Pre-written Conclusions

The experiment’s conclusions have been written in advance according to nonacademic aims. Zimbardo designed his experiment from the outset as a demonstration of the toxicity of prisons. The experiment is directly connected to experiments that Zimbardo led in the 1960s, which reveals Zimbardo’s taste for spectacular experiments. At the time of the Stanford Prison Experiment, even though Zimbardo was not very involved in politics, his sympathies were heavily with prisoners.