NOT ON ALEVEL 1.3.2 contemporary study Flashcards
what was the title of the study
THE BBC PRISON EXPERIMENT 2006 by steve reicher and alex haslam
what was the aim
reicher and haslam set out to explain antisocial group behaviour in terms of social identity theory.
They wished to explore factors which led to subordinates in a prison, to collectively challenge an unequal social system involving the arbitrary use of power by the group over another
How many participants were there
332 male volunteers, 27 selected using psychometric tests. 15 chosen.
Range of age, social class, ethnicity and five groups of three were matched for personality. 1/3 to be a guard, 2/3 to be prisoner
What was the method
A mock prison was created and filmed by the BBC
Permeability: prisoners were told they might be promoted to the role of guard, groups were permeable. On day three, one prisoner was promoted but then roles were fired, groups became impermeable.
legitimacy : prisoners felt the system was fair because roles were determined by personality. On day three, they were told it was random and felt it was unfair
Cognitive alternatives: choices. On day four, prisoner 10 (trade unionist) was introduced to challenge inequality and create insecurity by suggesting alternatives to the regime. but the guards were told to create the prison rules and to respect the prisoners basic rights. The prisoner heads was shaved and they were wore orange, numbered uniforms. The guards had better accommodation and food to deepen the inequality between groups.
dependent variable: social identification, real-world authoritarianism, compliance with rules and depression and stress measures were taken daily.
what were the results
phase 1: guards did not develop a group identity, didn’t want to be seen as authoritarian and lots disagreed.
for the first three days, prisoners acted as individuals, showing qualities aimed at getting a promotion, prisoners were more cohesive than guards
phase 2: day six cell break out. prisoners occupied the guards quarters. Prisoners and guards worked together as a commune and by the end they tried to impose harsher systems of inequality.
Day eight the study stopped as the systems of control would become unethical
what did they conclude
that group work depends on far more than just taking on a social role, and failing groups may promote tyranny. When people are unable to create a social system for themselves they are more likely to accept extreme solutions proposed by others.
evaluate the BBC prison experiment 2006
observer effects: participants were aware that they were being filmed for the BBC and might not have acted as naturally as they would normally have as they were more concerned about how they would look to the public rather than carrying out the experiment so therefore the study lacks some validity
in terms of application to improving prison conditions: this study demonstrates that lack of group identification in the dominant group may signal a lack of legitimacy leading to resistance and collectable action in the subordinate group. This suggests, strategies to raise morale like increasing funding or training of guards may be beneficial in controlling collective resistance which can result in violent disorder
The use of quantitive data: measures of social identification and authoritarianism were used before and after the promotion of one of the guards, meaning that the researchers could calculate the statistical significance of any differences that were found
Competing argument: ranker scales have their advantages however, self-reports can lack validity as participants may find it hard to reflect their own state of mind and some may be more self-aware than others. The data may reflect what they thought the research is wanted to hear
also the sample size of 15 was so small that you could say it lacks generalisability and they were all males.
