9 Unethical Psychological Experiments That Actually Happened

2. Zimbardo€™s Stanford Prison Experiment

One of the most infamous psychological experiments of all, Professor Philip Zimbardo€™s Stanford Prison experiment is not only disturbing in its very nature but also gives us a horrifying peek at what could be lurking within every one of us. A prison-like environment was constructed in the basement of Stanford University€™s psychology building and participants were divided into guard and prisoner roles. The guards were brought to the prison and given wooden batons, khaki uniforms and shades to hide their eyes. A day later, the prisoners were publicly arrested from their own homes without warning, taken to the basement jail, strip searched and dehumanised by being given identical smocks and ID numbers instead of names. Despite Zimbardo instructing that the prisoners should not come to any physical harm during the study, the guards attacked them with fire extinguishers on the second day because they had barricaded themselves in their cells. One had to be released after screaming and crying uncontrollably only 36 hours after his arrest. For the next few days, prisoners were kept in appalling conditions, especially those who did not obey orders; guards confiscated their mattresses, forced them to be naked and replaced their toilet rights with a bucket in each cell that disobedient prisoners weren€™t allowed to empty. The two week experiment was called off after just six days of alarming psychological and physical abuse by the guards, with Zimbardo concluding that we all have a totalitarian prison guard within us and all it takes is a pair of shades, a sense of authority and a dehumanised victim.