Conformity to social roles (Zimbardo's research) Flashcards

You may prefer our related Brainscape-certified flashcards:
1
Q

Outline Zimbardo’s Stanford prison experiment

A
  • they advertised for students and chose those who were deemed ‘emotionally stable’
  • they were then randomly assigned roles, either prisoner or guard
  • prisoners were arrested at their homes by the local police
  • prisoners were blind folded, strip-searched, deloused and issued a uniform and a number, they were only addressed as the number they were given (dehumanising prisoners)
  • social roles strictly divided
  • 16 rules, guards worked in shifts of 3
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
2
Q

What were his findings

A
  • study was stopped after six days instead of the intended 14
  • harsh treatments from the gaurds and protest from the prisoners turning to silence as they were punished more every day
  • prisoners became subdued, depressed and anxious
  • 1 released on the first day
  • 2 more on the fourth day
  • one went on hunger strike
  • guards became more brutal & aggressive
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
3
Q

Give a strength of the SPE

A
  • researchers had some control over variables, eg the selection of the ppts
  • this increases internal validity of the study
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
4
Q

Give a limitation of the SPE

A
  • lack of realism; Banuazizi and Mohavedi argued ppts were play-acting, performances were based on steryotypes, huge example is that one of the guards claimed to base his role off of a brutal character from the film cool hand luke
  • Zimbardo pointed to quantitive data collected during the procedure showed 90% of prisoners conversations were about prison life, seems the situation was real to ppts, giving study high internal validity
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly