Social Influence - Conformity to social roles (GREY) Flashcards
What were Zimbardo’s conclusions relating to conformity in the Stanford Prison Experiment?
The prisoners and guards behaved the way they did because of the social roles they were in.
He felt it was evidence for the power of the situation to influence behaviour.
How were a sample of participants gathered and assigned into two groups in the Stanford Prison Experiment?
24 male student from Stanford University were selected to play roles of Prisoners and guards in a mock prison after being screened for physical and mental health. They were decided into two groups by a flip of a coin - half were guards and half were prisoners.
What did the researchers do to emphasise the different roles in the Stanford Prison Experiment?
Guards: Picked uniform Reflective sunglasses Keys, handcuffs, batons Went home after work Prisoners: Got arrested, blindfolded, stripped, deloused Given numbers Stayed in prison cells all day
What were the behaviours displayed during the study of the Stanford Prison Experiment?
Guards: Put prisoners in cupboards Made prisoners clean toilets with bare hands Abused and humiliated prisoners Prisoners: Rebelled Emotional breakdowns after 36 hours (5 prisoners) Obedient
What evidence is there that the prison felt real to the participants in the Stanford Prison Experiment?
90% of prisoner’s conversation were about prison life.
One prisoners said afterwards ‘a prison run by psychologists instead of the state’.
One guard was dismayed at the way he acted, it wasn’t his character.
Prisoner wanted to do a hunger strike.
One refused to leave to repair his reputation.
Why do the controls Zimbardo used improve the validity of his study?
Independent groups design - screening for physical and mental health so we know the breakdowns were due to the situation.
Random allocation - removes bias, controls participant variables.
What are the criticisms of Zimbardo’s prison Experiment? (excluding ethics)
Lack of realism- argued participants were merely play acting and their performances were based on stereotypes.
Zimbardo ignored the role of dispositional factors - in the same situations, not all guards behaved the same, which suggests personality played a part.
What are the ethical problems of the Stanford Prison Experiment?
Psychological harm
Physical harm
It was not clear participants could just withdraw - they had to apply for parole
