Social influence – conformity to social roles Flashcards
What is a social role?
Behaviour that is expected of an individual who occupies a given social position or status.
What was the aim of the Stanford prison experiment conducted by Zimbardo?
To see how readily people would conform to the roles of guard and prisoner in a role-play exercise that stimulated prison life.
What was the procedure of the Stanford prison experiment conducted by Zimbardo?
- Laboratory experiment.
– Zimbardo converted a basement of Stanford University into a mock prison. - Participants were randomly assigned to either the role of a prisoner or guard in a simulated prison environment.
- prisoners were treated like criminal, arrested at their homes riving at the prison strip naked, deloused had all their possessions removed and they had numbers and prison clothing.
- Guards were Dressed in identical uniforms and they carried a whistle.
What was the findings of the Stanford prison experiment conducted by Zimbardo?
- The behaviour of the prisoners and guards quickly got out of hand within two days the prisoners rebelled the guards reacted by punishing.
– Prisoners became subdued, depressed and anxious.
What was the conclusion of the Stanford prison experiment conducted by Zimbardo?
– People will readily conform to the social roles that are expected to play.
– The prison environment was an important factor in creating the guards brutal behaviour.
- Support the situation explanation of behaviour rather than the dispositional one.
What is deindividuation?
Estate where you become so immersed in the norms of the group that you lose your sense of identity and personal responsibility. (This explains the behaviour of the guards).
What is learned helplessness?
The prisons learned that whatever they had did had little effect on what happened to them.
Explain individual differences as a limitation of Zimbardo study
Individual differences played a key role as not all the guards were sadistic and brutal with some opting to be fair or not exert control over the prisoners at all the behaviour between the prisoners was not identical either which makes generalising the findings difficult.
What limitation did Reicher and Haslam find with Zimbardo study?
The study was recreated by Reicher and Haslam. Upon creating Zimbardo study they found the guards did not identify with their roles and the prisoners challenged their authority which undermines Zimbardo’s findings. Haslam and Reicher point out this shows the guards were choosing to behave this way rather than simply conforming to the social role.
Give a positive of Zimbardo’s Stanford prison experiment?
Zimbardo’s study provided real world applications such as improving the conditions in young offender institutes however Zimbardo believes the study was a failure as the condition of the prisons in the US are according to him worse than ever.
