Conformity To Social Roles - Stanford Prison Experiment Flashcards
What was the aim of Zimbardo’s study?
To find out how much people would conform to social roles of prisoner and guard in a prison situation
Where did the study take place?
In the basement of the psychology department at Stanford University, which was converted into a fake prison
How many participants took part and who were they?
21 male students
How were participants selected?
Students volunteered, then took psychological evaluation tests to determine if they were fit to take part.
What were the 2 groups and how many participants were in each?
10 ‘guards’ and 11’prisoners’
How were the ‘prisoners’ obtained?
They were publicly arrested by real police officers and then subjected to real police booking procedures
How were guards instructed to address their prisoners?
By their assigned numbers not their names
What did the prisoners wear?
Jackets with their numbers on and a chain around one ankle
What did the guards wear?
Khaki uniforms, mirrored sunglasses to prevent eye contact and carried handcuffs and wooden batons
How long was the study scheduled to run for?
2 weeks
What were the results of the Stanford Prison Experiment in terms of the guards?
Guards became increasingly sadistic, forcing cruel punishment upon any prisoners that disobeyed (e.g. put them in solitary confinement, made them go to the toilet in buckets and refused to let them empty them)
What were the results of the Stanford Prison Experiment in terms of the prisoners?
Prisoners suffered extreme, cruel punishments and became increasingly submissive.
What happened after only 35 hours?
A prisoner began to “act crazy, to scream, to go into a rage” and had to be released from the experiment
How many other participants had to be released throughout the experiment?
3
What role did Zimbardo play in the Stanford Prison Experiment?
Prison warden
When did the Stanford Prison Experiment end?
After 6 days. It only ended when another psychology researcher inspected the experiment and warned Zimbardo about how extreme it had become.
What type of study was the Stanford Prison Experiment?
Observational
Was the Stanford Prison Experiment participant or non-participant? Why?
Participant - Zimbardo gave himself a role within the experiment
What was concluded from the Stanford Prison Experiment?
It suggests that people conform to social roles to a significant extent
What did participants say afterwards?
They were shocked at how out-of-character their behaviour had become
What does the reaction of the participants support?
A situational hypothesis of behaviour over a dispositional one. (They didn’t necessarily have a sadistic disposition, but were instead conforming to the social roles of the situ.)
Why is it a limitation that the Stanford Prison Experiment was a participant study (I.e. Zimbardo was involved)?
Lacks internal validity - Zimbardo did not have an objective view of the experiment - couldn’t see how extreme the situation was - observer bias etc etc
