Re-engaging with the Stanford Prison Experiment

Both the Stanford Prison Experiment (SPE) and the BBC-Prison Study (BBC-PS) demonstrate the importance of social influence processes as determinants of human behaviour. Behaviour is not purely the product of genetics or brain architecture. So, for example, studies of mental health difficulties among genetically identical individuals (i.e. monozygotic twins) do not reveal 100% concordance; far from it; at best 60%; so, at the very least 40% of behavioural variation is not explained by genetics and is accountable in terms of environmental factors. For various outcomes nurture accounts for more variance. That people are influenced by the context in which they find themselves (which of course includes the other people in that context) has been amply demonstrated by many researchers in addition to Professors Zimbardo, Milgram, Reicher & Haslam (see for example, Hofling et al 1966, Meeus & Raaijmakers, 1987 and Gamson, Fireman & Rytina, 1982). The challenge is understanding the complex confluence of nature and nurture. So, subdisciplinary areas such as psychoneuroimmunology and epigenetics - which in effect utilise a biopsychosocial approach - hold out great promise for developing such advanced understanding. References: Gamson, W.A., Fireman, B. & Rytina, S. (1982). Encounters with unjust authority. Homewood, Ill.: Dorsey Press. Hofling, C.K. et al (1966). An experimental study in nurse-physician relationships. Journal of Mental & Nervous Disease, 143(2), 171-80. Meeus, W. & Raaijmakers, Q. (1987). Administrative obedience as a social phenomenon. In W. Doise & S. Moscovici (Eds.), Current Issues in European Social Psychology, Vol. 2, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p.183-230. Professor Mark McDermott Department of Psychological Sciences, School of Psychology University of East London London, UK m.r.mcdermott@uel.ac.uk