In 1971, Stanford University psychology professor Philip Zimbardo led a prison experiment that simulated prisoners and guards. In a mock prison in the basement of the Stanford Department of Psychology building, more than 70 student volunteers act as prisoners and guards. This psychological study seeks to understand human responses to captivity and its impact on authority in prisons and the behavior of superintendents. . In describing the experiment, Zimbardo said the prisoners would not be physically harmed, but sought to create a realistic prison atmosphere where prisoners could feel the power of a guard. The experiment began on Sunday, August 17, 1971, and the students quickly entered their roles, psychologically tormenting the students who played prisoners, acting as guards. The experiment was terminated after Douglas Korpi, a Berkeley graduate who played the prisoner, exhibited a nervous breakdown. However, according to Zimbardo's recordings and interviews with participants, Korpi was actually feigning a nervous breakdown . The experiments were very safe, Korpi said, and guards could not hurt or beat them. He now admits that the whole thing was a hoax .
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