conformity to social roles ( ZIMBARDO )

Question 1

definition

Answer 1

social roles are the parts that people play as members of various social groups e.g. teachers and students. These are accompanied by expectations that we and others have of what is appropriate behavior in each role. We internalize these expectations so they shape our behavior.

Question 2

Background info

Answer 2

in the 1970 Zimbardo and collogues conducted one of the most memorable studies in psychology. There had been many prison riots in America and Zimbardo wanted to know why prison guards behaved brutally- was it that they had sadistic personalities or was it their social role that caused such behavior.

Question 3

aim

Answer 3

to investigate how freely people would conform to the roles of the guard and prisoner in a role playing exercise that recreated prison life

Question 4

sample

Answer 4

a volunteer sample of 24 emotionally stable US male university students

Question 5

method

Answer 5

controlled participant observation

Question 6

procedure

Answer 6

• the volunteers were randomly allocated each student to the role of prisoner or guard.
• prisoners were arrested at their homes and taken to the prison, searched, deloused and dressed in smock uniforms. they were referred to number rather than names.
• guards were given uniforms, a nights stick, and mirrored glasses. They were instructed to keep the prisoners under control but to use no physical violence
• these uniforms created a loss of personal identity encouraging ppts to conform to their social role
• The basement of the psychology department at Stanford university was converted into a mock prison
• prisoners were placed in cells and a regular routine of shifts, meal times was established as well as visiting superintendent. if a prisoner wanted to leave they had to go through the parole process.

Question 7

findings

Answer 7

• within a day the prisoners rebelled and ripped off their numbers and the guards responded by locking them in their cells and confiscating’s their blankets
• as the experiment continues the punishment by the guards escalated, prisoners were humiliated and deprived of sleep by the guards conducting head counts.
• identification was noticeable by the prisoners referring to each other and themselves by their prison numbers instead of there names.
• the prisoners rapidly became subdued and depressed with some showing serious stress related reactions to the experience. Five prisoners were released early due to showing symptoms of psychological disturbance.,
• the role play had been intended to run for two weeks but was called after 6 days

Question 8

conclusion

Answer 8

• guards, prisoners and researchers conformed to their role within the prison.
• social roles have an extraordinary power over individuals making even he most well adjusted capable of extreme brutality’s towards others.

Question 9

Ao3

Answer 9

p - One strength of Zimbardo’s research into conformity to social roles is that it has control over extraneous variables. one example is the way in which ppts were selected.

E - researchers assessed the emotional stability of the ppts prior to the experiment and randomly assigned them to the role of prisoner and guard.

E - This allowed Zimbardo to accurately measure the power of social roles on the level of conformity rather than it being affected by individual personality differences.

L- therefore this increases the internal validity of Zimbardo research investigating conformity to social roles.