The Stanford Prison Experiment was an infamous study conducted in 1971 at the American university led by psychology professor Philip Zimbardo.
It was a two-week simulation of a prison environment recreated in controlled conditions on campus. The aim was to study how environment and situation can influence behaviour.
The experiment had to be scrapped after just six days when the participants who were given the role of guards began physically and mentally abusing those assigned as prisoners.
Suddenly, the behaviour on many American college campuses suddenly makes sense.
Netflix has decided that a re-run is in order, and they have commissioned The New Stanford Prison Experiment.
This is a new unscripted reality series of six 45-minute episodes. The synopsis is:
“Thirty willing participants enter a real prison and are randomly assigned as guards or prisoners.
Thrust into a system of power, hierarchy, and control, they’ll discover whether ordinary people inevitably conform to the roles they’re given – or whether empathy, morality, and individuality can withstand the forces pushing them in the opposite direction.
As the pressure builds and the balance of power begins to shift, the central question feels more urgent than ever: Does power corrupt?”
The show will debut on the streamer on October 21st. Jane Lipsitz, Dan Cutforth, Nan Strait, Dan Volpe, Jeff Grogan, and Mike Odair executive produce.
