Kijun Times

One of the best parts of teaching college social psychology classes is introducing students every semester to the ethically troubling 1971 Phil Zimbardo study on human behavior known as The Stanford Prison Experiment. Ordinary college men were recruited to take part in a two-week simulated prison and each student was randomly assigned at the beginning of the experiment to be either a prisoner or guard. In class, we discuss the underlying psychology of prisoners vs. guards, the ethical limits of human research, and the powerful force of social roles.

Along the way, we look at some of the original, grainy and mostly black and white, film footage from 1971. Now, Hollywood has produced a feature film version of this famous, or infamous, experiment and I couldn’t be more excited. The movie was released in July in a limited number of theaters around the country. If you weren’t fortunate enough to see it on the big screen — box office numbers were only about $600,000 so there’s a good chance you didn’t see it — the DVD will be available very soon. 

Filmed partly in Palo Alto, California, where the original experiment took place, the movie was directed by Kyle Patrick Alvarez, who collaborated with David Sedaris on C.O.G. (2013). I’m very interested to see how the experiment is depicted in the film and to compare it to the two previous attempts at covering this topic in film (‘The Experiment’ and ‘Das Experiment’).

The movie has at least two things going for it. One, the stellar cast. Two, Dr. Zimbardo is listed as a consultant for the film. I hope this means he insisted that the story stick to the actual events. On the other hand, he might try to downplay some of the quasi-scientific elements of the project that are evident to anyone who has seen the 35mm footage from the 1971 documentary, Quiet Rage.

At times during the documentary it seems as if Zimbardo is more interested in being a movie or stage director than an objective behavioral scientist. After one student screams to be let out of the prison, Zimbardo is left with no choice but to let him go. Later that same evening Zimbardo, acting as warden, directs the guards to dismantle the mock jail and move it upstairs just in case the former prisoner returns with some of his friends to bust other inmates out. No such thing happens, and the warden orders the prison guards move the entire jail back downstairs.

Note: The college student who demanded to be removed from the experiment was so emotionally impacted by the ordeal that he pursued a career as a prison psychologist! He credits Zimbardo’s study with opening his eyes to the psychology of prison life. The Stanford Prison Experiment is scheduled to be released on November 17th in DVD format.