Conformity to social roles

Question 1

Why did Zimbardo conduct his study?

Answer 1

• due to prison riots in America
• Zimbardo wanted to know why prison guards behaved brutally, was it due to their personality or social role

Question 2

What are social roles?

Answer 2

• The ‘parts’ people play as members of various social groups. These are accompanied with expectations we and others have of what is appropriate behaviour in each role

Question 3

Outline the Stanford prison experiment

Answer 3

• Zimbardo set up a mock prison in the basement of the psychology department at Stanford university
• selected 21 male students tested as emotionally stable
• Randomly assigned to play role of prisoner or guard
• encouraged to conform to their social roles e.g. through uniforms

Question 4

What were the uniforms of the participants like?

Answer 4

prisoners = loose smock, cap & identified by number
guards= own uniforms, wooden clubs, handcuffs & mirror shades

Question 5

What did wearing the uniforms create in P’s?

Answer 5

• a loss of personal identity (called de-individuation) which meant they were more likely to conform to social roles

Question 6

What were the findings related to the guards?

Answer 6

• guards took up their roles with enthusiasm, treating the prisoners harshly
• harassed the prisoners constantly e.g. headcounts
• guards used ‘divide & rule’ tactics
• conducted frequent head counts

Question 7

What were the findings related to the prisoners?

Answer 7

• rebelled after 2 days
• after rebellion was put down prisoners became anxious, subdued & anxious
• two were released early on the fourth day
• prisoner went on hunger strike and was force fed
• Zimbardo ended the study after 6 days instead of 14

Question 8

Conclusions related to social roles

Answer 8

• social roles have a strong influence on individuals behaviour
• such roles easily taken on by all participants

Question 9

What is a limitation of Zimbardos study in terms of exaggeration?

Answer 9

• power of social roles may be exaggerated
  -1/3 of guards actually behaved in a brutal manner
• another 1/3 tried to apply the rules fairly
• rest actively tried to help & support the prisoners e.g. sympathised, offered cigars
• most able to resist situational pressures to conform to brutal role
• Z overstated his view that’s p’s were conforming to social roles & minimised influence of dispositional factors

Question 10

What is a limitation of the SPE in terms of realism?

Answer 10

• did not have realism of true prison
• Banuazizi & Movahedi > p’s merely play acting rather than genuinely conforming to a role
• P’s performances based on their stereotypes of how prisoners & guards are supposed to act
• e.g. 1 guard > based role on brutal character from a film
• findings=tell us little about conformity to social roles

Question 11

What is a strength of Zimbardo SPE?

Answer 11

• high control over key variables
• selection of P’s were emotionally stable, randomly assigned to guard or prisoner
• way in which researchers ruled out individual personality differences
• if behaved differently but were in roles by chance= behaviour due to role itself
  =high internal validity