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Stanford prison experiment - Quiz
Contributed by: Goldsmith
  • 1. When was the set up for the Stanford prison experiment conducted?
A) Saturday, August 14
B) Monday, August 16
C) Tuesday, August 17
D) Sunday, August 15
  • 2. What did participants assigned to the guard role attend on August 14?
A) A mock arrest by the local police
B) A training session on psychological warfare
C) A full booking procedure at the police headquarters
D) An orientation where they were briefed and given uniforms
  • 3. When did Day 1 of the experiment take place?
A) Sunday, August 15
B) Saturday, August 14
C) Tuesday, August 17
D) Monday, August 16
  • 4. Who mock-arrested the participants assigned a prisoner role?
A) San Francisco television reporters
B) Zimbardo's research team
C) The experiment warden
D) The local Palo Alto police
  • 5. Were the prisoner participants informed in advance that they would be arrested?
A) Yes, they planned the arrests with the police
B) No, they were intentionally not informed
C) Yes, it was written in their contract
D) Yes, they were notified a week prior
  • 6. Whose ethics contract was breached by surprising the prisoners with arrests?
A) The San Francisco television station contract
B) The Palo Alto police department's contract
C) Zimbardo's own contract
D) The university ethics board contract
  • 7. What penal codes were the prisoners charged with during the mock arrest?
A) Penal Codes 211 and 459
B) Penal Codes 100 and 200
C) Penal Codes 411 and 659
D) Penal Codes 311 and 549
  • 8. What specific crimes did Penal Codes 211 and 459 represent?
A) Armed robbery and burglary
B) Grand theft and trespassing
C) Assault and battery
D) Vandalism and disturbing the peace
  • 9. Where were full booking procedures performed on the prisoners?
A) Palo Alto City police headquarters
B) The Stanford County Jail mock prison
C) The university psychology building
D) A San Francisco television studio
  • 10. What did booking procedures at the police headquarters include?
A) Warning of Miranda rights, fingerprinting, and taking of mug shots
B) Signing the ethics contract and receiving rules
C) Strip searching, issuing uniforms, and assigning numbers
D) Medical examinations and psychological evaluations
  • 11. Who video-documented the mock arrests using Zimbardo's car?
A) A Palo Alto police officer
B) A local San Francisco television station reporter
C) A Stanford University researcher
D) One of the back-up guards
  • 12. How many guards prepared for the arrival of the inmates initially?
A) Three guards
B) Six guards
C) Four guards
D) Two guards
  • 13. How were the prisoners transported to the mock prison?
A) In police cars with sirens wailing
B) Walking in handcuffs with the reporter
C) In a private van silently
D) In Zimbardo's car
  • 14. What was the name of the mock prison?
A) Stanford Correctional Facility
B) Zimbardo Penitentiary
C) Stanford County Jail
D) Palo Alto City Jail
  • 15. What happened to the prisoners immediately upon arrival at the mock prison?
A) They were allowed to make a phone call
B) They were given comfortable beds
C) They were given a hot meal
D) They were systematically strip searched
  • 16. What new identities were the prisoners given at the mock prison?
A) Inmate identification numbers
B) Rank titles
C) Fake criminal aliases
D) New legal names
  • 17. What did the prisoners wear?
A) Regular street clothes with identification tags
B) Standard orange jumpsuits with belts and shoes
C) Striped prisoner uniforms with heavy boots
D) Uncomfortable, ill-fitting smocks without underwear, stocking caps, and an ankle chain
  • 18. Where were the prisoners' identification numbers sewn?
A) On their stocking caps
B) On their uniforms
C) On their ankle chains
D) On their smocks' sleeves only
  • 19. Why were guards instructed to call prisoners by their assigned numbers instead of their names?
A) To dehumanize prisoners
B) Because the guards forgot their real names
C) To maintain military discipline
D) To protect prisoner privacy
  • 20. Who greeted the prisoners and conveyed the seriousness of their offense?
A) The warden
B) Zimbardo
C) The lead guard
D) The police chief
  • 21. When did Day 2 of the experiment take place?
A) Sunday, August 15
B) Tuesday, August 17
C) Monday, August 16
D) Saturday, August 14
  • 22. What time did the prisoners rebel against the guards' wake-up calls on Day 2?
A) 2:30 am
B) 12:00 am
C) 6:00 am
D) 8:30 am
  • 23. What sounds constituted the guards' wake-up calls on Day 2?
A) Bells ringing and loudspeaker orders
B) Sirens wailing and shouting
C) Whistles and clanging of batons
D) Stamping feet and clapping
  • 24. What did prisoners refuse to do during the rebellion on Day 2?
A) Use the bucket in their cells
B) Answer to their identification numbers
C) Leave their cells to eat in the yard
D) Wear their stocking caps and smocks
  • 25. What actions did prisoners take against their uniforms during the rebellion?
A) Tore their smocks into pieces and threw away ankle chains
B) Wrote insults on their identification numbers
C) Ripped off their inmate number tags and took off stocking caps
D) Swapped uniforms with each other
  • 26. How did guards respond to the prisoner rebellion on Day 2?
A) Called the Palo Alto police back
B) Sprayed fire extinguishers at the prisoners
C) Locked everyone in the yard without food
D) Released the main instigators immediately
  • 27. How many back-up guards were called in to help regain control?
A) Three back-up guards
B) Four back-up guards
C) Five back-up guards
D) Two back-up guards
  • 28. What punitive actions did guards take after regaining control on Day 2?
A) Beat the prisoners with batons and denied water
B) Extended their sentences by another day
C) Removed all clothes and mattresses, and sent main instigators to the special detention unit
D) Permanently expelled the main instigators from the experiment
  • 29. What method did guards use to attempt to dissuade further rebellion?
A) Starvation diets
B) Physical labor
C) Solitary confinement for all inmates
D) Psychological warfare
  • 30. What did one guard say to another about the prisoners after the rebellion?
A) "They deserve more food and better beds"
B) "These are dangerous prisoners"
C) "They will never learn their lesson"
D) "We should call off the experiment"
  • 31. When did Day 3 of the experiment take place?
A) Sunday, August 15
B) Monday, August 16
C) Tuesday, August 17
D) Wednesday, August 18
  • 32. How did guards restrict further acts of disobedience on Day 3?
A) Banned all communication between cells
B) Put all prisoners in the special detention unit
C) Increased the severity of the physical punishments
D) Separated and rewarded prisoners who had minor roles in the rebellion
  • 33. Where did the rewarded prisoners spend time on Day 3?
A) In the prison yard
B) In the police headquarters
C) In the warden's office
D) In the "good" cell
  • 34. What did prisoners in the "good" cell receive that was denied to the rest?
A) Unsupervised visiting hours
B) Clothing, beds, and food
C) Early release and money
D) Books and writing materials
  • 35. How long did the rewarded prisoners stay in the "good" cell?
A) The entire duration of the experiment
B) 6 hours
C) An estimated 12 hours
D) 24 hours
  • 36. Where did the rewarded prisoners go after leaving the "good" cell?
A) Home because they were released
B) To their old cells that lacked beds
C) Back to the police station
D) To the special detention unit
  • 37. What were guards allowed to abuse to humiliate inmates on Day 3?
A) The equipment in the mock prison
B) The visiting schedule
C) Their power
D) Their authority over the police
  • 38. What arbitrary physical tasks did guards force prisoners to do on Day 3?
A) Run around the cell block
B) Count off and do pushups
C) Clean the entire police station
D) Scrub the walls with toothbrushes
  • 39. What facility access was restricted by guards on Day 3?
A) Access to the telephone
B) Access to the dining hall
C) Access to the prison yard
D) Access to the bathrooms
  • 40. Where were prisoners forced to relieve themselves when bathroom access was restricted?
A) In the special detention unit
B) Out the windows of the cells
C) In the hallway
D) In a bucket in their cells
  • 41. What role did Philip Zimbardo assume in the Stanford prison experiment?
A) Warden
B) Guard
C) Prisoner
D) Superintendent
  • 42. When were digitized recordings from the experiment widely discussed?
A) 2015
B) 2020
C) 2017
D) 2010
  • 43. What did warden David Jaffe try to encourage a guard to be for the benefit of the experiment?
A) Friendly
B) Silent
C) Tough
D) Lenient
  • 44. When was the orientation session held for the guards?
A) The morning the experiment started
B) One week before the experiment
C) After the first day of the experiment
D) The day before the experiment began
  • 45. What accessories were given to the guards to prevent eye contact and create anonymity?
A) Plastic face shields
B) Mirrored sunglasses
C) Black hoods
D) Ski masks
  • 46. What can real-life guards face if they fail to participate fully in prison and military settings?
A) Immediate physical punishment
B) Disciplinary hearings, demotion, or dismissal
C) Transfer to maximum security
D) Mandatory psychological evaluation
  • 47. How many men applied for the study?
A) 100
B) 24
C) 75
D) 50
  • 48. How many participants were ultimately selected for the simulation?
A) 12
B) 75
C) 24
D) 30
  • 49. What was the adjusted equivalent of $15 in 2026?
A) Roughly $75.25
B) Roughly $210.00
C) Roughly $50.00
D) Roughly $126.50
  • 50. What area served as the prison yard?
A) The main campus quad
B) A rooftop terrace
C) A large outdoor courtyard
D) A small corridor
  • 51. What was used as a closet for solitary confinement?
A) A closet
B) A bathroom stall
C) A wooden crate
D) A windowless basement vault
  • 52. What was the lighting condition inside each cell?
A) Naturally lit by windows
B) Brightly illuminated
C) Flickering fluorescent lights
D) Unlit
  • 53. How long were the shifts that the guards were told to work?
A) Four-hour shifts
B) Twelve-hour shifts
C) Twenty-four-hour shifts
D) Eight-hour shifts
  • 54. Which journal did David Amodio claim was an 'obscure journal'?
A) American Psychologist
B) Naval Research Reviews
C) New York Times Magazine
D) International Journal of Criminology and Penology
  • 55. According to the text, what tradition did Zimbardo violate by publishing in non-peer-reviewed outlets first?
A) Anonymous peer review
B) Journal exclusivity policies
C) Scientific dissemination
D) Academic tenure guidelines
  • 56. Which journal is described as the official journal of the American Psychological Association?
A) International Journal of Criminology and Penology
B) Naval Research Reviews
C) New York Times Magazine
D) American Psychologist
  • 57. What type of requirements did the American Psychologist have that the article still needed to pass?
A) Very strict requirements
B) Mandatory naval clearance
C) Public popularity metrics
D) Lenient preliminary guidelines
  • 58. What demographic of people were recruited as participants?
A) Female college students
B) Military veterans
C) Male college students
D) Prison inmates
  • 59. How many participants were chosen for the experiment?
A) Ten
B) Twenty-four
C) Twelve
D) Fifty
  • 60. How were participants assigned to their roles?
A) By psychological stability
B) By personal preference
C) By physical strength
D) Randomly
  • 61. Who confronted Zimbardo after evaluating the conditions of the experiment?
A) Thibault Le Texier
B) Philip Zimbardo's spouse
C) Christina Maslach
D) The Office of Naval Research director
  • 62. Who asserted that Zimbardo asked guards to behave in certain ways to confirm his conclusions?
A) Thibault Le Texier
B) Philip Zimbardo
C) The Stanford News Service
D) Christina Maslach
  • 63. What effect might have influenced participants by knowing they were watched during the Stanford prison experiment?
A) Placebo effect
B) Halo effect
C) Hawthorne effect
D) Bystander effect
  • 64. Which psychologist criticized the SPE in 2012 for demand characteristics where participants acted out stereotyped views?
A) Philip Zimbardo
B) Ali Banuazizi
C) Rutger Bregman
D) Peter Gray
  • 65. What type of bias did Carnahan and McFarland claim the SPE suffered from due to advertising a study about prison life?
A) Reporting bias
B) Confirmation bias
C) Selection bias
D) Attrition bias
  • 66. According to Carnahan and McFarland, applicants to the SPE likely already possessed traits associated with what personality dimension?
A) Introversion
B) High altruism
C) High dispositional empathy
D) Authoritarianism
  • 67. What is the title of the 2018 book by Thibault Le Texier questioning the scientific validity of the SPE?
A) The Lucifer Effect
B) The Stanford Prison Study
C) Histoire d'un mensonge
D) Humankind: A Hopeful History
  • 68. In what year did Thibault Le Texier publish an article discussing his critiques of the SPE with the American Psychological Association?
A) 2007
B) 2020
C) 1975
D) 2019
  • 69. How did Zimbardo and colleagues characterize Le Texier's critiques?
A) Helpful and unbiased
B) Mostly ad hominem
C) Brilliant and objective
D) Entirely accurate
  • 70. Which Dutch historian claimed the experiment was suspect in his 2020 book?
A) Siamak Movahedi
B) Ali Banuazizi
C) Rutger Bregman
D) Thibault Le Texier
  • 71. What is the title of Rutger Bregman's 2020 book that suggests guards were urged to act aggressively?
A) Histoire d'un mensonge
B) The Lucifer Effect
C) The Stanford Prison Experiment
D) Humankind: A Hopeful History
  • 72. Which participant guard acknowledged that his theater background lent itself well to his role?
A) Thibault Le Texier
B) Siamak Movahedi
C) David Eshelman
D) Thomas Carnahan
  • 73. What specific act did David Eshelman instruct prisoners to simulate on one shift?
A) Sodomy
B) An escape attempt
C) A physical fight
D) A hunger strike
  • 74. What real-world prison abuses did Zimbardo compare the participant guards' behaviors to?
A) Alcatraz
B) San Quentin
C) Guantanamo Bay
D) Abu Ghraib
  • 75. What did the BBC prison study indicate was important in the emergence of tyranny?
A) Direction
B) Selection bias
C) Isolation
D) Sleep deprivation
  • 76. Banuazizi and Movahedi stated there is no single definition for what type of behavior?
A) Researcher behavior
B) Observer behavior
C) Guard behavior
D) Prisoner behavior
  • 77. In what year was Carlo Prescott's article published in The Stanford Daily?
A) 2005
B) 1995
C) 1971
D) 2010
  • 78. Who did Zimbardo believe actually wrote the article attributed to Prescott?
A) Brett Emory
B) Michael Lazarou
C) An anonymous student
D) Carlo Prescott
  • 79. Who obtained telephone records and emails regarding the authorship of the article?
A) Philip Zimbardo
B) Carlo Prescott
C) Brett Emory
D) Michael Lazarou
  • 80. What is Brett Emory's role related to the SPE?
A) The Stanford Daily editor
B) Lead researcher
C) Prison consultant
D) SPE movie's producer
  • 81. Who was the first prisoner to leave the experiment?
A) Christina Maslach
B) Craig Haney
C) Gordon H. Bower
D) Douglas Korpi
  • 82. What was Douglas Korpi's prisoner number?
A) 8912
B) 8126
C) 819
D) 8612
  • 83. What did Douglas Korpi yell during his breakdown?
A) Why are you treating me this way?
B) Jesus Christ, I'm burning up inside
C) I want to speak to a medical doctor
D) Let me out of this cage right now
  • 84. Who released Douglas Korpi after seeing his suffering?
A) Philip Zimbardo
B) Curtis Banks
C) Gordon H. Bower
D) Craig Haney
  • 85. In what year was the documentary movie 'Quiet Rage' released?
A) 1971
B) 2018
C) 2017
D) 1992
  • 86. What exam was Korpi trying to return home to study for?
A) Graduate Record Exam
B) Law School Admission Test
C) Medical College Admission Test
D) Graduate Management Admission Test
  • 87. When did Zimbardo respond to Korpi's 2017 interview claims?
A) 1992
B) 2019
C) 2017
D) 2018
  • 88. How did Zimbardo claim he had to treat Korpi's breakdown during the study?
A) As a minor theatrical act
B) As a disciplinary infraction
C) As real
D) As a fake attempt to study
  • 89. How did rioters view other prisoners on Day 4?
A) As victims
B) As allies
C) As snitches
D) As leaders
  • 90. What was the prisoner number of the inmate who cried in his cell and refused to talk to a priest?
A) 8612
B) 8129
C) 819
D) 8911
  • 91. Who was brought in to speak with Prisoner 819 when he showed distress?
A) A psychologist
B) A lawyer
C) A medical doctor
D) A priest
  • 92. Who did Prisoner 819 ask to speak with instead of the priest?
A) Philip Zimbardo
B) A guard
C) His parents
D) A medical doctor
  • 93. What phrase did the guards cajoled remaining inmates to loudly decry about Prisoner 819?
A) 819 did a bad thing
B) 819 is faking his breakdown
C) 819 is a total snitch
D) 819 wants his clothes back
  • 94. What did Zimbardo give Prisoner 819 upon his release?
A) His personal clothes
B) His pay
C) A medical prescription
D) A written apology
  • 95. Who watched the visitors during the ten-minute visitations?
A) Gordon H. Bower
B) A priest
C) A guard
D) Philip Zimbardo
  • 96. Who arrived on Day 5 to check on the experiment and question Zimbardo about the independent variable?
A) Craig Haney
B) Gordon H. Bower
C) Christina Maslach
D) Curtis Banks
  • 97. Who was Curtis Banks in the context of the text?
A) A prison psychologist
B) A visitor parent
C) A researcher
D) A consulting priest
  • 98. Whose objections contributed to ending the experiment alongside the parents' concerns and guard brutality?
A) Maslach's
B) Haney's
C) Dimsdale's
D) Banks's
  • 99. Who ended the study?
A) Dimsdale
B) Haney
C) Banks
D) Zimbardo
  • 100. For how many days were the participants paid?
A) Seven days
B) Six days
C) Five days
D) Fourteen days
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