Conformity to Social Roles- Zimbardo’s Experiment Flashcards
Describe Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Experiment
- 24 male volunteer students were randomly assigned the role of “prisoner” or “guard” in a mock prison devised in the basement of Stanford university
- “Prisoners” were “arrested”, strip-searched, deloused, given prisoner outfits and referred to by number only
- “Guards” were given uniforms, mirror shades, club, handcuffs and reminded of the complete power they had over the prisoners
How were both the prisoners and the guards depersonalised in Zimbardo’s Stanford Prisoner Experiment?
- “Prisoners” were referred to by number only
- “Guards” were given mirror shades so their eyes weren’t visible
What dual role did Zimbardo adopt in the Stanford Prison Experiment?
That of both the Superintendent of the mock prison and the Lead Researcher
How did conformity to social roles affect the behaviour of the participants in Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Experiment?
Guards became increasingly brutal, with some enforcing harsh punishments like solitary confinement, whilst prisoners became increasingly passive
How many prisoners were released early from Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Experiment due to them showing signs of psychological disturbance?
3
What did 1 of the prisoners in Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Experiment do in protest?
Go on a hunger strike
After how many days of the intended 14 was Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Experiment terminated?
6
How did Zimbardo rule out personality traits as an explanation for his findings, and how does this affect the validity of the findings?
- He assessed the emotional and mental state of the participants before they were selected and deemed them all emotionally and mentally stable
- This increases the internal validity of his findings as he maintained control over key extraneous variables
What evidence is there that the participants behaved as if they were in a real prison?
- 90% of prisoner conversation was about prison life
- In an interview afterwards one prisoner stated that he did genuinely believe it was a real prison, but run by pyschologists
What socially sensitive takeaway is there from the Zimbardo Prison Experiment?
- That an ‘evil’ situation can have a vast impact on otherwise ‘good’ people
What real-world instances of prison brutality can the findings of Zimbardo’s experiment be applied to, and how does this affect the validity of the findings?
- The similarly brutal behaviour of prison guards in real-world instances such as Abu Ghraib
- This increases the external validity of Zimbardo’s findings, as it suggests they reflect conformity to social roles in real life
What evident ethical issues are there with Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Experiment, and how does this link to Zimbardo’s dual role?
- Deception
- Informed Consent
- Protection from harm
- Right to withdraw
- Zimbardo’s dual role made it difficult for him to protect participants as he was also part of the experiment and conforming to a social role. This also made it more difficult for participants to withdraw from the experiment, as to do so they had to speak to the “Superintendent”, who’d insist they shouldn’t leave, rather than the “Lead Researcher”
What percentage of the guards actually behaved brutally, and what does this suggest?
- 1/3
- This suggests the Zimbardo overstated his view and exhibited investigator bias
Why is Zimbardo’s Research considered unscientific?
- It does not meet the features of science, as it isn’t replicable nor objective
What are social roles?
The roles we are assigned based on the social situation, such as teacher, parent, pupil or prisoner
