What was the BBC Prison Study?

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Introduction. The BBC Prison Study explores the social and psychological consequences of putting people in groups of unequal power. It examines when people accept inequality and when they challenge it. Findings from the study were first broadcast by the BBC in 2002.



Besides, who conducted the BBC Prison Study?

Zimbardo, P. (2006). On rethinking the psychology of tyranny: The BBC Prison Study. British Journal of Social Psychology, 45, 47–53.

Furthermore, what type of study was the Stanford Prison Experiment? The Stanford prison experiment (SPE) was a social psychology experiment that attempted to investigate the psychological effects of perceived power, focusing on the struggle between prisoners and prison officers.

Also, what was Zimbardo's role in the prison study?

Guards were instructed to do whatever they thought was necessary to maintain law and order in the prison and to command the respect of the prisoners. Zimbardo observed the behaviour of the prisoners and guards (as a researcher), and also acted as a prison warden.

Why did Dr Philip Zimbardo the principal investigator of the Stanford Prison Experiment stop the experiment before its conclusion?

Results of the Stanford Prison Experiment While the Stanford Prison Experiment was originally slated to last 14 days, it had to be stopped after just six due to what was happening to the student participants. The guards became abusive, and the prisoners began to show signs of extreme stress and anxiety.

12 Related Question Answers Found

Why the Stanford prison experiment was unethical?

So with all this said, I believe that Zimbardo's prison experiment is unethical due to its lack of informative material, lack of protection to the prisoners/guards, poor debriefing of the prisoners and poor training of the guards, and the lead experimenter being a large influencing role in the experiment.

What was the goal of the Stanford Prison Experiment?

Q: What was the purpose of the Stanford Prison Experiment? A: The purpose was to understand the development of norms and the effects of roles, labels, and social expectations in a simulated prison environment.

What was the purpose of Solomon Asch experiment?

Solomon Asch conducted an experiment to investigate the extent to which social pressure from a majority group could affect a person to conform. He believed that the main problem with Sherif's (1935) conformity experiment was that there was no correct answer to the ambiguous autokinetic experiment.

What did the Stanford prison experiment teach us about human behavior?


The study aimed to test the effects of prison life on behavior and wanted to tackle the effects of situational behavior rather than just those of disposition. After placing an ad in the newspaper, Zimbardo selected 24 mentally and physically healthy undergraduate students to participate in the study.

What was Zimbardo's hypothesis?

August 14, 1971, Philip Zimbardo, a Stanford professor, starts what is planned to be a two week psychological experiment on the relationship between prisoners and their guards. The hypothesis is that the inherent personality traits of prisoners and guards are the chief cause of abusive behavior in prison.

What was the independent variable in the Stanford Prison Experiment?

PROCEDURE (METHOD): The study is usually described as an experiment with the independent variable being the conditions the participants are randomly allocated to: either prisoner or guard. The dependent variable is the resulting behaviour.

Who was involved in the Stanford Prison Experiment?

The experiment was led by professor Philip Zimbardo, then in his late 30s. He and his team recruited 24 male students, who were randomly divided into two groups: prisoners and guards. The students were told they would be paid $15 a day and that the experiment would run for two weeks.