3) SPE - Conformity to Social roles Flashcards
1
Q
What did the Stanford prison experiment aim to show
A
Aimed to portray how social roles are an extreme influence on behaviour
2
Q
Set Up
What was the SPE
A
- Mock prison
- Basement of Stanford university
3
Q
Who was used in the experiment
A
- American male students
- Randomly allocated roles
4
Q
How were social roles encouraged
A
- Uniform, prisoners were referred to as numbers not names
- Instructions as to behaviour
5
Q
What were the outcomes of this experiment
A
- Prisoners rebelled within 2 days, going on hunger strikes
- Guards were threatening and acted as of the power they were given
- Ended within 6days rather than the 14 intended days
6
Q
EV - Control over key variables
A
- Participants were emotionally stable and randomly allocated their roles
- Meaning their behaviour was not due to personality
- Increasing the internal validity of this study
7
Q
EV - Lacked realism
A
- Banuzzi argued the prison lacked realism of an actual prison as done in a basement
- Alongside, believed Ps to be ‘play acting’ taking on roles from films and adhering to stereotypes
- Tells us little on conformity in actual prisons
8
Q
EV - Exaggerated roles
A
- Only 1/3 of guards behaved brutally compared to the other 2/3 which actually didn’t
- Overstated the guards behaviour
- Minimises dispositional influences
