Social Roles - Stanford Prison

Question 1

Who set up the Stanford prison experiment and how were participants treated

Answer 1

• Zimbardo
• prisoners were arrested outside of homes (given uniform and a number)
• guards were given a uniform and enforced about they’re power over prisoners

Question 2

What happened due to the prisoners uniform and being referred to as a number

Answer 2

Deindividualisation
- loss of identity due to becoming intertwined with the group

Question 3

How long was the experiment meant to last and how long did it actually last

Answer 3

2 weeks but only lasted 6 days because of the horrific behaviours

Question 4

How did the prisoner and guards accustom to their social roles

Answer 4

Prisoners rebelled and went on hunger strike
Guards abused their power and treated prisoners badly

Question 5

What did this experiment show on social roles

Answer 5

Social roles are an extremely powerful influence on behaviour

Question 6

What is behaviour influenced by

Answer 6

• the loss of identity through deindividualisation

Question 7

EV 1 - control over key variables

Answer 7

• Emotionally stable ps were selected and given random allocations not personality based (no bias)
• increased internal validity
• better conclusions on Social roles

Question 8

EV 2 - lacked realism of real prison

Answer 8

• done in a uni basement
• Banuazizi et al believed ps were play acting due to their behaviour reflecting stereotypes
• little info in conformity in actual prisons

Question 9

EV 3 - exaggerated power of roles

Answer 9

• a third of the guards behaved brutally
• another third applied rules fairly
• final third supported the prisoners
• SPE overstates the guards conformity to brutal roles as in reality not many guard actually acted in this way, minimised dispositional influences such as personality