MovieChat Forums > The Stanford Prison Experiment (2015) Discussion > Pretty accurate except for a few numbers

Pretty accurate except for a few numbers

posted 9 years ago by eoval
3 replies | jump to latest

The actual number of participants was 24 - 12 on each side. The prison was a lot smaller, at least originally. There were 3 backups on both sides.

However, the conditions, wardrobes, and treatment of the prisoners in this film are well-documented and accurate. The kid leaving and demanding an attorney is accurate.

The experiment was moved to a different section of Stanford after that.

The prisoner-on-prisoner harassment happened. The numbers-not-names happened. The experiment was stopped because of the girlfriend.

I appreciate a more factual film than either of "The/Das Experiment."

Lastly, the DOJ, military, and EU Commission on Human Rights adapted this into their treatment of prisoners.

"I do not like mixing up moralities and mathematics."
Churchill

[–] aleo101 9 years ago

I've been a fan of zimbardo's for years.. I used to watch "discovering psychology' all the time. I was not even planning to view this movie, but was flipping channels and a charactor said " zimbardo " and i started watching. My thoughts are off in 24 directions....everything from disgust to anger. Zimbardo (I was surfing net while watching) said he worked on this film and it was even a little toned down compared to some stuff that really happened. My respect for him went down 75% if that is true. I mean, you want to see how power over a prisoner worked? Just look at 1940's germany, or africa...or any real prison. This was little more than unfilterd role play. Even as an outsider, I thought, "how can he be THAT involved" and not expect he is guiding the results? And there was no control group to compare to. I wish I knew if each person had a back-story as a trigger point (like no-curse guy)-- Does anyone know if the REAL FOOTAGE is available anywhere on the net? I'd love to see the actual footage.

[–] LegendaryRambler 9 years ago

There was a British documentary that used some actual footage. It runs for about a half hour, and is available on YouTube. Also, there is an hour-long documentary, called 'Quiet Rage', which Zimbardo actually helped produce. It's on sale on the prison experiment's site, and on Amazon, but can be streamed from several sites, mostly ones that specialize in documentaries. You can find the first by googling 'Stanford Prison experiment' and the second by googling'Quiet Rage watch online.'
FWIW, Zimbardo admits that he got overly involved, and kept the experiment going too long.

Best to you all, LegendaryRambler

[–] hodie1 9 years ago

Nothing about this experiment made sense.