1.2 Conformity to social roles

Question 1

What is conformity to social roles?

Answer 1

Where one conforms to a social role expected of them in a given situation

Question 2

What was the aim of Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Experiment?

Answer 2

• To examine whether people would conform to the role of a prisoner or prison guard when in a mock prison environment
• To assess if situational or dispositional factors affected behaviour displayed in prisons

Question 3

What was Zimbardo’s procedure?

Answer 3

• Recruited 24 male Stanford Uni students that were deemed ‘emotionally stable’ after psychological assessment
• Pps volunteered to take part and were randomly allocated to prisoner or guard group
• Prisoners were to spend two weeks in locked ‘cells’ in wing of university
• Prison guards were there to look after prisoners and keep them under control

Question 4

How did Zimbardo increase the realism of the experiment?

Answer 4

• Prisoners - Pps were arrested in their home (unexpectedly) and delivered to ‘prison’ blindfolded, strip-searched, deloused and issued a smock uniform and a number
• Guards - Pps were given uniform, including batons and mirrored sunglasses and worked shifts

Question 5

What were the results of the study?

Answer 5

• Both prisoners and guards quickly identified with their social roles
• Prisoner rebellion crushed by guards, guards then became more abusive, getting prisoners to perform menial tasks
• Dehumanisation of prisoners led to deindividuation - prisoners became apathetic and called each other by their numbers
• Five of the prisoners were released from the experiment early due to adverse reactions to the physical and mental torment e.g. crying and extreme anxiety
• The experiment was called off after only 6 days

Question 6

What did Zimbardo conclude?

Answer 6

• Rejected the dispositional hypothesis - psychologically fit Pps became sadistic
• Pps readily conformed to social roles they were expected to play
• Social roles perpetuated by media shaped their attitudes and behaviour

Question 7

What did Zimbardo attribute to the cause of the behaviour of the participants?

Answer 7

Deindividuation - state of you becoming so immersed in norms of group that sense of identity and morals is lost

Guards were so sadistic because they did not feel responsible for their behav - was a group norm

Question 8

What reduces support for Zimbardo’s research?

Answer 8

• Identification not automatic - Reicher & Haslam replicated SPE - Pps did not confrom to social roles automatically - guards did not identify w status and refused to impose authority - prisoners identified as group to challenge guards’ authority - led to power shift and collapse of prison system - results contradict Z’s assumption conformity to social roles is automatic
• Situational factors not only cause - individual differences determine extent of conf to social roles - in original SPE guards’ behav varied dramatically - some v sadistic, some helped prisoners by offering support and sympathy and reinstating lost privileges - suggests situational factors not only cause - dispositional factors play role - perhaps Z’s conclusions exaggerated - also perhaps men and women react differently - only males used - beta bias as SPE ignored gender differences - situation may affect men and women differently
• Ethical issues - Z criticised for ethical issues - esp protection from harm - 5 prisoners left early due to v negative reactions to phys & mental torment - some guards reported anxiety & guilt - Z had to stop exp after day 6/14 - Z did follow Stanford Uni guidelines and debriefed Pps, but he acknowledged he should have stopped earlier - perhaps he identified too much w role of superintendent and lost objective distance w Pps