Lesson 5 - Zimbardo and Conformity to Social Roles

Question 1

What are social roles

Answer 1

‘Parts’ that people play in society, like a police officer, and parent, a child, a librarian or a passenger

We have expectations of these roles

Question 2

Stanford Prison Experiment - Background

Answer 2

Zimbardo et al (1974)

• They were interested in finding out whether brutal treatment of prisoners by guards was due to the sadistic personalities of the guards (disposition) or whether it was due to the environment they were in (situational)

Personality vs Power Structure

Question 3

Aim of SPE

Answer 3

To see whether people would conform to new social roles. In this case, to see how quickly people would be consumed by the role of a guard or a prisoner in a role playing simulation of prison life

Question 4

Method of SPE

Answer 4

• Zimbardo converted a basement of Stanford Uni into a mock prison, and advertised for volunteers to take part in a study into the psychological effects of prison life
• More than 70 volunteers answered, and they were given diagnostic interviews and personality tests to eliminate candidates with psychological problems/disabilities/history of crime and drug abuse.
• They were paid $15 a day
• They were randomly assigned ‘prisoner’ or ‘guard’
• 10 prisoners and 11 guards (slight disparity)

Simulation kept as real as possible

• Guards worked in sets of three, working 8 hour shifts, prisoners were housed three to a room and there was solitary confinement for misbehaviour
• The prisoners were arrested in their homes without warning, and taken to the local police station to be fingerprinted, photographed and booked

Process of De-individualisation

• They were stripped naked, deloused and had their personal possessions removed and locked away. They were given prison clothes and bedding
• They were referred to by their number only
• Guards were dressed in identical khaki uniforms
• They were instructed to do whatever they thought necessary to maintain law and order and command respect. No violence allowed
• Zimbardo himself observed the behaviour as a researcher but also acted as a prison warden.superintendent

Question 5

Results of SPE

Answer 5

• Both prisoners and guards quickly identified with their roles
• Within days the prisoners rebelled, quickly crushed by the guards. They grew increasingly abusive towards the prisoners
• The guards dehumanised them, woke them during the night to clean toilets with their bare hands.
• The prisoners became increasingly submissive, identifying further with their role of a subordinate and a prisoner
• 5 prisoners were released early, due to severe anxiety and crying.
• The experiment was supposed to run for 14 days, but was terminated on day 6, due to complaints of inhumane conditions by an external

Question 6

Findings and conclusions of SPE

Answer 6

• Both groups quickly conformed, within hours the guards were already harassing prisoners, apparently enjoying it, generally dehumanising them
• The prisoners ‘told tales’ on each other to the guards, and started taking the rules seriously, some even started siding with the guards against disobedient prisoners, as if they were there for their own benefit
• The subordinate/superior complex gradually grew over the next few days, with prisoners becoming more dependent and trying to please them, and the guards becoming more aggressive
• One prisoner has to be released after 36 hours due to uncontrollable bouts of screaming, crying and anger. Appeared as if they were entering the early stages of a deep depression

So, people quickly conform to social roles, even if it goes against moral principles. Situation factors were largely responsible for the behaviour found, as none of the participants had acted like this before

Question 7

Strengths of SPE

Answer 7

Good level of control of variables - for example, when selecting participants, they chose the most emotionally stable. There was no experimenter bias, as they were randomly assigned a role, therefore it increases the internal validity that conformity was due to the situation and not a disposition

Good application - Abu Ghraib, a USA Military Police prison (2003-4) committed several serious human rights violations against Iraqi prisoners in Baghdad, such as torture and abuse. Zimbardo argued that the same social role effect was evident in the SPE. Situational factors like lack of training, boredom, and no accountability were at play

Question 8

Weaknesses of SPE

Answer 8

Lack of research support - Reicher and Haslam (2006) partially replicated the SPE and it was put on BBC in the ‘BBC Prison Study’. Their findings were different: the prisoners eventually took control of the prison and subjected the guards to harassment and disobedience.
This was explained using Social Identity Theory. The guards failed to develop a shared identity but the prisoners did.

Ethical issues - Zimbardo played the role of both researcher and guard. A prisoner wanted to leave, but Zimbardo answered from a role as guard, instead of thinking as a researcher and the wellbeing of their participants

Lack of informed consent - they did not know they would be arrested in their own homes, and this would have caused severe psychological distress. There was however, extensive debriefing after several weeks, months and then at a years interval.

Question 9

Zimbardo’s defence of ethical issues

Answer 9

The only deception used was during the arrests.

The experiment was abandoned when Zimbardo realised the effects

Approval for the study was given by the Office of Naval Research, The Psychology Department and the University Committee of Human Experimentation. However, they did not anticipate the prisoners’ extreme reactions

Alternative methods would have caused less distress, but less desirable results

Debriefing sessions occurred post-study

Zimbardo strongly argued that the benefits outweighed negatives, however the US Navy was less interested in making humane prisoners, but training soldiers to cope with the stress of captivity