Conformity to social roles: Zimbardo's research

Question 1

Define social roles

Answer 1

the ‘parts’ people play as members of various social groups. Everyday examples include parent, child, student, passenger and so on. These are accompanied by expectations we and others have of what is appropriate behaviour in each role, for example caring, obedient, industrious, etc

Question 2

What did Zimbardo aim to answer with the Stanford Prison Experiment (SPE)?

Answer 2

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

Question 3

Outline the procedure of the Stanford prison experiment

Answer 3

• Zimbardo set up a mock prison in the basement of the psychology department at Stanford University (Haney et al. 1973)
• They advertised for students willing to volunteer and selected those who were deemed ‘emotionally stable’ after extensive psychological testing
• the students were randomly assigned the roles of guards or prisoners
• to heighten the realism of the study, the ‘prisoners’ were arrested in their homes by the local police and were then delivered to the ‘prison’
• they were blindfolded, strip-searched, deloused and issued a uniform and number
• the social roles of the guards and the prisoners were strictly divided
• the prisoners’ daily routines were heavily regulated
• there were 16 rules they had to follow, which were enforced by the guards who worked in shifts, three at a time
• the prisoners’ names were never used (only their numbers)
• the guards, to underline their role, had their own uniform, complete with wooden club, handcuffs, keys and mirror shades
• they were told they had complete power over the prisoners, for instance, even deciding when they could go to the toilet

Question 4

Outline the findings of the SFE

Answer 4

• guards took up their role with enthusiasm
• their behaviour became a threat to the prisoners’ psychological and physical health
• the study was stopped after 6 days instead of the intended 14
• within 2 days, the prisoners rebelled against their harsh treatment by the guards
• they ripped their uniforms, and shouted and swore at the guards, who retaliated with fire extinguishers
• the guards harassed the prisoners constantly, to remind them they were being monitored all the time
• e.g. they conducted frequent headcounts, sometimes in the middle of the night, when the prisoners would stand in line and call out their numbers
• the guards highlighted the differences in social roles by creating plenty of opportunities to enforce the rules and punish even the smallest misdemeanour
• after the rebellion was put down, the prisoners became subdued, depressed and anxious
• one prisoner was released on the first day as he showed symptoms of psychological disturbance
• two more were released on the fourth day
• one prisoner went on a hunger strike; the guards attempted to force-feed him and then punished him by putting him in ‘the hole’, a tiny dark closet
• instead of being considered a hero he was shunned by the other prisoners
• the guards identified more and more closely with their role
• their behaviour become more brutal and aggressive, with some of them appearing to enjoy the power they had over the prisoners

Question 5

Outline the conclusions of the SFE

Answer 5

• the experiment revealed the power of the situation to influence people’s behaviour
• Guards, prisoners and researchers all conformed to their roles within the prison
• these roles were very easily taken on by the ppts - even volunteers who came in to perform certain functions (such as the ‘prison chaplain’) found themselves behaving as if they were in a prison rather than a psychological study

Question 6

How was control in the stud a strength of the SPE?

Answer 6

• Zimbardo and his colleagues had some control over variables
• example: selection of ppts
• emotionally stable individuals were chosen and randomly assigned to the roles of guard and prisoner
• this was one way in which the researchers tried to rule out individual personality differences as an explanation of the findings
• if guards and prisoners behaved very differently, but were only in those roles by chance, then their behaviour must have been due to the pressures of the situation
• having such control over variables is a strength because it increases the INTERNAL VALIDITY of the study
• so we can be much more confident in drawing conclusions about the influence of roles of behaviour

Question 7

Explain lack of realism as evaluation for the SFE