conformity to social roles

Question 1

what is conformity to social roles?

Answer 1

• when an individual adopts a certain behaviour and belief
• this represents identification, a person changes their public behaviour and private beliefs only when in a particular social role

Question 2

zimbardo (1973) - aim

Answer 2

• examine if people would conform to the social roles of a prison guard or prisoner when in a mock prison environment
• also to examine if behaviour in prisons was due to dispositional or situational factors

Question 3

zimbardo (1973) - method

Answer 3

• 21 male uni students responded to a newspaper advert, they were selected from 75 volunteers based on their mental and physical stability, they were randomly allocated to guard or prisoner
• ‘prisoners’ were arrested, fingerprinted, stripped and given a numbered smock to wear, with chains around their ankles
• ‘guards’ were given uniforms, sunglasses, handcuffs and a truncheon. they were told to run the prison without physical violence
• it was set to run for 2 weeks

Question 4

zimbardo (1973) - results

Answer 4

• participants quickly identified with their social roles. within days the prisoners rebelled, and the guards dehumanised the prisoners, the prisoners became more submissive, identifying further with their role
• 5 were released early due to adverse reactions to the torment. the study was terminated after 6 days when fellow postgrad students convinced zimbardo the study was inhumane

Question 5

zimbardo (1973) - conclusion

Answer 5

• people quickly conform to social roles, even when they go against their moral principles
• situational factors were largely responsible for the behaviour as no participants displayed the behaviour previously

Question 6

give a strength of zimbardo’s study
1/1

Answer 6

his research had real-world applications based on zimbardo’s aim to improve US prison systems. the study led to changes in the way that US prisons are run, for example, juveniles accused of federal crimes are no longer held with adult prisoners before trial due to the risk of danger. therefore the study has implications and uses in society and helped improve prison systems

Question 7

give a limitation of zimbardo’s study
1/5

Answer 7

a replication of his study by reicher and haslam (2006) contradicts zimbardo’s findings. they randomly allocated 15 men to the role of prisoner or guard, and these participants didn’t conform to their roles automatically. for example, the guards refused to impose their authority, and the prisoners worked together to challenge the guards, causing a shift in power and collapsing the prison system. this study contradicts zimbardo, suggesting conformity to social roles isn’t as automatic as he said.

Question 8

give a limitation of zimbardo’s study
2/5

Answer 8

doesn’t account for individual differences and personality that influence the extent to which a person conforms. in zimbardo’s experiment, the guards behaviour varied hugely, only 1/3 displayed sadistic behaviour, and a few helped the prisoners. this suggests that situational factors aren’t the sole cause of people conforming to social roles, and that dispositional factors such as personality may also play a role. this implies that zimbardo’s conclusion may have been overstated, and lacks validity

Question 9

give a limitation of zimbardo’s study
3/5

Answer 9

his study has been heavily criticised for breaking multiple ethical guidelines, specifically protection from harm. 5 prisoners left the experiment early due to adverse reactions to the physical and mental harm, and some guards reported feelings of guilt and anxiety due to their actions. although he followed ethical guidelines of stanford university and debriefed participants after, zimbardo himself recognises that the study should have been stopped earlier. these ethical issues means the study cannot be replicated to test for reliability

Question 10

give a limitation of zimbardo’s study
4/5

Answer 10

his study lacks population validity, his sample was comprised of 21 male students, which suggests a level of gender bias. therefore this study and its results/conclusions cannot be generalised to other groups of society, such as women and other age groups as we cannot determine that they would conform to these social roles in the same way. more research is required to assess how others would respond

Question 11

give a limitation of zimbardo’s study
5/5

Answer 11

his study lacks ecological validity and mundane realism. psychologists have argued that participants were acting based on stereotypes they had seen of how prisoners and guards are meant to act, rather than genuinely conforming to the roles. one guard, for example, stated that he based his behaviour on a movie he had watched, which may explain the riot the prisoners enacted. therefore results aren’t reflective of real-life conformity, so can’t be generalised