Conformity to social roles - ZIMBARDO

Question 1

define social roles

Answer 1

The parts individuals play as members of a social group, which meet the expectations of that situation.

Question 2

What was the aim of Zimbardo’s study?

Answer 2

‘Do prison guards behave brutally because they have sadistic personalities, or is it the situation that creates the behaviour?’

Question 3

What was the procedure of Zimbardo’s study?

Answer 3

• mock prison set up in the basement of stanford university.
• Zimbardo advertised for volunteers in newspaper.
• potential participants were screened for pre existing emotional instability.
• parts. randomly allocated to prisoner or guard.
• “prisoners’ arrested by real policemen outside their homes
• when prsnrs. arrvd. formally booked, informed of their miranda rights, fingerprinted, formally identified and stripped
• both prisoners and guards given uniforms
• prisoners were only referred to as their number

Question 4

What were the findings of Zimbardo’s study?

Answer 4

• guards conformed quickly - most acted brutally towards prisoners.
• after 2 days the prisoners rebelled
• many prisoners conformed after a few days and became submissive.
• Study was stopped after just 6 days due to the physical and psychological harm endured by the prisoners.

Question 5

What happens to prisoner 8612?

Answer 5

He suffered form emotional disturbances, disorganised thinking and uncontrollable crying. He was eventually released after several requests.

Question 6

What did Zimbardo conclude from this study?

Answer 6

Individuals conform readily to the social roles demanded of a situation even when such roles override an individual’s moral beliefs about their personal behaviour.

Question 7

Evaluation points for Zimbardo’s study -

Answer 7

• Lacks population validity as only used male Americans.

- Poor ethical conduct.