Social Influence - Conformity to Social Roles Flashcards
Social role
The behaviours expected of an individual
What are the expected behaviours due to?
The social position status the person has occupied
Example of social roles
Fireman or police officer
Conformity to a social role
The extent of which people behave in the expected manners of their social role
Who carried out an experiment into conformity of social roles?
Zimbardo
What was the name of the experiment into conformity to social roles?
Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Experiment
What year was the experiment into conformity to social roles carried out?
1971
Where was the SPE conducted?
In a mock prison set up in the basement of Stanford University
What sampling method was used to get participants for the SPE?
Volunteer sampling
What were participants offered for doing the SPE?
$15 per day
How many people volunteered to be in the SPE?
70
Out of all volunteers, how many participants were selected to be in the SPE?
24
Who was selected from the volunteers?
People who were deemed ‘emotionally stable’ to take part after completing screening
What roles were the volunteers assigned to? How were they assigned?
Randomly assigned to role of guard and role of prisoner
Participants of the SPE
All-male Stanford University students
How were the prisoners of the SPE taken to the prison?
They were arrested at their homes and transported to the prison
What happened to the prisoners when they arrived at the prison in the SPE?
they were blindfolded, strip searched and given a uniform and a number instead of a name
What were the guards given and told in the SPE?
Given a uniform, which included mirrored sunglasses, and told they had complete power over the prisoners
Findings of the SPE for the guards
The guards became fully invested in their social roles
How long was the SPE intended to last?
14 days
How long did the SPE last?
6 days
Why was the SPE cut short?
Because the guards became a threat to the prisoners physical and mental well-being
What significant event happened after 2 days of the SPE?
The prisoners rebelled against the harsh treatment and the guards retaliated with violence and aggression
What happened to one of the prisoners after day 1 of the SPE?
They were released after showing signs of psychological disturbance
What happened to two of the prisoners on day 4 of the SPE?
They were released, with one of them going on the hunger strike due to the unfair treatment
Zimbardo’s SPE conclusion
The power of the situation will influence peoples conformity to the behaviours of their social roles
Who conformed to their roles within the SPE?
The guards, prisoners and researchers (even Zimbardo)
Strength of the SPE: lab experiment
Experiment is completely controlled as it is a lab experiment
Strength of the SPE: control
Individual differences controlled
Extraneous variables controlled
Limitation of the SPE: replicability
Not easily replicable due to ethical guidelines
Limitation of the SPE: sample
All-male and all-student sample means results may lack representativeness and generalisability
Limitation of the SPE: Zimbardo as the prison warden
Investigator effects
Limitation of the SPE: ethical issues
Deception
Possibility of psychological and physical harm to participants
Not fully informed consent
Limitation of the SPE: realism
Experiment lacks realism as Zimbardo claims “if you put a good person in a bad situation they will conform” which isn’t necessarily true
Limitation of the SPE: personality traits
Personality traits of the participants may of been dispositional influences to the results
Who believes that the results of the SPE were influenced by dispositional influences?
Fromm as he accuses Zimbardo of exaggerating power of the situation and not taking dispositional influences into account
