Students and Faculty Break Down Netflix's New Stanford Prison Experiment

October 28, 2026 - 10:29

Laughter erupted in a dimly lit Sewall Hall room as Mike Paramore, a participant in Netflix's "The New Stanford Prison Experiment," offered a grim prediction: "Worst case scenario, my inner monster is stronger than I thought it was." The study, which has haunted psychology since 1971, has returned in the form of reality television.

The watch party drew psychology students and faculty who gathered to watch the series and discuss its implications in real time. The original experiment, conducted by Philip Zimbardo at Stanford, placed college students in simulated guard and prisoner roles before it was cut short after just six days due to disturbing behavior. The Netflix version revisits that premise with a modern production and a new generation of participants.

Attendees said the screening offered a chance to connect classroom theory with popular culture. Faculty members guided discussion after each episode, raising questions about ethics, consent, and whether reality TV can capture anything close to legitimate psychological data. Students noted that the show dramatizes events for entertainment, which complicates any comparison to controlled research.

Organizers said the event was designed to make difficult topics approachable. By watching the series together, participants could challenge claims in real time and separate spectacle from science. The conversation continued well past the credits, with attendees debating how much the experiment reveals about human nature and how much it reveals about the conditions producers create.