National Counselor Exam Practice Test 2026 – Comprehensive Study Resource

The key finding of the Stanford prison simulation was that roles significantly influenced how participants behaved. This classic experiment, conducted by Philip Zimbardo in 1971, highlighted how quickly and profoundly individuals can adopt the behaviors associated with assigned roles, particularly when those roles are tied to authority and power dynamics.

In the simulation, participants were assigned the roles of guards or prisoners within a mock prison environment. As the experiment progressed, the guards began to exhibit increasingly abusive behaviors toward the prisoners, while the prisoners displayed signs of emotional distress and submission. This transformation of behavior underscores the psychological impact of situational factors and social roles, suggesting that people can become deeply engaged in their assigned roles to the detriment of their ethical standards and interpersonal respect.

The findings suggest that the environment and expectations that come with specific roles can override individual personality traits, leading to extreme behaviors. This understanding is critical in fields such as counseling, psychology, and sociology, as it emphasizes the importance of awareness regarding situational influences on behavior, especially in hierarchical contexts.