Conformity: Zimbardo's Prison Experiment

Question 1

What was the aim of Zimbardo’s experiment?

Answer 1

To assess the extent to which people conform to social roles.

Question 2

What gender were all PPTs in the study?

Answer 2

Male

Question 3

How was the role of prisoner and guard assigned to PPTs?

Answer 3

Randomly

Question 4

Describe the arrest of PPTs.

Answer 4

PPTs arrested on a random day without knowing that they were going to be arrested.

Question 5

State 2 ways in which deindividuation of prisoners was achieved in the study.

Answer 5

Stocking were worn to cover hair.
Prisoners assigned numbers to be referred to as, their names were not used.

Question 6

Why did prisoners wear a stocking cap?

Answer 6

To cover their hair and mimic shaved heads. This removes individuality, leading to deindividuation.

Question 7

Why did prisoners wear a smock?
What were they not allowed to wear?

Answer 7

To appear as feminine and humiliate them. They were not allowed to wear underwear.

Question 8

What happened to prisoners upon arrival?

Answer 8

They were stripped naked and deloused. This was done to humiliate them, none of the prisoners had lice.

Question 9

Why did guards wear mirrored sunglasses?

Answer 9

To hide their eyes which could convey emotion to prisoners.

Question 10

What colour was the guard’s uniforms?

Answer 10

Khaki

Question 11

What 2 things did the guards have to control and intimidate prisoners?

Answer 11

A whistle to control them and a club to scare them

Question 12

What did prisoners agree to in their informed consent?

Answer 12

To expect harassment and violations

Question 13

How were guards able to behave?

Answer 13

However they wanted to (within limits). Guards were free to make their own rules to control prisoners how they wished.

Question 14

What 3 things did the prisoners do in their rebellion?

Answer 14

Removed stocking caps
Barricaded themselves in their room
Removed their numbers

Question 15

What 2 things did guards do to punish prisoners?

Answer 15

Forced them to do extreme numbers of push ups
Shot CO2 at prisoners

Question 16

How did guards treat prisoners who rebelled the least?

Answer 16

They gave them special privileges (such as allowing them to brush their teeth)

Question 17

Describe how prisoners went to the toilet.

Answer 17

They were not given privacy, instead they were forced to use a bucket in the corner of their cell.

Question 18

Why did some prisoners become distrustful of each other?

Answer 18

They believed that those being treated better than others were feeding information to the guards.

Question 19

What happened to the prisoners when their family visited them?

Answer 19

Prisoners were washed and given clean clothes to wear to give the impression to family that they were being treated well.

Question 20

When was the experiment terminated and why?

Answer 20

On the 6th day due to severe psychological problems experienced by prisoners.

Question 21

How long was the study originally meant to last?

Answer 21

14 days

Question 22

Explain the strength of Zimbardo’s experiment having high internal validity.
Why was validity high?
How were researchers able to rule out the effect of individual differences?
What does this mean for conclusions drawn about conformity to social roles?

Answer 22

This was a result of high control. Participants were randomly assigned to their roles, meaning that researchers could rule out individual personality differences as a result of the behaviours exhibited. This could have resulted in participants starting to feel as if they were in a real prison. This degree of control over variables increases internal validity so we can be more sure about drawing conclusions about social roles and their influence on conformity.

Question 23

Explain the limitation of the experiment lacking ecological validity.
What were PPTs doing instead of conforming to their social roles?
Why might both prisoners and guards have been doing this?

Answer 23

Researchers argued that the participants were play acting rather than conforming to their roles. Participants performances were based off stereotypes – for example, one of the guards said his personality was based off a film character. The prisoners also rioted, as they thought that’s how real prisoners behaved. This suggests that the experiment tells us little about conformity to social roles in prison.

Question 24

Explain the limitation of the study exaggerating the power of social roles on the influence of behaviour.
How many guards exhibited violent behaviour? (?/3)
How many guards (?/3) tried to apply rules fairly?
What did other guards try to do to help prisoners?
What does this mean about situational pressures and conformity?

Answer 24

For example, only a third of guards exhibited violent behaviour. The 2nd third tried to apply rules fairly and the final 3rd tried to help prisoners by sympathising and offering cigarettes. Most guards were able to resist situational pressures to conform to a brutal role.

Question 25

Explain the limitation of a lack of population validity.
If all PPTs were men, what does this make the study? What does this mean about findings of conformity?
How are conformity rates affected by age?

Answer 25

The study was androcentric, meaning that it only consisted of men. This means the research lacks population validity, as conformity rates in men and women are very different. The men involved in the study were all students (young people. Other research has shown that conformity rates are affected by age, for example, older people are less likely to conform than younger people, which further shows how this study can’t be generalised to the wider population.