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History Daily

The Stanford Prison Experiment

History Daily

Airship | Noiser | Wondery

History

4.42.1K Ratings

🗓️ 14 August 2024

⏱️ 19 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

August 14, 1971. An infamous psychological study into prison brutality begins at Stanford University.


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Transcript

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0:00.0

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0:04.0

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0:06.0

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0:10.0

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0:27.0

Twenty-year-old Douglas Corpy steps carefully as he descends a staircase.

0:35.8

He's wearing handcuffs.

0:37.0

His ankles are shackled together and he's blindfolded.

0:39.9

So it's no surprise that after a few cautious steps, Douglas trips.

0:45.0

Two sets of hands though, firmly grip his arms and stop him from falling, and then together,

0:49.6

all but dragged by his captors, Douglas continues down the stairs.

0:53.9

But despite being bound in chain, Douglas is not afraid, because he's volunteered to put himself

0:59.0

in this unusual situation. A few days ago, Douglas read an ad in the college paper offering students the chance to earn $15 a day.

1:07.0

All they had to do was participate in a two-week psychological study of prison life.

1:14.3

Like many students, Douglas is usually short of cash, so he applied in the hopes of making

1:18.8

an easy 200 bucks.

1:20.6

Now his participation in the study is just beginning and as the handcuffs bite into his wrists,

1:26.0

Douglas can't help being impressed at how accurately the organizers have mimicked the prison experience.

1:31.0

Douglas shuffles forward another few paces before he's

1:34.6

roughly yanked to a stop. His blindfold is pulled off and Douglas winces at the

1:39.4

bright fluorescent lights overhead. The other students acting as prison guards then remove his

1:44.9

handcuffs and Douglas flexes his wrists in relief. Even though he knows

1:50.0

this is what he signed up for when he joined the experiment.

...

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