Conformity to social roles - Zimbardo Flashcards
describe the participants in Zimbardo’s study
24 American male undergraduate students
what was the aim of Zimbardo’s study?
To investigate how readily people would conform to the social roles in a simulated environment, and specifically, to investigate why ‘good people do bad things
where did Zimbardo’s study take place?
basement of the Stanford University psychology building was converted into a simulated prison
how were the students picked to do the study and were they paid?
American student volunteers were paid to take part in the study
what were prisoners referred to as?
prisoners were only referred to by their assigned number
what props were guards given and why?
- handcuffs
- sunglasses
to make eye contact with prisoners impossible and to reinforce the boundaries between the two social roles within the established social hierarchy
how long were the guard’s shifts?
8 hours
others remained on call
where were prisoners allowed to go?
only allowed in the hallway which acted as their yard, and to the toilet. The guards were allowed to control such behaviour,
in order to emphasise their complete power
what were the findings about the guards?
- guards began to humiliate + punish the prisoners by giving meaningless tasks
- some volunteered to work extra shifts
- some guards werent as extreme
what were the findings about the prisoners?
- initially, they revolted
- many showed signs of emotional + mental distress - 1 was released after 36 hours
- showed deindividualisation - referred to themselves as numbers
what are the conclusions of Zimbardo’s study?
situational hypothesis is supported because the environment of the prison led to uncharacteristic behaviour of stable ppts
what is a limitation of the SPE? (PEE)
-behaviour might not be due to an automatic embracing of role
not all guards acted sadistically
eg. Haslam and Reicher argued that this shows that ppts did not automatically conform to their roles, but chose how to behave.
TMB it means that Zimbardo was wrong to claim that the guard’s behaviour was an automatic consequence of conforming to their role as some knew what they were doing was wrong and stopped
what is a limitation of the SPE? (PEE)
- demand characteristics
may have been affected by demand characteristics
eg. Banuazizi and Mohahedi found that students unfamiliar with SPE correctly guessed its purpose and predicted behaviour of guards and prisoners
TMB it suggests ppts behaviour may have been the result of powerful demand characteristics so lacks internal validity thus usefulness
what is a strength of the SPE? (PEE)
- conducted ethically
eg. study was approved by the ethics commitee and ppts were not decieved as they were told beforehand that their usual rights would be temporarilly suspended. Zimbardo acknowledges that SPE couldve been stopped earlier due to emotional distress but did debriefing sessions afterwards
TMB it suggests that even though Zimbardo claims there was no lasting harm, the SPE highlights the importance of ethical considerations
what is a strength of the SPE? (PEE)
- real world applications
eg. Abu Ghraib Zimbardo believes that the same conformity to social roles in the SPE occurred at Abu Ghraib, a military prison in Iraq in which Iraqi prisoners were tortured and abused by American soldiers
TMB it suggests that that certain situational factors, combined with an opportunity to misuse the power associated with certain roles, can lead to people behaving in tyrannical and abusive ways.
