Conformity To Social Roles Flashcards
What was the aim of zimbardo’s study?
He was interested in finding out whether the brutality reported among guards in American prisons was due to the sadistic personalities of the guards (dispositions) or had more to do with the prison environment (situational)
What was Zimbardo’s method?
Zimbardo created a mock prison In the basement of the stanford university psychology building and advertised for students to play the roles of prisoners and guards for a fortnight. 24 male participants were screened for psychological normality and paid $15 per day to take part in the experiment, they were randomly assigned to either the role of prisoner or guard. Prisoners were arrested from their homes without warning taken to the police station and when they arrived at the prison they were stripped naked, deloused, had all of their personal possessions taken and locked away and were given prison clothes and bedding. They were referred to by their number only.
What did Zimbardo find from his study?
Within hours of beginning the experiment some guards began to harass prisoners. They behaved in a brutal and sadistic manner. As the prisoners became more submissive the guards became more aggressive and assertive. The prisoners were dependant on the guards for everything so in order to please the guards they began telling tales on fellow prisoners. One prisoner had to be released after 36 hours because of uncontrollable bursts of screaming crying and anger. His thinking because disorganised and he appeared to be entering the early stages of deep depression. Within the next few days three others had to leave after showing signs of emotional disorder that could have lasting consequences. On the sixth day the experiment was terminated
What did Zimbardo conclude from his experiment?
Zimbardo proposed that two processes could explain the prisoner’s final submission. The participants became de-individualised and lost their sense of personal identity because of the uniform that they were wearing. Thusly the roles that people play can shape their behaviour and attitude, also, learned helplessness could explain the prisoners submission to the guards. In the prison the unpredictability of the guards led the prisoners to give up responding
What are the ethical criticisms of Zimbardo’s study?
Zimbardo didn’t consider the physical and mental well being of his prisoners. Many of the participants had to leave the experiments due to becoming extremely distressed by the situation. This indicates that the conditions of the experiment were unethical. Some of the prisoners even went on a hunger strike in an attempt to be removed from the experiment. Thusly there are major implications with the ethics of this experiment
Why could demand characteristics explain the findings of Zimbardo’s study?
One of the prison guards stated that he purposely changed his personality in an attempt to make the research more ‘interesting’ this means that his behaviour in the experiment is not a true representation and thusly the findings can be devalued in a sense that demand characteristics were used. This thusly lowers gene validity of Zimbardo’s study as the person would not act like that in a real life situation
Why are situational variables less powerful on behaviour?
Fromm pointed out that only about a third of guards in the study behaved in a brutal manner, while the rest were either keen to implement rules fairly or support and help the prisoners. This suggests that Zimbardo’s conclusion that participants were conforming to social roles maybe be over stated and the differences in the guards behaviour indicate that they were able to exercise right and wrong choices, despite the situational pressures to conform
How did Zimbardo’s study alter the way US prisons are run?
Juveniles accused of federal crimes are no longer housed before trial with adult prisoners as this would heighten the risk of violence against them. Such violence could well have been a result of group pressures to conform and behave violently in response to the status difference in prison
