Conformity to social roles Flashcards
1
Q
social roles
A
- the part we play as members of a social group
- each has its own norm and an expected way for individuals to act
- example of identification
2
Q
Zimbardo’s aim
A
- to investigate how people would conform to the social roles of prisoners and guards
- to test each hypothesis
3
Q
dispositional hypothesis
A
guards are ‘bad seeds’ due to innate nature of their personality
4
Q
situational hypothesis
A
brutality is due to the environmental conditions of the prison
5
Q
procedure
A
- basement of Stanford psych dept.
- 3 prisoners to a cell
- had a strict schedule of work, rest, toilet, and food breaks
6
Q
how were ppts selected?
A
- responded to an newspaper AD (stated 8 HR shifts and $15 a day
- 24 most physically and mentally stable chosen and randomly selected 12 guards and 12 prisoners
7
Q
prisoners
A
- arrested by real police, blindfolded
- fingerprinted, stripped and deloused
- dehumanised by wearing stocking caps to imitate shaved head
8
Q
guards
A
- wore khaki uniforms and reflective sunglasses
- given handcuffs and truncheons
- told to ‘ maintain a reasonable degree of order within the prison for necessary effective functioning’
9
Q
SPE results
A
- guards became increasingly aggressive, humiliated and punished prisoners
- many prisoners became mentally and emotionally distressed
- showed signs of deindividuation
- good + bad cops, some wanted extra shifts w/o pay
10
Q
conformity to social roles strengths
A
real world applications (Abu Ghraib), conducted ethically (approved by ethics committee)
11
Q
conformity to social roles limitations
A
not mindless conformity (depends on social norms), ethical issues (psych harm), demand characteristics may have occurred
12
Q
zimbardo
A
- acted as superintendent which clouded his judgement
- study and to be stopped after 6 days due to psych harm on prisoners
