by Grant J Everett
Thousands of ethical psychological experiments have enabled modern researchers to better understand the workings of the human mind. Sadly, some ideas have backfired horribly, ruining lives and bringing the entire profession of psychology into disrepute. Here are some horror stories from the darkest of dark sciences…
The Stanford Prison experiment
In 1971, social psychologist Philip Zimbardo wanted to understand the ways that people conform to their established place in the world. He did this by using a group of college students to take part in a two-week-long experiment where they would live either as prisoners or guards in a pretend prison. The results may ruin what little hope you have left in humanity.
Having selected the test subjects, Zimbardo assigned each of them their roles without bothering to pass on this knowledge in advance, and arranged to have the “prisoners” arrested outside of their own homes (yep, in front of all their neighbours).
Documentaries, books and even big-budget Hollywood movies have told the story of what happened next. Spoiler: the results were beyond disturbing.