BBC’s “The Experiment”, a recreation of the Stanford prison experiment,
has been halted:
it is clear the participants – particularly those selected to be
‘prisoners’ rather than ‘guards’ – were placed under severe levels
of stress. Friends of some who took part in the programme .. said
that it was more gruelling than they had been expecting.
So, what were they expecting, exactly?
Date: Thu, 24 Jan 2002 09:46:58 -0000
From: “Tim Chapman” (spam-protected)
To: forteana (spam-protected)
Subject: Stanford Experiment redux
http://media.guardian.co.uk/bbc/story/0,7521,638266,00.html
BBC halts ‘prison experiment’
Matt Wells, media correspondent
Thursday January 24, 2002
The Guardian
When the BBC revealed it was to replicate for television the notorious
Stanford experiment, when university students were “imprisoned” to study
responses to solitude and oppression, executives said that it would not
repeat the brutality of the original.
While the BBC version was approached with far more caution than the 1971
model, which was terminated after six days when the participants’ behaviour
had degenerated, it appears to have met a similar fate.
Scientists overseeing the BBC project became concerned that the 15
participants’ emotional and physical wellbeing was in danger of being
compromised, and called a halt before it was due to end.
There is no suggestion that any of the volunteers, incarcerated in a
“prison” constructed at Elstree studios in Hertfordshire, came to any
lasting harm or that their experiences went beyond what they had been led to
expect.
But it is clear the participants – particularly those selected to be
“prisoners” rather than “guards” – were placed under severe levels of
stress. Friends of some who took part in the programme, called The
Experiment and due to be televised on BBC2 in the spring, said that it was
more gruelling than they had been expecting.
When the BBC advertised for participants last year, it was clear that The
Experiment would be no ordinary documentary. Headed “Do you really know
yourself?” the advert asked for volunteers who would take part in a
“university-backed social science experiment to be shown on TV”, and warned
that successful candidates would be exposed to “exercise, tasks, hardship,
hunger, solitude and anger”.
Only men were asked to apply, money was not offered, and there was no
suggestion that participation would lead to fame. Instead, the producers –
from the BBC’s factual programmes department, not the entertainment division
The BBC experiment was overseen by two psychologists: Alex Haslam from
Exeter University; and Stephen Reicher from St Andrews. An independent
“ethical committee” also monitored the project. This committee, it is
thought, in consultation with the psychol-ogists, made the decision to
terminate the experiment, due to last 10 days, after eight or nine.
Philip Zimbardo, who oversaw the original Stanford experiment and later said
it should never be repeated, was sceptical when news of the programme first
emerged. At Stanford, the boredom of the guards drove them to abuse the
prisoners. This abuse included night strip searches, making prisoners clean
the toilets with their hands, and tripping prisoners when they walked past.
Some prisoners developed signs of emotional instability. He said last year:
“That kind of research is now considered to be unethical and should not be
redone just for sensational TV and Survivor-type glamour. I am amazed a
British university psychology department would be involved.
“Obviously they are doing the study in the hopes that high drama will be
created, as in my original study. If not, it will be boring. If so, how will
it be terminated and when?”The BBC said that termination of the experiment
proved that its security systems had worked. A spokeswoman said a great deal
of useful data had been amassed, and no scientific value was lost.
“It was planned that The Experiment would last 10 days but, aware of the
stresses under which volunteers might find themselves, the BBC was always
prepared, if necessary, to withdraw individuals or end it early. In the
event the psychologists did decide to end the experiment earlier than
anticipated, but not before a lot of data had been collected.”
“The psychologists are confident that the material they have will change the
way we think about the nature of power and powerlessness.”