Science Stanford Prison Experiment Shown to Be Questionable - How a Landmark Psychological Study Might Be Bullshit

The Stanford Prison Experiment, one of the most famous and compelling psychological studies of all time, told us a tantalizingly simple story about human nature.

The study took paid participants and assigned them to be “inmates” or “guards” in a mock prison at Stanford University. Soon after the experiment began, the “guards” began mistreating the “prisoners,” implying evil is brought out by circumstance. The authors, in their conclusions, suggested innocent people, thrown into a situation where they have power over others, will begin to abuse that power. And people who are put into a situation where they are powerless will be driven to submission, even madness.

The Stanford Prison Experiment has been included in many, many introductory psychology textbooks and is often cited uncritically. It’s the subject of movies, documentaries, books, television shows, and congressional testimony.

But its findings were wrong. Very wrong. And not just due to its questionable ethics or lack of concrete data — but because of deceit.

In science, too often, the first demonstration of an idea becomes the lasting one.

A new exposé published by Medium based on previously unpublished recordings of Philip Zimbardo, the Stanford psychologist who ran the study, and interviews with his participants, offers convincing evidence that the guards in the experiment were coached to be cruel. It also shows that the experiment’s most memorable moment — of a prisoner descending into a screaming fit, proclaiming, “I’m burning up inside!” — was the result of the prisoner acting. “I took it as a kind of an improv exercise,” one of the guards told reporter Ben Blum. “I believed that I was doing what the researchers wanted me to do.”

Source: https://www.vox.com/2018/6/13/17449118/stanford-prison-experiment-fraud-psychology-replication

 

[Computery Guy]

Well no fucking duh. Even before this, the "head guard" or whoever outright admitted he'd gone into this preparing to be a douchebag. This wasn't an experiment, it was performance art with more clipboards.

 

[Iodised Ant]

Who would of ever seen that coming in such a credible field.

 

[NOT Sword Fighter Super]

So...was the reason for the deceit to make the study more interesting, or were they trying to push some kind of narrative with this?

 

[Ruin]

It's nice to have confirmation because I've always had my suspicions this was horseshit. It fit a little too neatly into the "humans are always evil to each other and our species is doomed" narrative that academics find appealing for some reason.

 

[From The Uncanny Valley]

So...was the reason for the deceit to make the study more interesting, or were they trying to push some kind of narrative with this?

"ALL HUMANS ARE PURE EVIL LOL"

 

[Computery Guy]

So...was the reason for the deceit to make the study more interesting, or were they trying to push some kind of narrative with this?

My guess? Most of the actors weren't originally INTENDING to push a narrative, but the idea of the "hellhole prison" is embedded in the public consciousness, so they all acted in ways that aligned with it.

The results were VERY flashy, and therefore likely to get fat stacks of grant cash, so none of the actual scientists were particularly inclined to question it because they need money to live.

EDIT: And the actual scientists being able to push the nihilistic "WE'RE INHERENTLY MONSTERS" narrative that seemed to be in vogue at the time.

 

[OhGoy]

It's nice to have confirmation because I've always had my suspicions this was horseshit. It fit a little too neatly into the "humans are always evil to each other and our species is doomed" narrative that academics find appealing for some reason.

a true scholar gets his knowledge of humanity from devilman

 

[IV 445]

I don’t think you need an experiment to realize, when people have the chance to be shitty to each other, they often take it.

 

[XYZpdq]

a true scholar gets his knowledge of humanity from devilman

That's how you learn why Hitler went after the jews.

 

[Professor Poopypants]

Well its nice to have the official confirmation of something everyone knew was a study mired by confirmation bias was filled to the fucking brim with confirmation bias from the get-go

 

[melty]

This has been known for some time. Something like 73% of psych studies aren't reproducible or are otherwise bullshit. I just made that number up but it actually is that bad, it's a very high number of them.

 

[vhstape]

really not hard to fake a study, hell for a distinction I forgot to ask two questions, so I fake the results and no one picked up on it.

 

[RadicalCentrist]

And from that moment on, all human beings were kind and thoughtful to one another.

 

[GreenJacket]

I cant say I trust vox' opinion on this though.

 

[Oddjob OTP]

I've known that the Stanford Prison Experiment has been shit for a while. I mean, Zimbardo fucking fails at the very basics of designing a good experiment when he actively participates in it and encourages the rough behavior and then pretends that it means his conclusions are more believable because of it.

Soft Sciences are a complete shit show and the academic authorities are only interested in studies that confirm the biases of their alma mater. They are willing to ignore pretty much any obvious problems with methodology as long as it makes them all feel like big brains because it fits in or can be fit into whatever model they believe in.

 

[AnOminous]

Vox is certainly a credible source. We should throw out half a century of psychology research because the mighty pinnacle of intellectualism that is Vox is questioning it.

Lol you people are fucking retards if you buy anything from. . .Vox. . .

 

[Dizzydent]

I saw a documentary on this years ago with the guards and they all openly admitted they were just playing a role in what they perceived a prison guard would be like. They didn't have any real malice for any of the so called inmates and were just trying to do what they thought was expected of them. This is all old news and I knew it was bs from the moment I heard about it

 

[RichardMongler]

Lol you people are fucking exceptional individuals if you buy anything from. . .Vox. . .

I'd be kinder to a source that trusts us if I were you. Anyway, just click the damn links and draw your own conclusions. The main article cited is a piece from Medium written by Ben Blum.

 

[Secret Asshole]

“I took it as a kind of an improv exercise,” one of the guards told reporter Ben Blum. “I believed that I was doing what the researchers wanted me to do.”

This basically sums up every single Social Science study ever done. Social Sciences are notorious for badly designed studies. This basically sums up 90% of them and are basically unreproducable when exposed to other conditions. Never believe a single social science study, always look into the methodology. If its a meta-analysis of data and stats, you're probably safe. If you're doing actual experimental work, look out.

Some of the worst designed studies are the videogame ones or ones with clear ideological goals, like 1 in 5 women get raped in college. They wanted that result, so they made it happen. And yes, I am accusing them of fraud. These researchers don't go: "I wonder if this is what is true" they go "How can I prove I know what I believe is true". Their association with science is fucking shameful. Their study design pure garbage and the basis of which has to constantly be investigated and the foundation for SJW logic. Shocking, I know its built on terrible studies.