Psychology of morality
Michaela Porubanova
Contemporary Issues in Psychology
Class objectives
 Zimbardo‟ s prison-guard experiment
 Video of Zimbardo theory of “situational
immorality”
 Haidt‟ s understanding of moral behavior
personality Context/
situation
Prisoner-Guard Experiment
 “What happens when you put good people
in an evil place? Does humanity win over
evil, or does evil triumph?”
 ~Philip Zimbardo~
 Stanford University
 Summer 1971
 * 1933
 PHD Yale
 NYU, Columbia
 Professor at Stanford
 Now retired
 Co-director of Shyness Clinic
Who is Philip Zimbardo?
Advertising the study
 “Male college students needed for
psychological study of prison life. $15 per
day for 1-2 weeks beginning Aug. 14. For
further information & applications, come
to Room 243, Jordan Hall, Stanford U.”
The research sample
 24 persons
 12 prison guards
 12 prisoners
The prison setting
 No windows
 The arrests
 Humiliation
of the prisoners
(searched, naked)
 All participants were
unaware of being watched
Prisoners versus Guards
 Uniforms
 ID numbers
 chains
 no instructions obtained
 Khaki uniforms
 Wore sunglasses
 Had wooden batons
 Had whistles
 Task: to maintain a
reasonable degree of
order in the prison and
not to use physical
violence.
 Soon it got out of control….
 All prisoners‟ rights were redefined as
privileges
 Many seemed to enjoy the power
 Punishment with little or no justification
 Appeared to forget that they were only
acting
Changing tactics
 Psychological strategies
 Good and bad cells
 With and without privilege
After only 36 hours….
 Prisoner 8612
 The first one released
 Emotionally disturbed: uncontrolled
 crying, fits of rage, disorganised thinking and
severe depression
 Three others developed the same symptoms
 Another prisoner developed a rash over his
whole body
 They became demoralised and apathetic
When their families visited…
 The prison changed into a nice, friendly
place
Mass escape plot conspiracy
Plan A
“After our meeting, we decided to put an
informant (an experimental confederate) in the
cell that #8612 had occupied. The job of our
informant would be to give us information about
the escape plot. Then I went back to the Palo Alto
Police Department and asked the sergeant if we
could have our prisoners transferred to their old
jail.
My request was turned down because the Police
Department would not be covered by insurance if
we moved our prisoners into their jail. I left angry
and disgusted at this lack of cooperation between
our correctional facilities (I was now totally into
my role). “
-Philip Zimbardo
Plan B
“Then we formulated a second plan. The plan was
to dismantle our jail after the visitors left, call in
more guards, chain the prisoners together, put
bags over their heads, and transport them to a
fifth floor storage room until after the anticipated
break in. When the conspirators came, I would be
sitting there alone. I would tell them that the
experiment was over and we had sent all of their
friends home, that there was nothing left to
liberate. After they left, we'd bring our prisoners
back and redouble the security of our prison. We
even thought of luring #8612 back on some
pretext and then imprisoning him again because
he was released on false pretenses. “
-Philip Zimbardo
Payback
Angry over the
energy spent on
preventing the
rumored escape,
the guards make
life unbearable for
the prisoners…
Ending…
 The study was abandoned after just six
days because of the prisoners‟
pathological reactions
 Originally planned for 2 weeks
 Full debriefing of participants took place,
weeks, months and years after
Zimbardo
“The security of my
men and the
stability of my
prison was at stake,
and now, I had to
deal with this
bleeding-heart,
liberal, academic,
effete dingdong who
was concerned
about the
independent
variable!”
Prisoner #819
"Listen, you are not #819.
You are [his name], and my
name is Dr. Zimbardo. I am
a psychologist, not a prison
superintendent, and this is
not a real prison. This is just
an experiment, and those
are students, not prisoners,
just like you. Let's go." He
stopped crying suddenly,
looked up at me like a small
child awakened from a
nightmare, and replied,
"Okay, let's go."
Ending the Experiment
 Abuse of prisoners
was getting out of
hand
 "It's terrible what
you are doing to
these boys!"
 2-week planned
prison simulation
ended on the 6th
day…
 Zimbardo et al aimed to show that
situational (environmental) rather than
dispositional factors (personality) caused
negative behaviour and thoughts patterns
found in prisons by conducting a prison
simulation with „normal‟ participants
playing the roles of guard and prisoner.
conclusions
 This experiment illustrated that situational
factors rather than dispositional (i.e.,
personality) are more important in
shaping our behaviour .
 Are well all capable of acting out of
character when placed in certain
situations???
 http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/philip
_zimbardo_on_the_psychology_of_evil.ht
ml