Written by the Fiveable Content Team • Last updated September 2025
Verified for the 2026 exam
Verified for the 2026 exam•Written by the Fiveable Content Team • Last updated September 2025
Definition
The Stanford Prison Experiment was a psychological study conducted by Philip Zimbardo in 1971. It aimed to investigate the psychological effects of perceived power, focusing on the struggle between prisoners and prison officers.
This is when individuals act out or perform specific roles, often different from their personal identities. In the context of the Stanford Prison Experiment, participants were asked to role-play as either prisoners or guards.
This refers to losing self-awareness in groups, which can lead to changes in behavior and lessened responsibility. During the experiment, guards started losing their individuality and began acting cruelly towards prisoners.
Conformity is adjusting one's behavior or thinking to match those of other people or a group standard. Both 'prisoners' and 'guards' conformed to what they believed were expected behaviors for their roles.