On the afternoon of August 7, 2025, the 97th Tsinghua Lecture on History and Philosophy of Science and Technology invited Professor Mark Solovey from the Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology at the University of Toronto to give a lecture entitled "Breaking Bad and the Problem of Conformity: Revisiting the Stanford Prison Study". The lecture was hosted by Professor Wang Wei from the Department of History of Science, Tsinghua University.
At the beginning of the lecture, Professor Solove introduced the Breaking Bad book project that he co-hosted with Professor Marga Vicedo. He shared the motivation for writing the book and his thoughts on the content and structure during the writing process, which included the review and use of the Stanford Prison Experiment archives, as well as the new perspectives that this book can offer for understanding academic issues such as the history of the science of human nature.
This project aims to explore a core question: why do people who are originally decent commit heinous acts that harm innocent others? Starting from the perspective of human nature science in the mid-to-late 20th century, the project attempts to provide insights into this question. It consists of 8 chapters, covering aspects such as evolutionary explanations, obedience, conformity (Stanford Prison Study), imitation and social learning, bystander effect, attachment issues, lack of empathy, social/group identity and group conflict.
Professor Solove systematically sorted out the development context of this research from the perspectives of historical context, research process, and theoretical development, and explained that today's report will focus on three key words: situational power, systemic influence, and critical reflection. He elaborated on the life background of Philip Zimbardo (1933—2024), the leader of the Stanford Prison Study. Born into a Sicilian immigrant family during the Great Depression, Zimbardo grew up in a multicultural community in New York, an experience that fostered his distrust of authority figures. From Brooklyn College to Yale University, and from New York to Stanford, Zimbardo gradually developed his research interests, and the social and political environment of the 1960s and 1970s also had a profound impact on his research.
Professor Solovey also explained the development of social psychology at that time from the perspective of academic history, especially how Milgram's experiment on obedience to authority provided an important reference for Zimbardo's research and constructed a theoretical network of different dimensions.
Professor Solovey analyzed in detail the development of the Stanford Prison Experiment from three aspects: research design, implementation process, and theoretical interpretation. He particularly emphasized the evolutionary process of Zimbardo's theoretical interpretation—from initially focusing on "situational forces" to later recognizing the importance of "systemic forces". After the exposure of the Abu Ghraib prison abuse incident in 2004, Zimbardo realized the shortcomings of his early analysis and began to pay more attention to the institutional and political frameworks that create situations.
By analyzing the book "The Lucifer Effect" and its influence, Professor Solovey demonstrates how Zimbardo expanded his research to broader thinking on the mechanisms of the emergence of evil, and how such thinking has had a lasting impact in academia and popular culture.
Professor Solovey also systematically introduced the main criticisms of the Stanford Prison Study in recent years, including flaws in research methods, ethical issues, and doubts about the interpretation of research results.
Professor Solovey also offered a moderate defense of the study, arguing that despite its many issues, the Stanford Prison Study still holds significant academic value and inspirational significance. It reminds people to pay attention to the impact of situational and institutional factors on human behavior, challenging dispositional explanations that overemphasize individual personality.
After the lecture, teachers and students had a lively and in-depth discussion on the content of the lecture, including the ethical issues of the Stanford Prison Experiment, the scientific nature of research methods, the evolution of Zimbardo's theoretical explanations, the status of the study in the history of science, and how to understand the relationship between scientific research and its social and political context. Professor Solove answered each question and comment one by one, and had more sufficient exchanges with the teachers and students who raised questions.
Written by: Ren Yulin
Reviewer: Wang Wei