Zimbardo criticized the BBC replication study of the SPE for its structure, random selection of guards and prisoners, and for filming it
A replication study of the Stanford Prison experiment by the BBC, prisoners revolted and established power-sharing commune, for it to be later turned into a draconian regime. Even bigger surprise—stop the presses—Zimbardo criticized the study, arguing that its structure invalidated it as a chance to replicate the Stanford Prison Experiment; that guard/prisoner assignments could not have really been random; and that filming made this a TV spectacle rather than science; and asking, how can this be a model for anything when the prisoners take over the prison?
Naturally, Reicher and Haslam disagreed with his disagreement, pointing out that prisoners have de facto taken over some prisons, such as the Maze in Northern Ireland, which the Brits filled with IRA political prisoners, and the Robben Island prison, in which Nelson Mandela spent his endless years. Zimbardo called Reicher and Haslam “scientifically irresponsible” and “fraudulent.” They pulled out all the stops by quoting Micheal Foucault: “Where there is [coercive] power there is resistance.”
References
- Sapolsky, Robert. (2017). Behave Chapter 12. Hierarchy, Obedience, and Resistance (p. 533). New York, NY: Penguin Random House.
Metadata
Type:🔴 Tags: Psychology / Social Psychology Status:☀️