L4 - Conformity to Social Roles

Question 1

what are social roles

Answer 1

social roles are the behaviours EXPECTED of an individual who occupies a SOCIAL POSITION or status - people can CONFORM to the social roles assigned to them

Question 2

ZIMBARDO’S SPE PROCEDURE

Answer 2

ZIMBARDO wanted to investigate whether conformity to social roles would ALTER A PERSON’S BEHAVIOUR. A SIMULATED PRISON was created in the BASEMENT OF STANFORD UNIVERSITY PSYCHOLOGY DEPARTMENT

24 EMOTIONALLY and PSYCHOLOGICALLY STABLE YOUNG MEN were recruited and RANDOMLY ASSIGNED to the role of PRISONER OR GUARD.

Guards were told to MAINTAIN ORDER using ANY MEANS NECESSARY BESIDES PHYSICAL VIOLENCE

Question 3

ZIMBARDO SPE FINDINGS

Answer 3

on the SECOND DAY the prisoners TRIED TO REBEL, they RIPPED OFF THEIR PRISON NUMBERS and BARRICADED themselves in their cell. The guards SPRAYED them with carbon dioxide, stripped them NAKED, took their BEDS AWAY and forced the ringleaders into SOLITARY CONFINEMENT

Over the next few days, guards became INCREASINGLY AGGRESSIVE, creating a BRUTAL ATMOSPHERE. Prisoners became PASSIVE AND DEPRESSED as the guards used verbal abuse, forced them to do repeated press ups, pushed them into urinals and left them in pitch black cupboards for hours.

Guards became so aggressive that the study had to be ended after only 6 days (it was meant to last 6 weeks), because of concerns about the psycholoical health of the prisoners who were showing signs of severe distress.

Question 4

when was the SPE called off

Answer 4

after just 6 days (meant to last 2 weeks)

Question 5

why was the SPE called off

Answer 5

because of CONCERNS ABOUT THE PSYCHOLOGICAL HEALTH of the prisoners, who were showing signs of SEVERE DISTRESS

Question 6

• UNETHICAL STUDY

Answer 6

The prisoners were SUBJECTED TO PSYCHOLOGICAL HARM, 5 prisoners had to be RELEASED EARLY because of their EXTREME REACTIONS, such as CRYING, RAGE and ACCUTE ANXIETY. However Zimbardo didnt expect the guards to behave in this way so the HARM COULD NOT HAVE BEEN ANTICIPATED

Question 7

• ZIMBARDO’S ROLE

Answer 7

Zimbardo took on the ROLE OF PRISON WARDEN and became VERY INVOLVED in the experiment and LOST HIS OBJECTIVITY. He had to be TOLD BY A COLLEAGUE to end the experiment because of CONCERNS OVER THE DISTRESS of the prisoers - VALIDITY OF THE FINDINGS OF THE STUDY CAN BE QUESTIONED

Question 8

• UNREPRESENTATIVE SAMPLE

Answer 8

SAMPLE WAS UNREPRESENTATIVE as ALL THE MALE PPS WERE WHITE (with 1 exception) young, middle class, male students from Stanford University.

Therefore the RESULTS CANNOT BE GENERALISED TO WOMEN (gender bias) or OTHER CULTURES(culture bias)

Question 9

• DEMAND CHARACTERISTICS

Answer 9

The guards in Zimbardo’s experiment may have behaved in the way they did due to DEMAND CHARACTERISTICS; some of the pps reported after that they thought the experimenters wanted them to behave aggressively and this is why they behaved the way they did - this means the STUDY IS NOT VALID

Question 10

• INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES

Answer 10

some of the guards DID NOT CONFORM to the role given to them and were VERY RELUCTANT to become involved in CRUELTY TOWARDS THE PRISONERS, whereas other guards were VERY ABUSIVE

This seems to suggest that that INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES are important in determining the EXTENT to which pps will conform to social roles.