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The Stanford Prison Experiment

In 1971, a group of researchers at Stanford University wanted to find out what causes conflict between prisoners and guards, so they decided to assign 24 students in the roles of prisoners and guards. They were put in a prison-like environment, for a period of two weeks. However, the experiment ended after just 6 days, when maintaining the order became more and more difficult.

The students became aggressive and even if they were told not to use any form of violence, one in every three guards had the tendency to abuse the prisoners. Additionally, the prisoners seem to accept the abuse, which led to some emotional trauma. The experiment demonstrated how power can change human behavior.

MKUltra

One of the most notable experiments conducted by the CIA aimed to develop mind-controlling techniques that could be helpful during war. The project started in 1950 and lasted for 20 years. Mkultra’s main goal was to make a breakthrough in mind-controlling technology. However, the researchers derived from their initial purpose and started doing illegal drug testing on thousands of Americans.

They used drugs like LSD and other chemicals, plus some other forms of psychological torture because they wanted to modify brain functions and try to manipulate the mental states of the people. The CIA wanted the documentation related to the project to be completely destroyed, but the Freedom of Information Act made public in 1977 more than 20,000 pages on the experiment.

Make sure to also check the 30 Famous Conspiracy Theories From the US.