SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Philip G. Zimbardo, the psychologist behind the controversial “Stanford Prison Experiment” designed to check psychological experiences in prison, has died. He was 91.
Stanford University announced Friday that Zimbardo died Oct. 14 at his home in San Francisco. A reason for death was not given.
In the 1971 prison study, Zimbardo, then 38, and a team of graduate students recruited college-age men to spend two weeks in a mock prison within the basement of a constructing on the Stanford campus.
In a 2016 interview with the Bay Area News Group, Zimbardo said that the topics were 24 mentally healthy male college students who were paid $15 per day to participate and were randomly assigned to the role of assigned to prisoners or guards.
Zimbardo outfitted guards in khaki uniforms and mirrored sunglasses and asked them to create an environment wherein prisoners felt “powerless.” The experiment took place within the basement of Jordan Hall, where offices vacated for the summer were converted into the “Stanford County Jail.”
The study ended after six days because the scholars who played guards became psychologically abusive and people who played prisoners became anxious, emotionally depressed and offended, the Stanford statement said.
Zimbardo was criticized for taking over the role of superintendent – becoming an energetic participant within the study reasonably than a neutral observer.
“The result of our study was shocking and unexpected,” said Zimbardo later co-author with considered one of the graduate students involved within the project.
For years, critics, including other psychologists and a few participants, continued to query the validity of the study, which Zimbardo said showed that the dynamics of certain situations could cause normal people to behave badly.
The experiment is utilized in psychology classes today to check the psychology of evil and the ethics of psychological research on humans, Stanford said.
“Zimbardo first gained national attention for his 1969 study examining the causes of vandalism,” the university said. “He believed that anonymity and lack of community could lead to anti-social behavior.”
His research also included persuasion, hypnosis, cults, shyness (he founded the Stanford Shyness Clinic), time perspective, altruism and compassion, in response to Stanford.
Zimbardo is survived by his wife Christina Maslach Zimbardo, three children and 4 grandchildren.
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