An infamous 1971 study looking at the psychology of imprisonment. Fascinating documentary in 5 parts on YouTube. Here’s part 1:
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This was back in the era of slipping just about anything past ethics reviews. Even Joseph Mengele would have found outlets for his work back then.
Not only were the ethics of the project questionable, the results were a crock. Investigators who should have been passive and hidden observers of the experiment were actively leading it. Researchers in on the study posed as students and became active leaders as guards and prisoners. The study results then fail to depict the natural evolution of the guard/prisoner relationship, but measures the researchers acting out the study hypothesis. The visual effects of the ‘results’ in video are so dramatic it obfuscates the complete bunk of scientific methodology that was used.
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