the timboucher experience

I read about this recently, then came across another mention of it online last night. In 1971, the basement of the Standford University Psychology Department was turned temporarily into a mock-prison, at the behest of the US Navy. They wanted to do an experiment to help the Navy figure out some problems they were having in their prison systems. 24 men were selected out of a group of 70 to participate in a “prison simulation” which was to run two weeks. The men were to be paid $15/day.

Only the most psychologically healthy individuals were selected - mostly consisting of ordinary white middle class males. The men were then randomly divided into two groups, one who were to role-play guards and the other who were to role-play prisoners. At the start of the experiment, would=be prisoners were fake-arrested by the real police department, booked and then held in a cell blind-folded before being taken to the mock-prison. They were then stripped and outfitted with weird outfits on which a number was sewn. They were referred exclusively thereafter by their numbers.

Guards wore khaki uniforms, mirror sunglasses and had wooden batons. The only restrictions placed on them was that they were not to use physical violence. Otherwise, they could run the prison however they saw fit. The experiment was set to run 2 weeks, but instead was cut short after merely six days because it got out of hand really fast. The guards quickly became extremely sadistic and would humiliate and torture the prisoners, and the prisoners would accept it. From wikipedia’s entry:

The prison quickly became unsanitary and inhospitable. Bathroom privileges became a right which could be, and frequently was, denied. Some prisoners were made to clean toilets using their bare hands. Mattresses were removed from the “bad” cell, and prisoners were forced to sleep on the concrete floor without clothing. Food was also frequently denied as a means of punishment. Prisoners endured forced nudity and even homosexual acts of humiliation.

The experiment was shut down because of the horrible effects it was having on the participants, and the unsanitary inhumane conditions which quickly resulted. Uncontrollable crying and “disorganized thinking” became common, and many of the participants suffered severe emotional disturbances.

Also, there were “parole hearings” where prisoners were offered the chance to get out of the program if they gave up pay that was owed to them. When prisoners agreed to do so, “parole” was rejected, so they were then participating in the experiment for no pay. But they still didn’t leave. I forgot to mention also that guards were allowed to go home, and worked in shifts, but prisoners stayed there continuously. Guards would also frequently volunteer to work shifts for no pay.

People started looking back at this “research” recently in light of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, since a lot of the elements are pretty similar. Certainly, I think there are elements in common, but I firmly believe allegations that CIA and other intelligence officers were running the show in that case. This whole thing sounds very much like a cracked out near-futuristic sci-fi novel. Just imagine if groups of ordinary citizens were rounded up in camps, and certain members were arbitrarily chosen as guards. That shit would get out of hand so fast. I’m surprised there was never a Hollywood-type movie about this experiment.

Also, its totally nuts how all this stuff happened in the span of only six days. That these people so quickly internalized their role-playing so that it became overwhelmingly real for them. I think this is kind of a chilling picture of how people live their lives a lot. Where they get stuck in a situation that they know isn’t right and doesn’t fit them, but end up just succumbing to the role-playing, until they are unable to escape it. The prison becomes your mind.

1. Official site of the experiment with slide shows and info
2. A page on About.com with some additional info
3. Wikipedia’s entry on it - really good
4. The BBC televised a semi-recreation of this experiment a couple years ago.

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