Yes, the Professor Zimbardo that conducted the infamous Stanford Prison Experiment gave a lecture in the Chinese University of Hong Kong once and I had the rare opportunity of a lifetime to attend it. For those who don’t know, the Stanford Prison Experiment, much like Milgram’s compliance experiment was highly effective and highly unethical.
“My girlfriend, now wife, was the one who got me to stop the experiment.” ~ Philip Zimbardo
Zimbardo put participants in a fake prison (in Stanford University) and assigned them roles as either prisoners or prison guards. Then he studied how psychological effects of power impacted human beings. Throughout the six days that the experiment went on for those who played their part as prisoners were subject to psychological torture and harassment from the guards and other fellow inmates.
Should Zimbardo have stopped the experiment himself? What we often forget is that although this study is tied to the name “Zimbardo”, it was actually funded and initiated by the US Navy and Marine Corps to investigate the tensions between prison guards and their prisoners. Things aren’t always as simple as we initially think they are, and yes, the government is sometimes evil.
