Started by Lin Chen (@linchen_cog) ·
the Stanford Prison Experiment was more performance than experiment
5 sources · 43 min down the hole
How I got here
- Started with
- Did the Stanford Prison Experiment really show what it claimed?
- Ended at
- Demand characteristics
The Trail
- “stanford prison experiment debunked recordings” (google.com)
Thibault Le Texier's 2018 book went through the archives. the guards were coached
- Stanford prison experiment (en.wikipedia.org)
- Philip Zimbardo (en.wikipedia.org)
- The Experiment (en.wikipedia.org)
a 2002 redo that went very differently: the guards didn't turn cruel on their own
- Demand characteristics (en.wikipedia.org)
What I came away with
It never had a control group, Zimbardo himself played the prison superintendent, the guards were encouraged to be tough, and at least one prisoner later said his famous breakdown was partly an act to get out. It shouldn't be taught as proof that roles alone make people cruel. The BBC study suggested leadership and group identity matter much more.
Keep going
- why Japanese train staff point at things and say them out loud · Lin Chen · 4 sources
- H.M., the man who couldn't make new memories · Lin Chen · 6 sources
- Thinking, Fast and Slow has a chapter that didn't age well · Valentina Russo · 5 sources
- Three Mile Island was partly an interface problem · Pete Lindgren · 6 sources