Conformity To Social Roles Flashcards
Zimbardo wants to know if guards behaved brutally because if their personalities, what’s this explanation called?
Dispositional
How did Zimbardo make the experience as realistic as possible? Give 7 features of the prisoners.
They were arrested at their own homes by police Fingerprinted Stripped Deloused Dehumanisation (removal of identity) Wore numbered smocks Chains round their ankles
Name 5 features of Zimbardo’s procedure?
75 males Responded to a newspaper advert Volunteers $15 a day 21 most psychologically healthy Randomly assigned role of prisoner or guard
Where was zimbardos study based and what was it changed into?
Stanford university , mock prison
How does identification occur when we conform to social roles?
We join a group and behave the way the group does because we want to fit in and we think the group is right while we are with the group. THIS IS TEMPORARY
Define what social role means.
The part people play as members of a social group. We have expectations about what is appropriate behaviour in each role. For example grandparents are meant to be kind, caring and slow.
Zimbardo wanted to know if the prison guards behaved brutally because if their situation, what’s this called?
Situational
What do we have that allows us to behave different in different situations?
Mental script
What was Zimbardo interested in seeing?
If normal healthy American males would conform to the roles of prisoner and prison guard if he placed them in a mock prison.
After 36 hours of zimbardo’s study one prisoners was released, why?
Crying fits and rage
3 more prisoners in zimbardos study developed what sort of symptoms?
Crying fits and rage
What happened to a fifth prisoner in zimbardos study?
Developed a rash after his parole was denied
How many days into the study was it ended?
6
What was zimbardos role in his own study?
Superintendent (in charge of all the guards)
Why did zimbardo stop the study 6 days in?
He realised the damage that was occurring and increasing violent behaviour of the guards at night when they thought they weren’t being watched
How did prisoners and guards feel when the study was stopped?
The prisoners were delighted the study had ended but the guards were upset
What did zimbardo conclude from his study? Give 2 reasons.
That we will conform to social roles demanded in a situations even when the roles override individual beliefs about how we should behave. It is likely the prisoners and guards demonstrated social roles from media (prison films)
Which explanation is supported more? And why in Zimbardo’s study?
The situational was supported more as none of the ppts showed any aggressive characteristics before the study.
What led to the uncharacteristic behaviour did zimbardo say in his study.
The environment
Why did Zimbardo’s study have good internal validity?
He was able to control some of the extraneous variables
He was able to show it was most likely situational factors that led to conformity as he made sure the students were emotionally stable
Why did Zimbardo’s study have ethical issues?
The consent couldn’t be fully informed because he didn’t know what would happen as it was unpredictable
Ppts playing the role of prisoners were not protected from psychological and physical harm
Who accused Zimbardo of exaggerating the situation?
Fromm
Why did Fromm say Zimbardo exaggerated the situation?
One third of the guards were aggressive
Another third followed rules fairly
And last third were sympathetic and even gave the prisoners cigarettes
What did what Fromm found suggest?
That not all the guards were confirming to their social role of prison guards
What real life application did Zimbardo hope would come from his study?
He hoped it would change prison conditions. But they are now even worse than when he did the study
What is a locus of control?
How much control you have over your actions
In Milgram’s experiment naive ppts were paired with two confederates who refused to continue with the experiment. Obedience rates went from what to what.
And why?
65% to 10%
Because the confederates aches as models and the naive ppt felt supported
Give the characteristics that people who have an external locus of control will hold. (3 features)
Luck
Fate
Other people
Low level of control
Name the characteristics that someone with an internal locus of control may have? (2 features)
Hugh level do control
Strong sense of responsibility
Why may people with an internal locus of be less likely to obey orders if they believe them to be wrong?
Because they take responsibility for their actions.
What did Oliner and Oliner do into researching resisting obedience?
Interviewed two groups of non Jewish German people who had lived through the holocaust and nazi Germany. They compared people who had rescued and protected Jews from those who hadn’t.
What did Oliner and Oliner find in their resisting obedience study?
Found that the group that rescued the Jews scrored higher on measures of internal locus of control
Who did research into the locus of control when it comes to resisting conformity?
Moghaddam
What did Moghaddam find when he was doing research into the internal locus of when it comes to resisting conformity and what does this suggest?
He found that Japanese people conform more easily than Americans and have a more external locus of control. Suggesting the differences in resisting between cultures can be explained by differences in LoC
What may people who have an internal locus of control have personality wise that people with an external locus of control don’t have?
More self confident
Achievement orientated
More intelligent
Because they have less need for social approval and this makes them more able to resist social influence.
