In 2024, The Standford Report reported that on October 14, the world-famous psychologist, Philip Zimbardo, passed away. Zimbardo’s Standford Prison Experiment gained national attention after recruiting graduate students at Standford University to spend two weeks in a mock prison, divided into groups of prisoners and guards. According to the Standford Report, during the experiment, the guards acted abusively toward the prisoners, while the prisoners displayed symptoms such as acute anxiety and depressed moods. Though this experiment was shut down after two weeks, the results highlighted the influence that social roles have on human behavior, especially for college students. As discussed in a 2024 report by VeryWellMind.com, the prisoners and guards were allowed to interact with each other in any way that they wanted.
Soon after his death, The Los Angeles Times highlighted how Dr. Zimbardo was passionate about extending the results of his research to prison and criminal justice reform. Even before his passing, in 2020, a report in Forbes.com outlined how Dr. Zimbardo extended his research to study heroism and overcoming the ‘bystander effect’ and prejudice. A 2021 report by Psychology Today highlighted how Dr. Zimbardo further extended his research to studying time perspectives and shyness.
In 2019, the American Psychologist released a report highlighting the scientific shortcoming of the Standford Prison Experiment. Despite these shortcomings, there remain possible ramifications for higher education. Though it’s not likely that the systematic abuses displayed in the Standford Prison Experiment will occur on a college campus, all schools have group dynamics which include social roles and perceived power differences. In 2021, Boston University released a story about the college experiences for poor students attending wealthy universities. In 2016, College Magazine discussed the college experiences of racial diverse students attending a predominantly white university. A 2015 study in Education Research International examined the college experiences of international students attending U.S. schools. In addition to student-to-student group dynamics, colleges need to consider the power differences in other group interactions on campus, such as faculty-to-staff interactions and administrator-to-parent interactions.
In 2023, SimplyPsychology outlined two dynamics in the Standford Prison Experiment. These dynamics are deindividuation and learned helplessness, and they both remain relevant for institutions of higher education.
Deindividuation
In 2019, GoodTherapy defined deindividuation as occurring when a person’s identity with a group overrides self-identity and awareness. In the Standford Prison Experiment, some students followed the group norms of being a guard and behaved in ways that they would’ve not done while acting as an individual. A recent example of this dynamic on a college campus can be found in a 2024 report by CBSsports, in which students at the University of Texas threw beer bottles onto the field during a football game. It’s likely that many of these students would not have thrown anything had they been the only person in the student section.
The SimplyPsychology report also highlighted the importance of emphasizing personal responsibility to reduce deindividuation. Schools can emphasize personal responsibility in formal ways, such as the Student Code of Conduct and performance reviews for faculty and staff. However, more consistent ways might include promoting value-based living, welcoming diversity, and encouraging empathy across campus.
Learned Helplessness
In 2018, the American Psychological Association defined learned helplessness as occurring when individuals experience repeated and uncontrollable stressors, which results in the individual failing to use any available option to control or change the situation. In the Standford Prison Experiment, the prisoners developed a perception that they couldn’t control the actions of the guards, and this perception stopped them from responding in positive ways. A 2024 report by Inside Higher Ed, discussed how the dynamic of learned helplessness is evident on college campuses. Reducing this dynamic includes fostering help-seeking, problem-solving, and conflict resolution, all of which can improve student retention.
Dr. Philip Zimbardo had a lasting impact on the field of psychology, and regardless of the various opinions about his research, the Standford Prison Experiment still signifies the importance of examining the impact that social roles and groups dynamics have on behavior. Colleges and universities will benefit from utilizing the lessons taught by Dr. Zimbardo’s work.