Courtesy of Netflix. © 2026 It is one of the most notorious social experiments ever conducted, inspiring numerous films, documentaries and psychological studies. In August of 1971, Stanford psychology professor Philip Zimbardo recruited 24 male college students to participate in a study — funded by the U.S. Office of Naval Research — about antisocial behavior and the effects of imprisonment. Selected students passed a psych screening and didn’t have criminal records or medical conditions. The psychology department was transformed into a mock prison replete with small cells, a corridor doubling as a prison yard and a closet for “solitary confinement, and for two weeks, at a rate of $15 a day ($124.79 in 2026), participants would be dropped into a simulated prison environment and assigned randomly to the role of prison guard or prisoner. They were referred to only by the number on their prison uniform as a form of dehumanization, and guards were encouraged to maintain order by any means necessary.
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