States' penal system, which he found deplorable.(5) When considered in its entirety, the Stanford Prison Experiment has been rejected by the field of psychology as both a display of inept display of Zimbardo's hypothesis and a blatent betrayal of many experimental standards. The both psychological and physical tortue employed upon participants facilitated by Zimbardo and his colleagues eventually landed him at the front of intense backlash. (6) ''Now you must face it.'' Partipants in the study, composed of 24 male volunteers, were promised 15 dollars a day. These men were choosen based on their physical and psychological fitness, as assessed by Zimbardo. Their roles were determined by a coin flip. (7) ''Will you be a guard or prisoner?'' [[Your Assignment]]

(align:"===><==")[''Bibliography''] 1. Bavel, Jay Van, S. Alexander Haslam, and Stephen Reicher. "Rethinking the Infamous Stanford Prison Experiment." Scientific American, May 30, 2019. Accessed May 6, 2024. https://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/observations/rethinking-the-infamous-stanford-prison-experiment/. 2. "Demonstrating the Power of Social Situations via a Simulated Prison Experiment." American Psychological Association, June 8, 2004. Accessed February 28, 2024. https://www.apa.org/topics/forensics-law-public-safety/prison. 3. Konnikova, Maria. "The Real Lesson of the Stanford Prison Experiment." The New Yorker, June 2015. Accessed May 6, 2024. https://www.newyorker.com/science/maria-konnikova/the-real-lesson-of-the-stanford-prison-experiment. 4. Miller, Greg. Using the Psychology of Evil to do Good. N.p.: Science, 2011. JSTOR. 5. Neil, Brady F., and Jeanne M. Logsdon. Journal of Business Ethics. Vol. 7 of Zimbardo's 'Stanford Prison Experiment' and the Relevance of Social Psychology for Teaching Business Ethics. N.p.: JSTOR, 1988. JSTOR. 6. "Stanford Prison Expierment." In Encyclopedia Britannica, edited by The Editors of Britannica. N.p.: Britannica, 2023. Encyclopedia Britannica. 7. "The Story: An Overview of the Stanford Prison Experiment." Stanford Prison Experiment, 2023, 1-8. Accessed March 7, 2024. https://www.prisonexp.org/. 8. `Texier, Thibalt Le. "Debunking the Stanford Prison Experiment." In National Institute of Health and Medicine. N.p.: NIH, 2019. NIH.

You do not understand it, but you are filled with rage. You feel powerful in a way you have never experienced before. 5401's turned back taunts you. You walk over to him, huffing, and tightly wrap your hand around your club. As you approach 5401, you pull the club back. Before you know what you are doing, you crush the club into the back of the prisoner's leg. His joints fold and he crumples to the ground. The prisoner looks entirely helpless. You regret your choice, but cannot decide whether it is better to continue being violent or call the superintendent and admit what you did. [[keep hitting]] [[call superintendent]]

The guards enter in all khaki outfits with mirrored sunglasses and a club.(7) One steps forward and speaks, ''"Hey! Line up against the wall. I want to hear each of your numbers; that's your name now.'' You are surpised they are already so aggressive, but you listen and read off your number. It is startling to you that all the prisoners obey. They seemed so spirited when you talked to them before the experiment. (h) You have to decide what kind of character you want to be in this study. Will you comply with the guards or try to overthrow them? [[try to get on guards' good side]] [[plan a rebellion]] (cycling-link: "(h)", " this situation may have happened, but is not explicitly cited. The actions of the game characters are based on how participants were reported to act, even very early in the experiment. ")

You decide to stay in the experiment. You are already here, and you do not like to quit. One of the guards grabs your shoulder and starts to whisper in your ear, "''Hey, I saw you defying those troublemakers. Us guards...we really appreciate that. Your cot will be back in your room by the end of the day.'' And then he hands you your stolen smock back. Over the intercom, you hear it is time for lunch. The guards line up all the prisoners, you being the only clothed one, and lead them to the room you all eat in. When you walk in, you notice only one spot has a plate of food. All the prisoners in front of you rush towards that seat, but guards block them off. One guard, the one that gave you back your smock, grabs your arm and walks you towards the food. You sit down and hesistantly begin to eat while the other, starving prisoners watch. You try to keep your eyes down so you do not have to directly look at any of them. (7) All of a sudden, someone strikes your head, slamming it against the metal table. Everything goes black. (j) You wake up in the hospital. It clicks, another prisoner was angered by your special treatment. The guards employed a common, yet effective, psychological tactic, and it worked. The experiment is over, at least for you. [[Afterword]] [[Opening Page]] (cycling-link: "(j)", "This scenario is fabricated on a few different points. First, the special privileges were actually given to the three prisoners least involved in the rebellion. However, I made the choice to isolate the player agent because this feeling of isolation and fear of being outcasted was reported by many of the participants, and this was a direct way to simulate that. Second, there was no reported instance of a prisoner hitting another prisoner's head into a table. However, when prisoners received special treatment, the others got very angry. I made the choice to materialize this anger as violence because I think it makes it very clear and provides a path to the end of the game. ")

It is the fifth day of the experiment. While you are doing push-ups as punishment for speaking back to a guard (7), you notice an unfamilar woman observing from the end of the corridor. She is standing next to Zimbardo, who you recognize as the experimentor conductor and superintendent. She looks as if she will break down into tears at any moment, and Zimbardo appears shocked by this. As you walk back to your cell, you whisper to your cell mate. ''"Who is that?"'' ''"I heard the warden talking about it. That's Zimbardo's girlfriend, Christina. He invited her to see the experiment, but she's against it."''(4) The next day, Zimbardo gathers the guards and prisoners. He seems exhausted, emotionally and physically, as if something intense has been weighing on his mind. ''"It's over. This...this is over. We cannot do this anymore. None of us", ''he gestures to the other experimentors standing close,''expected this outcome so quickly. Guards, you've become too violent. Prisoners, each and every one of you seems to be, well, losing your mind. Go home. You're students, not prisoners and guards.''(o) Your involvement in the Stanford Prison Experiment is over. The trauma of the experience stays with you for your whole life, constantly brought to the surface by new media investigating the study. [[Afterword]] [[Opening Page]] (cycling-link: "(o)", "This conversation is fabricated from one that actually happened between Zimbardo and one of the prisoners. In the actual conversation, Zimbardo had to remind the prisoner he was not actually a prisoner. This was because he was dismissing him from the experiment")

(align:"===><==")[''Footnotes''] (a) This instructions may not have been communicated to the guards in quite this fashion. They were likely communicated to the group of guards as a whole, but individualizing it helped build the game's player agent. (b) the mirrored sunglasses hid emotions and maintained anonymity (c ) The students likely had different motives for participating in the experiment. Choosing the financial motive seemed like the best way to keep the player relatively neutral, as they are written. It is also not written in any of my sources that the participants were able to explore the prison before the experiment began, but I wanted to build the setting. (d) this is just a possible situation that may have given a guard an authoritarian opportunity. (e ) This is based on the defiance of the mentioned prisoner, but this situation is not exactly how it happened. I crafted it for conciseness and a clear example. (f) this situation is not entirely described in any of the sources I used, but the major components of it, like the guards forcing prisoners to recite their numbers and do push-ups, is factual. The psychological tactic of turning the other prisoners against a rebel was also employed by guards. (g) The prisoners got aggressive, in some ways, with the guards but there is no record of an instance like this. I used this to quickly express the anger and defiance of some of the prisoners and how the study angered many of them. (h) this situation may have happened, but is not explicitly cited. The actions of the game characters are based on how participants were reported to act, even very early in the experiment. (i) Some prisoners did not want to participate in the rebellion, but many of them did anyway. This resistance was not explicitly described, but it was a possible choice a prisoner could have made. I believe it is an important choice opportunity for the player agent because it puts them in a difficult position of choosing between the favor of the guards or prisoners. (j) This scenario is fabricated on a few different points. First, the special privileges were actually given to the three prisoners least involved in the rebellion. However, I made the choice to isolate the player agent because this feeling of isolation and fear of being outcasted was reported by many of the participants, and this was a direct way to simulate that. Second, there was no reported instance of a prisoner hitting another prisoner's head into a table. However, when prisoners received special treatment, the others got very angry. I made the choice to materialize this anger as violence because I think it makes it very clear and provides a path to the end of the game. (k) It is unclear whether the other prisoners understood why 8612 was released, but one prisoner telling another felt like the best way to work the point into the story. It is important as the first instance of a prisoner being so traumatized they were released. (L) This conversation did not actually happen, but is rather a quick summary of arguments that did occur between guards and prisoners. (m) prisoner 416 actually executed a hunger strike until he was released from the experiment. (n) There was a visiting day during the experiment, in which prisoners got ten, closely monitored minutes to talk to their parents. There is not a reported instance of a prisoner being beaten for trying to tell his parents what was happening. I included this story because it shows how intensely the experimenters and guards were trying to cover up what was truly happening. (o) This conversation is fabricated from one that actually happened between Zimbardo and one of the prisoners. In the actual conversation, Zimbardo had to remind the prisoner he was not actually a prisoner. This was because he was dismissing him from the experiment

The Stanford Prison Experiment was preformed in order to gain convincing measurements of the effects of external pressures on behavior over two weeks. (6) Because of the poor experimental design and inhumane circumstances, the study cannot be taken as conclusive evidence for its alternative hypothesis. It was intended to be refute the Fundamental Attribution Error of human behavior, which can be described as social psychologists overestimating dispotional factors on human behavior will minimizing the effects of situational factors. Though the experiment was not scientifically sound, it has been used for decades as a dramatic illutration of the ways in which "good" people may act in evil ways, shown through the guards, and how people deemed psychologically healthy can experience pathological reactions to such situations, shown by the prisoners. (2) The experiment ended prematurely, after six days. This was due to an interaction between a priest and particpants' parents, in which legal action was threatened, and the strong dissaproval of Zimbardo's girlfriend, Christina Maslach. (4) Following the experiment, Zimbardo faced harsh back lash. He was roped into congressional testimonies on issues such as American prison riots and unjust treatment of prisoners in Abu Gharib. (8) Zimbardo went as far as to admit that even he, the lead experimentor, sometimes felt like more of a prison superintendent than a research psychologist as the study went on.(6) The Stanford Prison Experiment serves as a historic exhibit of the dangerous triggers that lie within us all. How can we protect ourselves from situational factors that may push into tyranny or mental collapse? Beyond that, how do we protect society from fostering such situational factors? [[Opening Page]]

This game includes violent depictions of aggressive behavior as well as harsh conversations and a hunger strike. The text game is based on an experiment that can only be defined as psychological and physical torture, which is displayed in the passages.

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Beneath the Stanford Psychology Department

A journey through the infamous Stanford Prison Experiment

K.K.

Introduction

Bibliography

Commentary

Content Warning