conformity to social roles

Question 1

outline the aim of Zimbardo’s study (1971)

Answer 1

to investigate how readily people would conform to the social roles in a simulated environment, and specifically, to investigate why ‘good people do bad things’
used 24 American male undergraduate students from Stanford

Question 2

outline the procedure of Zimbardo’s Prison experiment

Answer 2

1. the basement of the Stanford University psychology building was converted into a simulated prison
2. American student volunteers were paid to take part in the study
3. they were randomly assigned the role of a guard or a prisoner
4. both roles were given uniforms and props: guards had handcuffs, sunglasses (making eye contact impossible and to reinforce the boundaries between the two social roles within the established social hierarchy)
5. no one was allowed to leave the simulated prison
6. guards worked 8-hr shifts, the others remained on call
7. prisoners were only allowed in the hallway (their yard) and to the toilet
8. the guards were allowed to control behaviour in order to emphasise their complete power over the prisoners.
9. no physical violence was permitted - due to ethical guidelines and to prevent complete overruling
10. behaviour was observed by Zimbardo and others - Zimbardo also acted as the Prison Superintendent

Question 3

explain the findings from Zimbardo’s experiment

Answer 3

Identification occurred very fast as both the prisoners and guards adopted their new roles and played their part in a short amount of time despite the apparent disparity between the two social roles.
Guards began to harass and torment prisoners in harsh and aggressive ways - they later reported to have enjoyed doing so and relished in their new-found power and control.
Prisoners would only talk about prison issues (not their real life) and snitch on other prisoners to the guards to please them. This is significant evidence to suggest that the prisoners believed that the prison was real and were not acting simply due to demand characteristics.
They would even defend the guards when other prisoners broke the rules, reinforcing their social roles as prisoner and guard, despite it not being real.
The guards became more demanding of obedience and assertiveness towards the prisoners while the prisoners became more submissive. This suggests that the respective social roles became increasingly internalised

Question 4

evaluate the strengths of Zimbardo’s experiment

Answer 4

+ real life application - changed the way US prisons are run (e.g. young prisoners are kept away from adult prisoners to prevent the bad behaviour perpetuating; beehive-style prisons where all cells are under constant surveillance from a central monitoring unit are no longer used due to the increased effects of institutionalisation and over exaggerating the differences in social roles between prisoners and guards)
+ participants were fully debriefed about the aims and results of the study - however they did breach other ethical guidelines - although dealing with ethical issues made it more ethically acceptable
+ led to the formal recognition of ethical guidelines for future studies - to ensure the safety of participants legally - this shows a practical application of an increased understanding of the mechanisms of conformity and the variables which affect this

Question 5

evaluate the weaknesses of Zimbardo’s study

Answer 5

• lacks ecological validity - suffered from demand characteristics (participants knew they were in a study and may have changed their behaviour to please the experimenter or in response to being observed). they knew the experiment was not real and claimed that they acted according to the expectations associated with the role rather than genuinely adopting it. this was seen with qualitative data gathered from an interview with a guard who said he based his performance from a stereotypical guard role from the film Cool Hand Luke - further reducing the validity of the findings
• lacks population validity - participants were American male undergrads so findings cannot be generalised to other genders and cultures (e.g. collectivist cultures like China or Japan may be more conformist to their perceived social roles because such cultures value the needs of the group over the needs of the individual - suggesting that the findings may be culture-bound
• ethical issues - lack of informed consent due to the deception required to avoid demand characteristics and participant reactivity. however, Zimbardo could not have predicted what would happen (possible justification for a breach of ethics). participants were not protected from stress, anxiety, emotional distress and embarrassment (one prisoner was released due to extreme distress and psychological disturbance on the first day) - psychological harm