Social Psycology Studies

Question 1

Dr Philip Zimbardo (1973)

The Stanford Prison study

Answer 1

• 25 male volunteers randomly allocated guard or prisoner.
• given numbers to memorise referred by number at all times
• guards wore khaki shirts and trousers and wore mirrored glasses and carried wooden batons
• guards could make up any rules they wanted
• guards became brutal
• prisoners became depressed and anxious

+Zimbado had control over elements
+ emotionally stable participants were chosen
+ participants volunteered for the experiment
-Argued that they were acting how they thought the role was like
-It was difficult for participants leave
- zimbardo was considered part of the experiment
-Experiment was ended after eight days because participants showed psychological stress