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The Stanford prison experiment (SPE) was designed to examine the effects of situational variables on participants' reactions and behaviors in a two-week simulation of a prison environment.

Stanford University psychology professor Philip Zimbardo led the research team who ran the experiment in the summer of 1971.

The U.S. Office of Naval Research funded the experiment as an investigation into the genesis of difficulties between prison guards and inmates in the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps facilities.

Certain portions of it were filmed, and excerpts of footage are publicly available.

After receiving approval from the university to conduct the experiment, study participants were recruited using an ad in the help wanted section of the Palo Alto Times and The Stanford Daily newspapers, which read:

Male college students needed for psychological study of prison life. $15 per day for 1-2 weeks, beginning Aug. For further information and applications, come to room 248 Jordan Hall, Stanford University.

From 75 applicants who applied to participate in the experiment, 24 young white men, deemed the most psychologically stable, were chosen as participants. During their initial screening interviews, all of the selected participants said they would prefer to be prisoners, not guards.

Participants were then randomly assigned to being “prisoners” or “prison guards" (9 in each group, plus 3 substitutes). This random assignment is considered the SPE experiment’s independent variable.

The day before the experiment officially began, the participants playing “guards” were given uniforms and equipment, specifically chosen to mimic the de-individuating uniforms professional prison guards and military often wear.

The experiment ended before the two weeks came to a close as the brutal behavior of the “guards” had escalated beyond what Zimbardo had anticipated, and the prisoners’ behavior had become more submissive than anticipated - a few had mental breakdowns. After debriefing with his “guards” and “prisoners”, Zimbardo analyzed the data and published his findings.

Zimbardo believes that the Stanford Prison Experiment contributes to psychology’s understanding of human behavior and its complex dynamics - how ordinary people can act in evil ways under certain conditions, otherwise known as the Lucifer Effect.