Conformity to social roles

Question 1

What was the procedure of Zimbardo’s key study

Answer 1

• 1973 stanford prison experiment - basement
• 24 normal men randomly assigned to either prisoner or guard
• volunteers
• some dropped out leaving ten prisoners and eleven guards
• prisoners arrested at homes
• blindfolded
• stiped naked, deloused and possessions were removed
• only to be called their given number
• guards had identical uniforms, whistle, billy club, sunglasses to avoid eye contact
• shifts of eight hours each

Question 2

What were the findings of Zimbardo’s key study?

Answer 2

• prisoners were harassed and had many ‘counts’
• prisoners began talking like them and siding with guards
• prisoners given pointless and boring tasks as punishment
• on the second day, prisoners ripped of their numbers and barricaded themselves inside the cells
• the guards then shot fire extinguishers and stripped prisoners naked and took their beds away
• prisoners grew more submissive and guards grew more aggressive
• a prisoner suffered emotional disturbance, uncontrollable crying and rage
• experiment was then shut down after 6 days

Question 3

Evaluation of Zimbardo’s key study

Answer 3

• ecological validity = guards had no training and experiment did not last very long like real prisons, no diversity in ethnicity and education, chosen due to mental stability and no prior prison experience, no excersise space
• demand characteristics = majority of people were able to guess hypothesis and predict how they would behave, Zimbardo encouraged guards to be cruel and approved of their abusive behaviour
• sample bias = only US male students, self selection of volunteers, these volunteers had higher levels of aggression, authoritarianism after taking a test