Cold Open

It’s August 15th, 1971, at Stanford University in California.

22-year-old Douglas Korpi steps carefully as he descends a staircase. He’s wearing handcuffs, his ankles are shackled together, and he's blindfolded… so it’s no surprise that after a few cautious steps, Douglas trips. Two sets of hands though, firmly grip his arms and stop him from falling, and then together, all but dragged by his captors, Douglas continues down the stairs.

But despite being bound and chained, Douglas is not afraid—because he’s volunteered to put himself in this unusual situation. A few days ago, Douglas read an ad in the college paper offering students the chance to earn fifteen dollars a day. All they had to do was participate in a two-week psychological study of prison life. Like many students, Douglas is usually short of cash, so he applied in the hope of making an easy $200. Now, his participation in the study is just beginning—and as the handcuffs bite into his wrists, Douglas can’t help being impressed at how accurately the organizers have mimicked the prison experience.

Douglas shuffles forward another few paces before he’s roughly yanked to a stop. His blindfold is pulled off, and Douglas winces at the bright fluorescent light overhead. The other students acting as prison guards then remove his handcuffs, and Douglas flexes his wrists in relief.

Even though he knows this is what he signed up for when he joined the experiment, Douglas’s heart still skips a beat as one of the guards opens the door to a cell. When Douglas hesitates, the guard gives him a firm shove in the back to hurry him along.

Inside the bare cell are two other men sitting on bunks. Both wear identical prison uniforms. Douglas slumps down on an empty bunk near his glum companions. And for the first time, Douglas questions whether the discomfort of the next two weeks is really going to be worth $200.

This research project is the brainchild of psychologist Professor Philip Zimbardo. It aims to investigate whether the inhumane treatment of prisoners in American jails is due to the personalities of the guards or has more to do with the prison environment itself. But what starts out as a well-meaning study will soon descend into chaos. Critics will condemn the behavior of participants and accuse the organizers of unethical practices, real after the infamous Stanford Prison Experiment will end just six days after it started on August 14th, 1971.

Introduction

From Noiser and Airship, I’m Lindsay Graham and this is History Daily.

History is made every day. On this podcast—every day—we tell the true stories of the people and events that shaped our world.

Today is August 14th, 1971: The Stanford Prison Experiment.

Act One

It's August 14th, 1971, at Stanford University’s psychology department, one day before the first prisoners are locked up in Dr. Philip Zimbardo’s research project.

18-year-old Dave Eshelman leans back in a seat and taps a pen against a notebook. He’s been told to sit here and await further instructions—and he’s not alone. With him are eight other students, and judging by the whispered conversation, Dave can tell that they’re just as in the dark about this research project as he is.

A few days ago, Dave responded to an ad in the Stanford School newspaper about a new study into prison life and then got a call asking him to report to the psychology department today, where he’ll receive further instructions.

Dave and the others have been waiting for a while now though, and he’s beginning to wonder whether they’ve been forgotten about, when the door opens and a man hurries in, apologizing for the delay. He introduces himself as Philip Zimbardo, the professor behind the study. Professor Zimbardo says that 75 people applied for the experiment and that the nine students here have been successful in gaining a spot. Dave is pleased at the prospect of earning some cash. And his smile widens when Professor Zimbardo reveals that the toss of a coin has made the men in this room prison guards. Dave doesn’t know exactly what the experiment will involve, but he’s sure he’d rather be a guard than a prisoner.

Over the next few minutes, Professor Zimbardo outlines the experiment. For two weeks, Dave and the other guards will act as jailers to nine participants who’ve been designated as prisoners. All the guards must do is maintain law and order. How they do that will be largely left up to them. There are only three basic rules. They cannot physically harm the prisoners. They can’t deprive them of food and water. And the prisoners can withdraw from the study at any time.

Then as the briefing ends, Dave is handed a khaki uniform, a wooden baton, and a pair of mirrored sunglasses. Looking at the costume Dave loves it. He has a background in drama and decides to immerse himself in this new role. He figures the experience will be more fun that way.

All Dave needs now are some prisoners to guard. And that part of the experiment kicks in the following day with frightening realism.

Early the next morning, campus police cars pull up outside houses across the city. The officers inside perform simulated arrests of the participants who’ve been selected to be prisoners. They are handcuffed and blindfolded, before being driven to a pretend jail in a basement at Stanford University.

When the first prisoner stumbles through the door, Dave steps forward and begins a routine designed to strip the prisoners of their individuality. He searches the bewildered student, then orders him to remove his clothes. Then Dave blasts him with a delousing spray before handing him an ill-fitting uniform sporting a prisoner number. The final touch is a chain secured around the man’s ankles.

Dave then ushers the man into the nearest cell and goes back to await the next arrival. He and his fellow guards go through the same procedure another eight times until three cells have three inmates each. Dave can’t help but notice that the prisoners already seem to move differently than when they arrived. They’re no longer smiling and joking. But are subdued and once again, Dave thanks his lucky stars that he’s been designated a guard rather than a prisoner. He suspects that the next couple of weeks are going to be easy for him, but less so for the prisoners.

But Dave doesn't get off quite so lightly. It only takes a few hours for the first signs of strain to show in the pretend Stanford prison. In the early hours of the second day, the prisoners object to being woken at 2:30 AM for roll call. They refuse to leave their cells, and when the guards raise their voices and order them out, the prisoners shout insults back in response. Then they tear the prison numbers from their uniforms, insisting that the guards refer to them by name rather than number.

Dave and his fellow guards huddle together and discuss how to deal with this rebellion. They decide to respond with a show of force. They storm the cells, spraying the inmates with fire extinguishers. And once they’re satisfied the situation is under control, they punish the prisoners further by removing the beds from their cells. And the prisoners that were identified as ringleaders of the revolt, are placed into solitary confinement.

The willingness of Dave and his fellow guards to retaliate so violently comes as a surprise to Professor Zimbardo. But storming the cells will only be the beginning of the guards’ increasingly aggressive behavior. The fake Stanford prison will soon begin a worrying slide into alarming - and very real chaos.

Act Two

It’s August 17th, 1971, at Stanford University, three days after the prison experiment began.

Douglas Korpi seethes as he stares at the door of his cell. Prisoner 8612, as he’s known here, is in solitary confinement.

Yesterday, the guards decided that Douglas was one of the instigators of the prisoners’ revolt. So, they locked him in a closet. But that’s not been Douglas’ only punishment. Aside from separating him from the other prisoners, the guards made him do push-ups and restricted his access to the bathroom. They also broke one of Professor Philip Zimbardo's cardinal rules by cutting Douglas’s food. But Douglas hasn’t seen any sign of Professor Zimbardo or any of his team of supervisors, and he wonders how much worse conditions have to get before the professor steps in.

It’s all a very different experience to the one that Douglas had imagined when he signed up for the experiment. Douglas has exams coming up, and he intended to use this simulated incarceration as an opportunity to study. So, when Douglas hears footsteps outside the closet, he calls out, asking if someone can get him the textbooks he brought when he arrived at the fake jail. But the guard on the other side of the closet sneers back that he can forget about studying. Douglas recognizes the voice, it's the guard the prisoners have nicknamed “John Wayne” for his southern accent and cocky swagger.

So, Douglas calls out to the guard again and tells him he has had enough. If he can’t use this time to study, then there’s no point being here. But John Wayne replies that Douglas can’t quit. He says that Douglas signed an agreement that commits him to stay for the full duration of the experiment. But Douglas knows that is not correct. In the briefing before the experiment began, Professor Zimbardo made it clear that the designated prisoners were free to withdraw from the experiment at any time.

Douglas doesn’t know whether John Wayne is deliberately ignoring the rules or has been told to flout them, but it doesn’t matter. Whatever the reason, Douglas has had enough.

So, rather than continue arguing with John Wayne, Douglas begins kicking the closet door. It rattles in its frame, but it doesn’t break. Still, Douglas doesn’t stop. He kicks the door over and over. He yells at the top of his voice that he can’t take any more, he wants to get out.

Eventually, Douglas’s foot is so bruised that he stops kicking. Breathing hard, he slinks to the floor, dejected. But it's not long before he hears footsteps approaching once again. This time though, a key slides into the lock and the door opens to reveal one of Professor Zimbardo's assistants. He tries to persuade Douglas to stay in the experiment. But Douglas has certainly had enough. He gets up, leaves the closet, and walks right out of the fake prison.

And Douglas isn’t the only prisoner who breaks under the guards’ harsh regime. The following day, another prisoner is found crying in his cell. In a vain attempt to keep him in the experiment, Professor Zimbardo arranges for a priest to speak to him. But the prisoner decides to follow Douglas’s example and withdraw from the study. But even then, his humiliation isn’t over. As he leaves, the guards encourage the other prisoners to heckle him as a dropout and a weakling.

On the fifth day, Professor Zimbardo arranges for the seven remaining prisoners to receive a visit from friends and family. But the visitors are subjected to strict rules that echo a real prison. They’re forced to wait for a prolonged period before they’re allowed into a visiting area. And even once the prisoners arrive, the guards then only allow them ten minutes together.

But it’s long enough for the visitors to hear all about the inhumane conditions in the fake prison. Some of them make complaints, but their only point of contact is with the guards, and they pay no attention to the pleas for better treatment.

Frustrated, one set of parents considers contacting a lawyer—but before they can do so, the experiment will take a sudden and unexpected turn. It won’t be the prisoners’ families who’ll shut down the Stanford Prison Experiment. Instead, it’ll be someone close to Professor Zimbardo himself who’ll make an emotional plea to end the project before it causes even more suffering.

Act Three

It’s August 19th, 1971, at Stanford University, five days after the prison experiment began.

25-year-old Christine Maslach leans forward in her seat, her eyes fixed on a monitor. The screen shows what’s happening in the fake prison yard. The “prisoners” are exercising under the supervision of the so-called “guards”. But as Christine watches, she spots one of the guards, 18-year-old Dave Eshelman, deliberately hold out his foot to trip one of the prisoners.

Christine recently graduated from Stanford with a PhD in psychology and has started working as an assistant professor at nearby University of California at Berkeley. She’s back at Stanford today to familiarize herself with the experiment before she begins interviewing the participants tomorrow. But Christine has more than just a professional interest in the Stanford Prison Experiment. She’s also in a relationship with Professor Philip Zimbardo, the organizer of the project.

Christine leans closer to the screen as the prisoner who was tripped by guard Dave Eshelman turns around and begins arguing with him. The confrontation soon escalates as other prisoners and guards weigh in. Christine is shocked by Dave’s behavior. She had a pleasant conversation with him a few minutes ago, but now she barely recognizes him as he aggressively postures and threatens.

When she points out what just happened to another researcher, he tells her that Dave is the most sadistic of the guards.

With a slight smile on his face, he tells Christine that Dave has been nicknamed “John Wayne” by the prisoners and then recounts several of Dave’s cruelest and most arbitrary punishments. Christine is not impressed. In fact, she’s shocked by how little Professor Zimbardo and his team are doing to safeguard the students involved in the experiment.

The final straw comes later that day. Christine watches in horror as the guards escort the prisoners to the bathroom with paper bags over their heads. After witnessing that, Christine confronts Professor Zimbardo. Angrily, she tells him that the experiment has gone too far, and it must be brought to a stop.

Her intervention works. The next day, Professor Zimbardo calls a halt to the prison experiment. What should have been a two-week project ends after just six days.

But despite its early finish, Professor Zimbardo concludes that the research project actually proved exactly what he hoped it would—that an environment can override an individual’s personality traits and compel them to behave in ways they normally would not. But Professor Zimbardo will face harsh criticism for his methods, and, for years afterward, many will question both the ethical implications of the study and its conclusions. Still, Professor Zimbardo will go on to become one of the most famous psychologists of his time, thanks in large part to the controversial and often cruel study he began at Stanford University, on August 14th, 1971.

Outro

Next on History Daily. August 15th, 1785. The French monarchy is rocked after an influential cardinal is arrested for his role in a scheme to defraud Marie Antoinette.

From Noiser and Airship, this is History Daily, hosted, edited, and executive produced by me, Lindsay Graham.

Audio editing by Muhammad Shahzaib.

Sound design by Gabriel Gould.

Music by Thrumm.

This episode is written and researched by Rob Scragg.

Edited by Scott Reeves.

Managing producer, Emily Burke.

Executive Producers are William Simpson for Airship, and Pascal Hughes for Noiser.