Comformity to social roles- Zimbardo

Question 1

procedure

Answer 1

Zimbardo (1973)

• Set up a mock prison in the basement of the psychology department at Stanford university
• They advertise for students willing to volunteer and selected those who were deemed emotionally stable
• The students were randomly assigned roles of guards or prisoners
• The social roles of the prisoners and the guards were strictly divided the prisoners daily routines were heavily regulated they had 16 rules they had to follow which were enforced by the guards
• The guards had their own uniform complete with a wooden club ankles keys and mirror shades they were told they had complete power over the prisoners

Question 2

findings

Answer 2

• the guards took up their roles with enthusiasm, their behaviour became a threat to the prisoners psychological and physical health and they study was stopped after 6 days instead of the intended 14
• within two days the prisoners had rebelled
• guards became increasingly brutal
• prisoners became increasingly withdrawn and depressed

Question 3

Conclusion

Answer 3

-participants conformed to their roles as guards or prisoners

Question 4

control

Answer 4

his colleagues had some control over variables

• emotionally stable participants were chosen and randomly allocated- ruled out individual personality differences as an explanation of the findings
• if guards and prisoners behaved very differently but were in those roles only by chance then their behaviour must have been due to the pressures of the situation
• increases internal validity

Question 5

lack of realism

Answer 5

Banuazizi and Mohavedi (1975) argues that the participants were merely play acting rather than genuinely conforming to a role, their performances were based on their stereotypes of how prisoners and guards are supposed to behave
-one guard said they based their role on a brutal character from a movie

Question 6

evidence that the situation was real

Answer 6

quantitive data gathered during the procedure showed that 90% of the prisoners conversations were about prison life, prisoner 416 expressed views that the prison was a real one but run by psychologists rather than the government, seems the participants believed the situation was real which gives it internal validity

Question 7

role of dispositional influences

Answer 7

Fromm (1973)- accused Zimbardo of exaggerating the power of the situation to influence behaviour for example only a minority of the guards behaved in a brutal manner, others were keen on applying the rules fairly and others tried to help and support the prisoners
-this suggests that Zimbardos conclusion that participants were conforming may be overstated

Question 8

lack of research support

Answer 8

Reicher and Haslam (2006)- completed a partial replication of the SPE broadcasted on BBC, the findings were very different as the prisoners took control and subjected the guards to harassment and disobedience

Question 9

ethical issues

Answer 9

Zimbardos dual roles in the study
-on one occasion a student who wanted to leave the study spoke to Zimbardo in his role as superintendent, the conversation was conducted on the basis that the student was a prisoner asking to be released, Zimbardo responded to him as a superintendent