What We Got Wrong About the Stanford Prison Experiment
Behavioral Grooves Podcast · Sep 28, 2026 · 44:12
Behavioral Grooves Podcast · Sep 28, 2026 · 44:12
Listen in the Podli app 🎧
Follow your favourite podcasts, listen offline and in the car with CarPlay and Android Auto, and always pick up where you left off. Free to try.
Have we misunderstood two of psychology’s most famous experiments? We revisit the Stanford Prison Experiment and the Robbers Cave experiment with science historians Thibault Le Texier and Gina Perry, who uncovered a much messier story behind the research we learned about in school. What can these experiments actually tell us about human behavior, and what happens when researchers become more invested in a specific conclusion than challenging their own assumptions?
Topics[0:00] Two Famous Experiments, One Bigger Problem [6:47] Part One: The Stanford Prison Experiment [12:26] Were the Guards Coached to Be Cruel? [18:14] Is the Real Lesson About Leadership? [19:22] Part Two: The Robbers Cave Experiment [24:04] The Forgotten Middle Grove Experiment [28:38] Engineering the Robbers Cave Experiment [32:38] What Can We Actually Learn From These Experiments? [36:09] When the Story Gets in the Way of the Science [41:36] What Happens When a Story Sounds Too Tidy?
©2026 Behavioral Grooves
LinksInvestigating the Stanford Prison Experiment: History of a Lie by Thibault Le Texier
Join the Behavioral Grooves community
Episodes: Behavioral Grooves Podcast
