Social roles Flashcards
What are social roles?
‘parts’ people play as members of various social groups
- internal mental scripts which allow people to behave appropriately indifferent settings
What is de-individualisation?
- in specific identities such as those that require uniforms de-individualisation may play a role, as in this state individuals have lower self-awareness and a weaker sense of personal responsibility
- this may result from the relative anonymity caused by wearing a uniform
- this can make conformity rates higher
What was the aim of Zimbardo’s study?
To investigate the extent to which people would conform to the roles of guard and prisoner in a role-playing simulation of prison life
What was the method of Zimbardo’s study?
- set up a mock prison in the basement of Stanford
- Male student volunteers were psychologically and physically screened and the 21 most stable were randomly asigned to the roles of guards or prisoners
- prisoners were encouraged to conform to social roles through the uniforms they wore and the instructions about their behaviour
- prisoners were arrested in their homes and taken to the ‘prison’
What role did Zimbardo play in his study
Superintendent
What type of observation was Zimbardo’s study
- participant
- controlled
- overt
What uniforms did guards and prisoners wear?
- prisoners were given a loose smock and a cap. they were identified by number
- guards had their uniform which a wooden club handcuffs and mirror shades
- uniforms created a loss of personal identity (de-individualisation) this meant they were more likely to conform to their perceived role
How were prisoners and guards encouraged to act?
- prisoners were encouraged to identify with their role by several procedures e.g rather than leaving the sturdy they could ‘apply for parole’
- guards were encouraged to play their role by reminding them that they has complete power over prisoners
What were the results of Zimbardos study?
- within the first few days guards became abusive and harassed prisoners, then enforced rules and gave harsh punishments
- prisoners became depressed and anxious, they were submissive to the guards
- one prisoner went on hunger strike and they force-fed him and punished him by putting him in a dark closet
- some prisoners forgot they were in a study and guards enjoyed their power
- study only lasted 6 days rather than the intended 2 weeks
What were the conclusions of Zimbardos study?
- social roles have a strong influence on individuals’ behaviour Guards became abusive and prisoners became submissive
- ppts easily took on roles
What are strengths of Zimbardos study?
- ppts behaved as if it was real
- can explain real life situations
What are limitations of Zimbardos study?
- doesn’t reflect a real prison
- exaggerates power of roles
Evaluate the fact that ppts behaved as if the prison was real as a strength of Zimbardo’s study
P: McDermott (2019) argues participant’s did behave as if the prison was real to them.
E: 90% of the prisoner’s private conversations were about prison life. They discussed how it was impossible to leave the prison experiment before their ‘sentences’ were over.
Prisoner 416 later explained how he believed the prison was a real one but run by psychologists rather than the government.
E: Strength of the Zimbardos study because it suggests the study did replicate the social roles of prisoners and guards in a real prison, giving the study a high degree of internal validity.
Evaluate how the SPE can explain real life situations as a strength of Zimbardo’s study
P: A strength is that conformity to social roles can be used to explain real life situations such as Abu Ghraib (a military prison in Iraq notorious for the torture and abuse of Iraqi prisoners by US soldiers in 2003 and 2004).
E: Zimbardo believed that the guards who committed the abuses were victims of situational factors that made abuse more likely. These factors such as lack of training, boredom and no accountability to higher authority were present in the Stanford prison experiment and in Abu Ghraib. These factors combined with an opportunity to misuse the power associated with the role of ‘guard’, led to prisoner abuses in both situations.
E: Strength of Zimbardo’s research because it demonstrates the research is still relevant to real life situations years after the original study.
Evaluate does not resemble a real prison as a limitation of Zimbardos study
P: Low ecological validity
E: Many aspects of Zimbardo’s study simulated prison do not reflect real prison life such as the maximum anticipated sentence being two weeks, lack of racism/abuse, threats of violence and ultimately the ppts could ask to leave the study if they wished.
Banuazizi et al (1975) argue that participants were merely play acting rather than conforming to a role. Ppts performances were based heavily on their stereotypes of how prisoners and guards are supposed to behave.
E: Limitation because it may be difficult to generalise the findings about social roles to real life.
However, there is considerable evidence to suggest that the prisoners did react to the situation as if it was real.
For example, McDermott (2019) argues that the participants did behave as though the prison was real to them 90% of the prisoner’s private conversations. When prisoners were introduced to the prison priest, they introduced themselves as their prison number instead of their name. Some prisoners even asked the priest to get them a lawyer to get them out of prison. It therefore could be argued that Zimbardo’s study does provide insight into real life instances of conforming to social roles.
Evaluate how the SPE exaggerates the power of roles as a limitation of Zimbardos study
P: He may have exaggerated the power of social roles to influence behaviour.
E: For example, only one third of the guards actually behaved in a brutal manner. Another third tried to apply the rules fairly. The rest actively tried to help and support the prisoners. They sympathised, offered cigarettes and reinstated privileges. Most guards were able to resist situational pressures to conform to a brutal role.
E: Limitation because this suggests that Zimbardo overstated his view that ppts were conforming to social roles and minimised the influence of dispositional factors. Therefore the validity of Zimbardo’s explanation of conformity to social roles may be limited.
