SI - Conformity to social roles

Question 1

What question did Zimbardo et al. set out to answer in the Stanford Prison Experiment (SPE)?

Answer 1

If ‘ordinary’ people were placed in a simulated prison environment and some of them were designated as guards and some prisoners, how would they behave in their new social roles?

Question 2

What experiment is Zimbardo (Haney et al.) known for?

Answer 2

Stanford Prison Experiment.

Question 3

Who carried out the SPE?

Answer 3

Haney et al.

Craig Haney, Philip Zimbardo, Curtis Banks and Carlo Prescott.

Philip Zimbardo was the lead researcher in the SPE, the reference for the study has Craig Haney’s name first.

Question 4

What was the aim of the SPE?

Answer 4

To observe the interaction between the two groups in the absence of an obvious authority figure.

Question 5

When was the SPE carried out?

Answer 5

1973

Question 6

Explain the procedure of the SPE:

Answer 6

• Mock prison set up in the basement of the psychology department at Stanford Uni in California, USA.
• Male student volunteers were psychologically and physically screened and the 24 most stable of these were randomly assigned to either play the role of ‘prisoner’ or ‘guard’.
• The prisoners were unexpectedly arrested at home and on entry to the ‘prison’ they were put through a delousing procedure, given a prison uniform and assigned an ID number.
• The guards only referred to the prisoners by these numbers throughout the study.
• Prisoners were allowed certain rights, including 3 meals and 3 supervise toilet trips a day and 2 visits per week.
• Participants who were allocated the role of guards were given uniforms, clubs, whistles and wore reflective sunglasses (to prevent eye contact).
• Zimbardo took the role of Prison Superintendent.

Question 7

How long was the SPE planned to last?

Answer 7

2 weeks

Question 8

How many subjects were in the SPE? Were they male of female?

Answer 8

24 male

Question 9

What type of sampling was used to get participants for the SPE?

Answer 9

Volunteer

Question 10

What conclusion can be drawn from the SPE?

Answer 10

Conformity to social roles is very powerful.

Both prisoners and guards conformed to their social roles.

Question 11

What could have been caused as a result of Zimbardo playing a part in the SPE?

Answer 11

Investigator effects.

Question 12

How long did the SPE last?

Answer 12

6 days

Question 13

Why did the SPE stop?

Answer 13

Following the intervention of postgraduate student Christina Maslach (later to become Zimbardo’s wife) who reminded the researchers that this was a psychological study and, as such, did not justify the abuse meted out to the participants.

An outsider (Zimbardo’s girlfriend at the time) threatened to call the police.

Question 14

What can you say about how realistic the SPE was?

Answer 14

Lacks mundane realism.

Question 15

What symptoms were among prisoners in the SPE?

Answer 15

PTSD, anxiety disorders and depression.

Question 16

What happened during the first few days of the SPE?

Answer 16

The guards grew increasingly tyrannical and abusive towards the prisoners.

Question 17

What did some of the guards agree to do during the SPE?

Answer 17

Some of the guards were so enthusiastic in their role that they volunteered to do extra hours without pay.

Question 18

What did the prisoners forget at times during the SPE?

Answer 18

This was only a psychological study and that they were merely acting.

Question 19

How did the prisoners/guards act when they knew they weren’t being watched in the SPE?

Answer 19

They still conformed to their roles.

Question 20

What did one prisoner in the SPE ask for when he had had enough?

Answer 20

‘Parole’ rather than asking to withdraw from the study.

Question 21

How many prisoners had to be released early from the SPE and why?

Answer 21

5 because of their extreme reactions (e.g. crying, rage and acute anxiety) - symptoms that had started to appear after just 2 days.

Question 22

Over the course of the SPE, how did the behaviours of the guards and prisoners change?

Answer 22

Guards became increasingly cruel and sadistic.

Prisoners became increasingly passive and accepting of their plight.

Question 23

Who carried out a follow up study to Zimbardo’s SPE?

Answer 23

Reicher and Haslam, 2006.

The BBC Prison Study.

Question 24

Describe the procedure of Reicher and Haslam’s (2006) Prison experiment:

Answer 24

Like the SPE, the BBC study randomly assigned men to the role of guard or prisoner and examined their behaviour within a specially created ‘prison’.

15 male participants were divided into 5 groups of 3 people who were as closely matched as possible on key personality variables, and from each group of 3, one person was randomly chosen to be a guard and the other 2 prisoners.

The study was to run for 8 days.

Question 25

How did the Reicher and Haslam (2006) study allocate participants to the role of prisoner or guard?

Answer 25

15 male participants were divided into 5 groups of 3 people who were as closely matched as possible on key personality variables, and from each group of 3, one person was randomly chosen to be a guard and the other 2 prisoners.

Question 26

How long was the Reicher and Haslam (2006) study run for?

Answer 26

8 days

Question 27

What were the findings of the BBC Prison Study (Reicher and Haslam, 2006)?

Answer 27

• Participants didn’t conform automatically to their assigned role as had happened in the SPE.
• Over the course of the study, prisoners became increasingly identified as a group and worked collectively to challenge the authority and establish a more egalitarian set of social relations within the prison.
• The guards also failed to identify with their role, which made the reluctant to impose their authority on the prisoners.
• This lead to a shift of power and the collapse of the prisoner-guard system.

Question 28

How did the prisoners in the BBC Prison Study (Reicher and Haslam, 2006) act over the course of the study?

Answer 28

Over the course of the study, prisoners became increasingly identified as a group and worked collectively to challenge the authority and establish a more egalitarian set of social relations within the prison.

Question 29

What was the main difference in the findings of the SPE and the BBC Prison Study follow up?

Answer 29

Participants didn’t conform automatically to their assigned role as had happened in the SPE.
The prisoners became increasingly identified as a group and worked collectively to challenge the authority and establish a more egalitarian set of social relations within the prison.
The guards also failed to identify with their role, which made the reluctant to impose their authority on the prisoners.

Question 30

How did the guards in the BBC Prison Study (Reicher and Haslam, 2006) act over the course of the study?

Answer 30

The guards failed to identify with their role, which made the reluctant to impose their authority on the prisoners.

Question 31

What did the finding of the BBC Prison Study lead to?

Answer 31

A shift of power and the collapse of the prisoner-guard system.

Question 32

What are social roles?

Answer 32

The behaviours expected of an individual who occupies a given social position or status.