Stanford Prison Experiment Zimbardo Study

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The Stanford Prison Experiment is a controversial study that was led by Social Psychologist Dr. Zimbardo in 1971 at Stanford University. Funded by the U.S. Navy and the Office of Naval Research, the study focused on interpreting the fundamental psychological operations that support human belligerence. The study attempted to test the dispositional hypothesis, if extreme violence was caused by a controlled environment or caused by the violent nature of the participants. Dr. Zimbardo and his colleagues also studied the alteration of mental states in both the power-hungry guards and the compliant inmates. The questionable use of deception in the research and the failure to recognize the dehumanization before the situation got out of control contributed