Haney&Zimbardo: Stanford Prison Experiment (Imprisonment) Flashcards
1
Q
Method?
A
Quasi experiment
2
Q
Sample?
A
- 24 male college students out of 70 applicants
- paid $15 a day
- randomly assigned either prisoner or guard
- (1 dropped out, 2 reserves) 10P+11G
3
Q
Roles?
A
- guards= worked in sets of 3, wore uniform+glasses
* prisoners= 3 to a room, given uniform+ID number
4
Q
Procedure?
A
- prisoners arrested at own home without warning+taken to police station
- prisoners fingerprinted, photographed+blindfolded
- ^de individualisation
5
Q
Findings?
A
- within hours they confirmed to roles: guards became sadistic+prisoners obeyed tasks
- 2nd day prisoners revolted by pushing beds against doors; guards reacted by fire extinguishing
- prisoner #8612 had to be released after 36 hours due to uncontrollable screaming (3 more pronounced unstable)
- stopped after 6 days as too unethical
6
Q
Conclusions?
A
People will readily conform to the social roles they are expected to play, especially strongly stereotyped roles like guard and prisoner
7
Q
Strengths?
A
- use of artificial prison= more likely Hawthorne effect irl prisons
- ecological validity= prisoners felt imprisoned
- can observe development of behaviour
8
Q
Weaknesses?
A
- reductionist= “John Wayne” may have encouraged other guards as previously watched aggressive prison film
- researcher bias= Z encouraged tyranny
- ethnocentric+androcentric (California)
- low population validity= all white college students
- unethical
9
Q
Aim?
A
To investigate how readily people would conform to the roles of guard+prisoner in a role-playing exercise that stimulated prison life.