Conformity to social roles eval Flashcards
Conformity to roles was not automatic
limitation
Haslam and Reicher challenged Zimbardo’s beliefs that the guard’s drift into sadistic behaviour was an automatic consequence of them embracing their roles. They pointed out that not all guards fully conformed to their roles. There were some good guards who did not harass the prisoners and some even did small favours for them. This is a problem as it shows that guards chose how to behave rather than conforming to their social roles,as suggested by Zimbardo.
Problem of demand characteristics
Bonuazizi and Movahedi argued that the behaviour of participants was more of a consequence to demand characteristics rather than conformity to social roles. Bonuazizi and Movahedi presented details of the SPE to a large sample of students who never heard of the study. Vast majority of participants guessed the aims of the study and they predicted that the guards would act in a more hostile manor and prisoners would act more passive. This is a problem as the results of the experiment was not due to the conformity of social roles but rather it was the influence of powerful demand characteristics.
Studies were not ethical
Zimbardo’s study is often criticised as unethical, despite the fact that it followed the guidelines of the Stanford University ethics committee that had approved it. Zimbardo himself acknowledged the fact that the study should have been stopped earlier as so many participants were experiencing emotional distress. As a result of this Zimbardo attempted to carry out debriefing sessions for a year and concluded that there were no more long lasting negative effects. Reicher and Haslam set up the same study but took greater steps to minimise the potential harm to their participants.
The SPE and its relation to Abu Ghraib
Zimbardo argues that the conformity to social roles can be used to explain the events in Abu Ghraib where Iraqi prisoners were tortured by US soldiers. Zimbardo believes that situational factors led to the abuse of the prisoners. Factors such as lack of training and no accountability to higher authority were present in both SPE and at Abu Ghraib. So Zimbardo concluded that these factors combined with an opportunity to misuse the power associated with the role of guard led to the prisoner abuses in both situations.
Control over variables (strength)
Zimbardo had some control over variables such as randomly assigning roles of guards and prisoners. In this way the researchers tried to rule out any individual differences. So for example if the guards behaved differently, but were only in those roles by chance then their behaviour is due to the pressures of the situation . Controlling variables means the study has increased internal validity. So we can be positive about the conclusion and results of Zimbardo’s SPE and the influence of roles on behaviour
