How Long Did The Prison Experiment Last 2024 Experiment. Zimbardo's prison experiment, a landmark and controversial study, was shut down after six days, but its implications have had a profound effect. Stanford prison experiment, a social psychology study (1971) in which college students became prisoners or guards in a simulated prison environment.

Zimbardo and two of his graduate students, craig haney j.d. Originally planned to run for two weeks, the experiment lasted only six days, prematurely terminated when its supervising personnel judged that the simulation had gotten.