The Bully-Free Workplace: Stop Jerks, Weasels, and Snakes From Killing Your Organization

Role-Dictated Behavior

Related to social influence is a remarkable 1974 study from Stanford University—the prison experiment.²⁸ Phil Zimbardo was the lead psychologist in establishing a mock prison in the basement of the university psychology building during summer school. Students were recruited to participate in a two-week study of prison life. Each was tested to rule out any psychological abnormalities. The students, all “normal” males, were randomly—remember, randomly—assigned to be either prisoner or guard. Prisoners were stripped of their dignity by being made to wear short, flimsy hospital gowns with no underwear. They were instructed to refer to each other by an assigned number and to follow commands given by guards. Guards were given uniforms and told to work an eight-hour shift. They received no instructions. They were left to fill time as they saw fit.

To the surprise of the professor and the overseeing graduate students, the experiment was shut down after only five days. The first anxiety breakdown happened on day three. That prisoner wanted to quit but was goaded into staying by five fellow prisoners. One guard grew increasingly mean and violent. Most guards made prisoners do push-ups and ask for simple rights, such as to eat or use the bathroom. The takeaway lesson from this landmark study was that normal people could fall quickly into adopting roles as if they were in a play, and despite the artificiality of circumstances, the individuals acted out roles as they ...