social influence - zimbardo

Question 1

What was the aim of Zimbardo’s research?

Answer 1

To find out whether the brutality reported among guards in American prisons was due to the sadistic personalities of the guards (i.e., dispositional) or had more to do with the prison environment (i.e., situational).

Question 2

Outline the procedure of Zimbardo’s experiment

Answer 2

• The study was set up in the basement of the Psychology department of Stanford University.
• Participants were advertised for, and randomly assigned to the role of prisoner or prison guard.
• 10 prisoners, 11 guards.
• When the prisoners were arrested, they were taken to a local police station, before being transported to the prison.
• They had to wear a ‘uniform’ and were given numbers to replace their names (deindividuation).
• The guards were given their own uniform, including sunglasses that meant their eyes couldn’t be seen. The guards were told that they could do whatever was necessary to keep order in the prison (short of physically assaulting the prisoners).

Question 3

What were the findings of Zimbardo’s prison experiment?

Answer 3

The prisoners were rebellious at first, not taking the situation seriously. After this, the guards acted increasingly brutally, so much so that the study had to be stopped after 6 days (instead of the planned 14). The guards used tactics to control the prisoners, for example waking them in the night to perform head counts, trying to break alliances, and making them perform degrading tasks such as cleaning toilets with their bare hands. The prisoners fell into their roles and became subdued and depressed One prisoner went on hunger strike, and was confined to the ‘hole’, a small windowless closet. Prisoners showed signs of psychological disturbance, and some had to be released early. By the end, the guards and prisoners were fully immersed in their roles.

Question 4

Define what is meant by ‘deindividuation’

Answer 4

This is a state when you become so immersed in the norms of the group that you lose your sense of identity and personal responsibility.

Question 5

Evaluate Zimbardo’s study - ethical

Answer 5

Participants playing the role of prisoners were not protected from psychological harm, experiencing incidents of humiliation and distress. For example, one prisoner had to be released after 36 hours because of uncontrollable bursts of screaming, crying and anger. They also did not give informed consent to being arrested in their own homes.

Question 6

Evaluate Zimbardo’s study - stereotypes

Answer 6

It has been argued that the participants were acting in a stereotypical way. For example, one guard said that he based his behaviour on a character he had seen in a film. This means that the study was not really measuring conformity to a role, but conformity to a stereotype. This shows that the experiment had a lack of mundane realism (the extent to which an experimental situation resembles a real-life situation or event), decreasing ecological validity.

Question 7

Evaluate Zimbardo’s study - internal validity

Answer 7

Quantitative data collected during the experiment revealed that 90% of the prisoners’ conversations were about prison life. Prisoner 416 expressed the belief that the prison was real, but run by psychologists instead of the government. It seems that the prison seemed real to the prisoners, increasing the internal validity.

Question 8

Evaluate Zimbardo’s study - internal validity

Answer 8

Quantitative data collected during the experiment revealed that 90% of the prisoners’ conversations were about prison life. Prisoner 416 expressed the belief that the prison was real, but run by psychologists instead of the government. It seems that the prison seemed real to the prisoners, increasing the internal validity.