Conformity To Social Roles Evaluation

Question 1

What is the argument that conformity to social roles isn’t automatic? (Contradicting research to Zimbardo)

Answer 1

Haslam and Reicher (2012) challenged Zimbardo’s belief that the guards’ drift into sadistic behaviour was an automatic consequence of them embracing their role
- they pointed out that there were a few ‘good guards’ who didn’t degrade the prisoners, suggesting the guards actually chose how to behave

Question 2

What was the problem of demand characteristics in the SPE?

Answer 2

Banuazizi and Movahedi (1975) argued that the behaviour of participants in the SPE was more of a consequence of demand characteristics than conformity to roles.
- suggests that the behaviour of Zimbardo’s guards and prisoners wasn’t due to their response to a ‘compelling prisoner environment’, but rather it was a response to the demand characteristics in the experimental situation itself

Question 3

What did Banuazizi and Movahedi (1975) do to show the problem of demand characteristics in the SPE?

Answer 3

. Presented details of the SPE to a large sample of students who had never heard of the study
Findings: the majority correctly guessed the purpose was to show that ordinary people would act their social roles of guards or prisoners, and they predicted the guards would act in a hostile way.

Question 4

How were the ethical issues of the SPE a problem?