Social Influence: The Stanford Prison Experiment Flashcards
Who carried out this experiment and when?
Zimbardo in 1971
What was the aim of this experiment?
to investigate the power a social situation can have in influencing/ changing peoples behaviour
Describe the procedure of the Stanford Prison Experiment
make 6 points
What role did Zimbardo play ?
24 US male student volunteers
they were randomly assigned the role of a prisoner/guard
prisoners were unexpectedly arrested at home , deloused and given prison uniform and an ID number
prisoners were given the right to 3 meals a day , 3 supervised toilet visits a day etc
guards were given whistles , clubs and reflective glasses to wear
was supposed to last 2 weeks but terminated after 6 days
Super Intendent
What were the findings of the experiment?
3
-as guards became increasingly brutal the prisoners became increasingly passive
-prisoners experienced pathological reactions of anxiety and distress
-all ppts conformed readily to their roles
What did Zimbardo conclude from the experiment?
2
that behaviour was influenced by a loss of identity
that social situations do have the power to influence behaviour
What is a strength of the Stanford Prison Experiment?
+allocation to roles
it was random and only psychologically stable ppts were involved
this decreases researcher bias and increases validity as you can conclude that social roles caused the abnormal behaviour
What are 2 weaknesses of this experiment?
-sample was biased
all male volunteers so hey had an interest in the experiment , this makes it unrepresentative and means it lacks population validity
-Zimbardo’s role
he played SI as well as being the reearcher
his behaviour may have influenced the events which challenges the validity
What are 2 further weaknesses of this experiment?
-its a controlled observation
ppts could have been play acting based on their stereotypes rather than actually conforming to social roles so the findings may not reflect real world conformity
-ethical issues
Right to withdraw wasn’t considered as when ppts asked to leave they were treated like prisoners not people , people also became distressed during the experiment , making the study ethically problematic
What does social roles mean?
What does conformity to social roles involve?
When do we conform to particular social roles?
the parts people play as members of a social group
identification
only when we are in that particular social situation
How do we learn the social norms of different social situations?
What happens when we learn these roles?
by watching others
these learned roles become internal mental scripts
