The power of a role: How Situations Shape Behaviour

How much can a situation change the way we behave — and the person we believe ourselves to be?

In this episode of Circuit Breaker: Rewiring Your Decisions, we explore the Stanford Prison Experiment — a controversial study led by psychologist Philip Zimbardo that examined how people might respond to assigned roles and a powerful social environment. We look at the questions it raised about authority, behaviour, and the influence of situational pressure, while also considering the serious ethical concerns and criticisms surrounding the research.

But can a role or environment really transform our behaviour so dramatically? Discover what the experiment continues to make us question about human nature, the power of situations, and the importance of critically examining psychological research.

Studies and links

• The Menace Within | Stanford Magazine The Menace Within | STANFORD magazine
• Stanford Prison Experiment | Simply Psychology