54 | When Good People Go Bad (The Stanford Prison Experiment)

It started as a simple experiment.

A fake prison. A group of college students. Some assigned as guards, others as prisoners—just for research. No real stakes. No real consequences.

But within days, it spiraled into something terrifying.

The “guards” became cruel, abusive, and power-hungry. The “prisoners” became broken, submissive, and helpless. And the man running the experiment—Dr. Philip Zimbardo—let it happen.

This is the true story of the Stanford Prison Experiment—one of the most disturbing studies in psychology. And what it proves?

Most people don’t do bad things because they’re evil.

They do them because the system changes them before they even realize it.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

🔥 How college students became sadistic guards in just six days

🔥 Why people blindly follow roles—and how your environment shapes you more than you think

🔥 The psychology of power—how authority warps decision-making

🔥 How to recognize when a system is influencing you without your awareness

🔥 A challenge to question where in your life you’re following the rules—without realizing who made them

The scariest prisons aren’t the ones with bars. They’re the ones you don’t even see.