Social Influence: Conformity to social roles Flashcards
What is the key study for conformity to social roles and who conducted it?
The Stanford Prison Experiment (Haney/ Zimbardo – 1973)
What was the aim of the Stanford Prison Experiment?
To investigate situational vs dispositional factors in prisons.
Situational - influences that do not occur from within the individual but from elsewhere like the environment and others around you.
Dispositional - the individual or personal characteristics of a person that may affect how they behave or conform.
What was the procedure of the Stanford Prison Experiment?
24 white male American undergraduates who were paid volunteers—> paid $15 a day. Basement of Stanford University was converted into a mock prison.
Volunteers were randomly allocated into either the role of prisoner or guard (12 of each).
The prisoners were unexpectedly arrested at home and upon entry to the prison began a delousing procedure they were given a prison uniform and an ID number (guards only referred to them using this number – dehumanised) . Guards were given superior uniforms, reflective sunglasses to prevent eye contact + handcuffs. The guards were only instructed to not use violence on the prisoners. Study was scheduled to last for 2 weeks but was cut short. Prisoners were given their basic needs(3 meals a day and 3 bathroom breaks).
What were the findings of the Stanford Prison Experiment?
Ppts very quickly identified with their social role. Guards harassed and tormented prisoners in harsh ways e.g cleaning toilets with their bare hands and later expressed that they enjoyed it. Prisoners became increasingly submissive – when one ‘prisoner’ asked to leave he asked for parole rather than to be withdrawn from the study.
5 prisoners had to be released early due to extreme reactions which had only appeared after 2 days.
The study was terminated after 6 days.
What was the conclusion of the Stanford Prison Experiment?
People will conform to the social roles they’re expected to play and these roles have a significant effect on behaviour.
What are the 4 AO3 points for conformity to social roles?
-Ethical issues
-Contradicting research
+Practical application
-Issues with sample
(-AO3) What were the ethical issues in the Stanford prison experiment?
The SPE violates guidelines of deception, informed consent and protection from psychological harm and so wouldn’t pass the BPS guidelines today.
Prisoners had to be dismissed from the study due to psychological harm.
Zimbardo attempted to correct these violations through debriefing ppts for several years afterwards and concluded that there were no long lasting negative effects.
Highlighting the potential harm in the SPE has helpful in further studies such as Reicher and Haslam who used the same basic set up as Zimbardo but took greater steps to minimise the potential harm to their ppts.
(-AO3) Who conducted the contradicting research for the SPE?
Reicher and Haslam (2006)
(-AO3) What was the contradicting research for the SPE?
15 male ppts randomly divided into 5 groups of 3 people who were matched as closely as possible on key personality characteristics.
1 ppt was randomly allocated as guard and the other 2 were prisoners.
The study lasted for 8 days.
Ppts didn’t automatically conform to their assigned role as suggested in the SPE.
The prisoners increasingly identified as a group and challenged the authority of the guards.
The guards also failed to identify with their role which made them reluctant to impose authority on the prisoners.
This led to a shift in power and a collapse of the prisoner-guard system.
Therefore, questioning the validity of Zimbardo/ Haney’s research.
(+AO3) What were the practical applications of the SPE?
The SPE helps explain the torture of Iraqi prisoners by the US military in Abu Grahib as it suggests it’s a result of situational factors.
This shows how we can prevent atrocities and create better prison environments.
This is achieved through less hierarchy between prisoners and guards, need for accountability from authority and generally more pleasant environment which is evident in Scandinavian prisons.
(-AO3) What were the issues with the sample in the SPE?
White, western, male sample group. Can’t generalise findings to different cultures and genders. Collectivist cultures may conform due to value of the group rather than the individual.
