Conformity to social roles (Zimbardo's research) 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
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
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
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