Conformity: Zimbardo

Question 1

What did Zimbardo want to investigate?

Answer 1

if the reason for the high levels of aggression observed in American prisons was due to the prisoners and guards personalities or the situation of the prison environment itself

Question 2

What did Zimbardo do?

Answer 2

• created a fake prison in the basement of Stanford University
• 21 male students rated most physically and mentally stable chosen from 75 volunteers who responded to newspaper advert
• random selection of 10 guards, 11 prisoners

Question 3

What did Zimardo’s study involve?

Answer 3

• prisoners given realistic arrest by local police, fingerprinted, stripped
• given a prison uniform and number in an attempt to dehumanise them
• they had to follow strict rules during the day
• guards had complete control and given a uniform, clubs, handcuffs, and sunglasses to avoid eye contact

Question 4

What happened to Zimbardo’s study?

Answer 4

• prisoners and guards conformed to their social roles quickly
• in 2 days the prisoners revolted against the poor treatment by the guards
• in 6 days the experiment was cancelled due to fears of prisoners mental health

Question 5

what did zimbardo find?

Answer 5

-everyone involved conformed to their social roles within the prison showing the situational power of the prison environment to change behaviour