Editing Stanford prison experiment (section)

==== Orientation ====
The researchers had an orientation session for the guards the day before the experiment began, during which the guards were instructed not to harm the prisoners physically or withhold food or drink, but to maintain law and order. The researchers provided the guards with wooden [[Club (weapon)|batons]] to establish their status, deindividuating clothing similar to that of an actual prison guard (khaki shirt and pants from a local [[military surplus store]]), and [[mirrored sunglasses]] to prevent [[eye contact]] and create anonymity.<ref name=":4" />{{rp|1–2}}

Based on recordings from the experiment, guards were instructed by the researchers to refer to prisoners by number rather than by name. This, according to Zimbardo, was intended to diminish the prisoners' individuality.<ref>Zimbardo (2007), ''[[The Lucifer Effect]] '', p.54.</ref> With no control, prisoners learned they had little effect on what happened to them, ultimately causing them to stop responding and give up.<ref name=":12"/>

Zimbardo has explained that guard orientations in the prison system instructed the guards to exert power over the prisoners. Further, Zimbardo asserts that his fellow researcher explicitly instructed the guards not to inflict physical harm on the prisoners, but at the same time make the prisoners feel that they were in an actual prison.<ref>{{cite web|author=Zimbardo, P. G.|date=1971|title=Audio transcript—orientation of guards, 1971. ''Philip G Zimbardo Papers (SC0750)''|url=https://purl.stanford.edu/tn064kr9767|publisher=Department of Special Collections and University Archives, Stanford University Libraries}}</ref>

{{blockquote|Asking a person role-playing a guard in a prison simulation to be "firm" and "in the action" is mild compared to the pressure exerted by actual wardens and superior officers in real-life prison and military settings, where guards failing to participate fully can face disciplinary hearings, demotion, or dismissal.<ref name="auto"/>}}