Social role conformity - Zimbardo Flashcards
What was it that Zimbardo wanted to test before his prison experiment?
He wanted to show that society has mutually agreed roles that people would just follow without thinking. He thought that these role appropriate behaviors could be seen in any group of people given the appropriate environment.
What was the theoretical idea that Zimbardo proposed would happen in the experiment with two key terms?
Deindividuation leading to disinhibition.
Which type of sampling was used to collect participants for Zimbardo’s prison experiment?
Volunteer sample.
How many participants was used in the prison experiment and how were roles assigned?
24 male participants, where they were randomly given the roles of either ‘guard’ or ‘prisoner’. So there were 12 of each role.
Where was the mock prison set up?
In the basement of Stanford University’s psychology department.
How long did the experiment plan to last for?
2 weeks.
What were the set up regarding prisoners?
They were arrested unexpectedly at home, which meant to make it more realistic.
Once they arrived at the prison they were given prison uniforms (a dress), and an ID number that they would be referred to through the experiment. This creates a sense of removing their original identity.
They had basic rights, such as three meals a day, three supervised toilet trips a day and two visits per week.
What were the set up regarding guards?
They were told to maintain order.
They were given uniforms, nightsticks, whistles and wore reflective sunglasses (to prevent eye contact).
If a prisoner disturbs the orders, guards can put him in a dark room known as the hole as a punishment.
What were actually happening in the experiment that proved Zimbardo’s point that conformity to social roles can be very powerful?
Over the first few days the guards grew increasingly aggressive and abusive towards prisoners.
Many participants appeared at times to forget that they were in an experiment and fully adopted their roles.
After how many days was the experiment forced to terminate and why?
Six days. Because five prisoners had to be released early due to extreme reaction such as anxiety and rage etc. It was terminated following the intervention of a postgraduate student who saw the abusive behavior of guards to be out of hand.
What were four problems with the experiment?
- Zimbardo played a part himself in the experiment as the prison superintendent. This created investigators effects.
- The environment lacked mundane realism.
- The experiment planned to last for 2 weeks but had to stop after six days.
- Participants playing prisoners began to show signs of PTSD, anxiety disorders and depression.
What conclusion was drawn from the prison experiment?
Conformity to social roles is very powerful as both guards and prisoners conformed to their social roles, while guards became cruel and aggressive, prisoners became increasingly passive.
In the BBC version of the prison study, carried out by Reicher and Haslam, did the findings match with that by Zimbardo’s original study?
No, the result was the complete opposite. With prisoner growing increasingly more aggressive and challenging the authority and guards failing to impose their authority on prisoners, leading to a shift in power and the collapse of the prisoner-guard system.
EVALUATION: Lack mundane realism(-)
P- Lack mundane realism
E- Props and set up were obvious, therefore could have led to demand characteristics.
E- However Zimbardo’s finding were able to be applied to real life events like Abu Ghraib prison.
L- This suggests although experiment lacks internal validity, it is externally valid as it can be applied to real world situations.
EVALUATION: Ethical issues(-)
P- Study has been criticised for its various issues regarding ethics.
E- Failed to protect participants from harm, remind of rights to withdraw as participants clearly showed distress.
E- However he recognised his failings and offered councilling and debriefing sessions to participants for many years.
L- Highlights the importance of cost benefit analysis and to recognise potential harm to participants. *Risk benefit ratio, treatment of participants, improving lifes in the real world.(I&D)
