Teaching Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Experiment with Sensitivity

Few psychology studies capture students’ attention like Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Experiment (1971). The setup is striking: ordinary students randomly assigned to be “guards” or “prisoners,” only for the roles to spiral into cruelty and suffering far quicker than anyone expected.

It’s a dramatic story, but also a challenging one. When teaching this study at GCSE or A-Level Psychology, it’s important to strike a balance between making it engaging and treating the subject with sensitivity.

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The Basics: What Happened

• A mock prison was created in the basement of Stanford University.

• Participants were randomly assigned to either a guard or prisoner role.

• Guards quickly became abusive, and prisoners became submissive or distressed.

• The study, planned for two weeks, was stopped after just six days.

Students find the setup fascinating, but it raises obvious ethical questions.

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Key Teaching Points

1. Situational vs Dispositional Factors
   The study highlights the power of situation — how roles and environment can influence behaviour — rather than individual personality.

2. Ethical Considerations

   • Lack of fully informed consent (participants couldn’t anticipate the level of distress).

   • Psychological harm (some prisoners experienced breakdowns).

   • The role of Zimbardo himself, who became too involved as “prison superintendent.”

3. Relevance Today
   Links to real-world examples (e.g., the Abu Ghraib prison scandal) demonstrate why the study remains important, even if it is now considered deeply flawed ethically.

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Teaching with Sensitivity

• Acknowledge distress: Make it clear that this was a real study with real emotional consequences.

• Keep it professional: Avoid over-dramatising or sensationalising.

• Encourage debate: Guide students to discuss what should have been done differently and what we can learn today.

• Provide perspective: Balance the “shock factor” with the psychology it teaches about conformity, obedience, and ethics.

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Classroom Activities

• Role-play light: Instead of re-enacting prison conditions, have students debate as an ethics committee reviewing Zimbardo’s study.

• Compare & contrast: Discuss how Zimbardo compares to Milgram’s obedience studies in terms of ethics and conclusions.

• Exam practice: Frame questions around evaluation — methodology, ethics, and situational vs dispositional explanations.

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✅ Teaching Zimbardo’s experiment is about more than retelling a dramatic study. Done sensitively, it helps students engage with psychology’s big questions: What drives human behaviour? How should we study it ethically? And what responsibility do psychologists have to their participants?