conformity to social roles Flashcards
definition of social roles
parts individuals play when they belong to social group
conformity to social roles occurs when people behave in certain ways because they feel it is expected of them in that role
Zimbardo’s Stanford prison experiment
Philip Zimbardo and colleagues wanted to answer question-do prison guards behave brutally because they have sadistic personalities or is the situation that creates that behaviour
Zimbardo Stanford prison experiment procedure
used 24 male participants
set up mock prison in psychology department at Stanford University
advertised students willing to volunteer and chose those who deemed emotionally stable after also several psychological testing
students chosen randomly assigned role of guards or prisoners
heighten relaism, prisoners were arresred in homes by police abd delivered to prison
blindfolded, strip searched and issued number and uniform
findings of Zimbardo Stanford Prison experiment
guards took up roles with enthusiasm
their behaviour became threat to prisoners health
study stopped after 6 days instead of the intended 14 days
within 2 days, prisoners rebelled against their harsh treatment by the guards
conclusion
revealed power of the situation to influence peoples behaviour
guards, prisoners and researchers all conformed to their roles within the study
roles very easily taken on by participants
weakness of Zimbardo Stanford prison experiment
lacks ethical issues
criticized for breaking ethical guidelines
particular, protection from harm
five prisoners left early due to the reactions of the physical and mental torment
guards reported feelings of guilt and anxiety from their actions
Zimbardo acknowledged should have been stopped earlier
weakness as suggests he was responding more as superintendent of prison rather then being responsible to his participants as researcher
strength of Zimbardo Stanford prison experiment
control
controlled variables in his study
e.g. able to control selection of participants
emotionally stable pps were recruited and given role as either prisoner or guard
way to try and rule out individual personality difference
if guards and prisoners acted differently, but in roles by chance then the reason for their behaviour must be due to pressure of situation
strength as having control increases internal validity of the study
therefore, can be more confident in drawing conclusions
aim of Milgram study
to see whether people would obey and inflict harm on another person using electric shocks, by following orders of an authority figure
see whether individual had potential to cause harm like Germans and Nazis or if they were different
procedure of milgram study
recruited 40 male participants through newspapers and flyers from post
ad said-looking for participants for a study about memory
pps recurited were aged between 20-50 years
jobs ranged from unskilled to professional
offered 4.50 to take part (reasonable amount in 1960s)
got there, paid straight away
put as learner
true participant=teacher
experimenter=another confederate dressed in lab coat played by actor
participants told could leave study at any time they want
leaner strapped in chair and wired with electrodes
teacher required to give learner an increasingly severe electric shock every time leaner made mistake on leanring task (learning word pairs)
findings of milgrams study
no participants stopped below 300 volts
five partcipants (12.5%) stopped at 300 volts
65% continued to highest shock level of 450 volts
qualtive data was collected
3 participants had uncontrolled seizures (full blown)
Milgram asked 14 psychology students to predict participants behaviour
estimated no more then 3% of participants would continue to 450 volts
conclusion of Milgram’s study
84% of participants were glad they took part in study as learnt something about themselves
concluded German people are NOT different
participants were willing to obey orders even if it meant harming people
weakness of milgrams study
lacks population validity
Milgram used biased sample of 40 male American volunteers from an individualist society
unable to generalise to other populations, especially collectivist cultures or to explain behaviour of females
cannot be concluded that females may respond differently in Milgrams study
strength of milgrams studt
supporting replication-has been replicated in real life settings
e.g Hofling conducted study in hospital
nurses were telephoned by Dr smith who asked if they could adminstrate a drug to a patient
order went against hospital regulations as
the nurses are not suppose to take instructions over phone
instructions were from unknown doctor
dosage of drug was twice the advised on the bottle
overall, 21 out of 22 (95%) nurses did as requested
strength as shows obedience to authority figures does take place in real life settings
