What was the focus of Zimbardo's Stanford Prison Experiment?

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Social roles have a strong influence on behavior. In the Stanford Prison Experiment, participants were randomly assigned to guards or prisoners in a simulated prison, and their behavior shifted quickly to match those roles: guards became abusive and controlling, while prisoners became passive and stressed. This showed that situational factors and authority dynamics can shape behavior more than individual personality, revealing how context can drive actions in ways people might not anticipate. The focus was not on online ethics, misinformation, or learning from punishment, but on how the assigned social roles affected conduct within a structured environment.