P1 Social Psychology - Zimbardo: Social Roles Flashcards
What was the aim of Zimbardos Stanford Prison Experiment?
To see how participants would behave if put into designated guard and prisoner roles. The aim was to observe the interaction between the two groups in the absence of an obvious authority figure.
What was the procedure of Zimbardos Stanford Prison Experiment?
Male students were psychologically and physically screened and the 24 most stable of these were randomly assigned to either play the role of prisoner or guard.
Prisoners were allowed certain rights like three meals and three supervised toilet trips a day and two visits per week. Participants allocated guard role were given uniform, whistles and reflective sunglasses. This study planned to last two weeks.
What were the findings of the Stanford Prison Experiment?
The guards grew more tyrannical and abusive towards the prisoners and woke prisoners in the night to clesn toilets with their bare hands etc.
The participants at times seemed to forget this was only a psychological study. Even when they were unaware of being watched they still conformed to their roles. Five prisoners had to be released early because of their extreme reactions.
What was the conclusion of Stanfords Prison Experiment?
This study demonstrated that both guards and prisoners conformed to their social roles. The guards became increasingly cruel and sadistic and the prisoners became increasingly passive and accepting of their plight.
What was the aim of the BBC Prison Study (Reicher and Haslam)?
The aim was to examine the participants behaviour in the specially created prison as the assigned roles of guard or prisoner.
What was the procedure of the BBC Prison Study?
15 male participants were divided into five groups of three people who were as closely matched as possible on key personality variables and from each group of three, one person was randomly chosen to be guard and the other two prisoners. The study ran of 8 days.
What were the findings of BBC Prison Study?
The key finding was that the participants did not conform automatically to their assigned role as has happened in the Stanford Prison Experiment. Over the course of the study the prisoners became increasingly identified as a group and worked collectively to challenge the authority of the guards and establish a more egalitarian set of social relations.
The guards failed to identify with their role, which made them reluctant to impose authority on the prisoners.
What were the conclusions of the BBC Prison Study?
There was a shift of power and the collapse of the prisoner-guard system.
What is the evidence against Zimbardo’s opinion?
- Conformity to roles is not automatic (not all guards behaved sadistically so such behaviour may not be due to embracing the role / Haslam and Reicher argue that this shows the guards chose how to behave)
- Demand characteristics (Banuazizi and Movehedi presented the details of the SPE to students and most of them guessed the aim)
What is the evidence for ZImbardo’s opinion?
- Real world application (same conformity to social role was present in Abu Ghraib a prison in Iraq / Zimbardo believed the guards were the victims of situational factors that made abuse much more likely)
- Ethical Issues ( despite it being controversial it was conducted ethically - no deception + approved by ethics commitee )
