What was the hypothesis of the Stanford Prison Experiment
James Bradley
Updated on March 31, 2026
Phillip Zimbardo and his team wanted to test the hypothesis that the personality traits of prisoners and guards are the main cause of abusive behavior in prison. The team chose 24 male students that were tested on their psychological and physical ability.
What was the original hypothesis in the Stanford prison study?
The proponent of this psychology research, Philip Zimbardo, along with his team of researchers, wanted to test the hypothesis that prisoners and prison guards have inherent traits that cause abusive behavior in prison.
What is the main point of the Stanford Prison Experiment quizlet?
What was the aim of Zimbardo’s ‘Stanford Prison Experiment? ‘ To investigate how readily people would conform to the roles of guard and prisoner in a role-playing exercise that simulated prison life.
What was the objective of the Stanford Prison Experiment?
The experiment, funded by the U.S. Office of Naval Research, took place at Stanford University in August 1971. It was intended to measure the effect of role-playing, labeling, and social expectations on behaviour over a period of two weeks.How did the Stanford Prison Experiment change psychology?
The Stanford Prison Experiment has become one of psychology’s most dramatic illustrations of how good people can be transformed into perpetrators of evil, and healthy people can begin to experience pathological reactions – traceable to situational forces.
What is the main point of discussion of Milgram's obedience study?
What is the main point of the textbook discussion of Milgram’s obedience study? Individuals will obey authority to the point of potentially causing serious harm to another person.
Did the Stanford Prison Experiment findings support Zimbardo's hypothesis?
Conclusions. According to Zimbardo’s interpretation of the SPE, it demonstrated that the simulated-prison situation, rather than individual personality traits, caused the participants’ behavior.
What does Milgram claim he discovered in the experiment?
The Milgram experiment proved that people will likely follow orders, even harmful ones, when instructed by an accepted authority figure. … The Milgram experiment proved that people are more likely to harm others when placed in a position of power over another human being.What happened to prisoner #8612 after the experiment?
Realizing that something was really wrong with Doug, Zimbardo decided to let him leave the experiment. In order to keep up with the experiment and to make it more real for the participants, he told the rest of the inmates that Prisoner #8612 had been shipped off to a maximum security prison.
What is the just world hypothesis quizlet?The just world hypothesis is the belief that people get what they deserve in life and deserve what they get. This belief is a potential cause of the fundamental attribution error—the tendency to overestimate dispositional causes of an event and to underestimate situational causes.
Article first time published onWhat was the conclusion of the famous Milgram study?
Conclusion: Ordinary people are likely to follow orders given by an authority figure, even to the extent of killing an innocent human being. Obedience to authority is ingrained in us all from the way we are brought up.
What was the real intent of Milgram's experiment quizlet?
The original aim of Milgram’s study was to test the hypothesis ‘that Germans are different’, by investigating what level of obedience would be shown by subjects told to administer electric shocks by an authority figure.
What was unethical about the Milgram experiment?
The experiment was deemed unethical, because the participants were led to believe that they were administering shocks to real people. The participants were unaware that the learner was an associate of Milgram’s. However, Milgram argued that deception was necessary to produce the desired outcomes of the experiment.
What does the Milgram experiment tell us about the power of agents of social control?
Milgram’s experiment demonstrated the power of authority and how someone in a position of authority can influence people to behave unethically and against their wishes.
What does the just world hypothesis?
The just-world hypothesis refers to our belief that the world is fair, and consequently, that the moral standings of our actions will determine our outcomes. This viewpoint causes us to believe that those who do good will be rewarded, and those who exhibit negative behaviors will be punished.
What is the just world hypothesis Chapter 12?
The “just world hypothesis” makes violent mistreatment seem more understandable (i.e. the victim must have done something to deserve it) and makes the world seem safer and saner.
What is an example of just world phenomenon?
More modern examples of the just-world phenomenon can be seen in many places. The poor may be blamed for their circumstances and victims of sexual assault are often blamed for their attack, as others suggest that it was the victim’s own behavior that caused the assault.
What was the problem with Milgram's experiment on obedience quizlet?
The teacher has to decide between obeying the obvious authority of the experimenter or listening to his conscience that he is hurting the learner. What did Milgram and other psychologists predict? Criticisms were made that the experiment wasn’t carried out on ‘normal’ people.
Which of the following is the main conclusion from Milgram's shock experiments quizlet?
Terms in this set (20) Which of the following is the main conclusion from Milgram’s shock experiments? Ordinary people will do terrible things if ordered by an authority.
What was the supposed purpose of the experiment What were volunteers told?
when they each arrived they were introduced to a man they believed to be another participant, they were then briefed on the supposed purpose of the experiment,which they were told was the effect of punishment on learning.
What was the purpose of the Milgram experiment quizlet?
The purpose of Milgram’s study of obedience was to find out how many people would obey an authority figure when directly ordered to violate their own ethical standards. In Stanley Milgram’s study of obedience, the “learners” actually received very significant levels of shock.
Why is the monster study unethical?
The Monster study is speech impediment experiment that was done on the children that lived in the orphanage. … This study violated a lot of ethical issues because the children were psychological harm, informed consent was not given and the subjects were deceived.