Zimbardo/Stanford Prison Experiment under scrutiny

The Black Oil

Probably a part of pretty much every basic undergrad textbook.

I'll dig into this later in the week. Here's some background via BPS Digest.

Freedive Ireland

I think its currently on netflix.

Black Swan

Questions if the Zimbardo prison experiment was staged.

The Black Oil

To be frank, I was surprised to find out Zimbardo is still alive.

The Black Oil

https://twitter.com/psychmag/status/1034366725658238978

https://thepsychologist.bps.org.uk/debate-about-ideas-not-about-personalities

Full statement

Disappointing, but almost inevitable given the world we live in now. Hopefully, they'll stick to the issues. Still have to read more.

The Black Oil

Criticism doing the rounds again.

https://twitter.com/RandyJMcCarthy/status/1159556032563220482

Abstract

The Stanford Prison Experiment (SPE) is one of psychology’s most famous studies. It has been criticized on many grounds, and yet a majority of textbook authors have ignored these criticisms in their discussions of the SPE, thereby misleading both students and the general public about the study’s questionable scientific validity. Data collected from a thorough investigation of the SPE archives and interviews with 15 of the participants in the experiment further question the study’s scientific merit. These data are not only supportive of previous criticisms of the SPE, such as the presence of demand characteristics, but provide new criticisms of the SPE based on heretofore unknown information. These new criticisms include the biased and incomplete collection of data, the extent to which the SPE drew on a prison experiment devised and conducted by students in one of Zimbardo’s classes 3 months earlier, the fact that the guards received precise instructions regarding the treatment of the prisoners, the fact that the guards were not told they were subjects, and the fact that participants were almost never completely immersed by the situation. Possible explanations of the inaccurate textbook portrayal and general misperception of the SPE’s scientific validity over the past 5 decades, in spite of its flaws and shortcomings, are discussed.