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The Stanford Prison Experiment
The Stanford Prison Experiment (SPE) is iconic in Social Psychology. True to its name, The SPE is a laboratory experiment – albeit with human subjects. It is comprised of at least a half dozen methods, almost comprising a ‘methodology’ in and of itself.
The SPE subjects were some 20 college-age males (almost exclusively white) residing around Stanford (California) in the summer of 1971. The subjects were randomly (via a coin toss) equally split into “guards” and “prisoners” and observed via video, audio, experimenter and self reporting including anecdotal and survey accounts over the course of six days. The planned two week experiment was forced to end prematurely.
The SPE is a study of the interrelationship dynamics within and between two ostensibly oppositional groups. As such, it is a reasonable analogical model for my study of the Epistemological Crisis.
Thibault Le Texier did a historical analysis of the considerable scholarship on the SPE and the documentation generated by the SPE itself. This research and analysis, ‘Debunking the Stanford Prison Experiment’, provides a method itself – Historical Analysis – for the study and contextualization of works of scholarship which can provide valuable insights and reflections.
The Stanford Prison Experiment Website
The following are the two cited works referenced, please let me know if the links don’t work, and I can try and make sure that I provide you with a copy (I can email you a copy of them if you want).
… Kenny
Haney, C., Banks, W. C., & Zimbardo, P. (1973). Interpersonal dynamics in a simulated prison. International Journal of Criminology and Penology, 1, 69–97.
Le Texier, Thibault. “Debunking the Stanford Prison Experiment.” American Psychologist 74.7 (2019): 823.
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