Stamford Prison Experiment Flashcards
1
Q
Background
A
- Zimbardo and Milgram were friends at school
- Study was carried out to match or go beyond Milgrams
- Inspired by Mischel and Rosenhans work
- Wanted to disprove dispositional explanations
2
Q
Aims
A
- create realistic prison simulation
- Why there’s alleged brutality and violence in American prisons
- When can a role playing simulation become more than just a game.
3
Q
Participants
A
- Criticised for a specific type of participant applying for the study
- Advertised for $15 a day for two weeks
- 25ps selected out of initial pool of 75ps
- Half randomly assigned as guards and half as prisoners
- ps were male college students
- Suspension of some civil rights
4
Q
‘The Arrest’
A
- Ps arrested at their home
- ps isolated in cell and fingerprinted at police station
- Blindfolded and transported to “Stanford County prison’
Induction involved ps being stripped naked, searched, de loused, issued uniform and ID pics taken
5
Q
The Prison
A
- Only furniture was beds
- Doors to the cell were steel barred doors
6
Q
Orientation
A
- Prisoners remained in prison 24/7
- played role for two weeks
- told what the aim was
- told to maintain a reasonable amount of order
- guards worked shifts and didn’t live at prison
7
Q
Uniforms
A
- Remove individuality
- Guards all wear the same
- Prisoners all wear the same
8
Q
Observations
A
- Video footage taken
- Interviews carried out
- Guards became more aggressive over time
- Prisoners suffered mental anguish
- Authoritarianism
- All conversations involved prison rather than talking about outside world
9
Q
Apparent Guard ‘Sadism’
A
- Bystander apathy, good people choose not to intervene - no prisoners challenged the study
- Guards retaliated strongly when prisoners rebelled
- physical punishment although told not to be violent
- Sometimes denied basic rights
10
Q
Extreme effects
A
- Prisoners displayed signs of learned helplessness
- Zimbardo admitted to become to involved with the study
11
Q
Calling time on the study
A
- Zimbardo fiancé threatened to leave him if he didn’t stop the study.
- Stopped after 6 bdays
- 5 prisoners released because of extreme emotional depression
- Guards enjoyed their power and control
- ‘Pathological prisoner syndrome’
12
Q
Power
A
- Diary entry 1, pacifist and not aggressive
- Diary entry 2, security is necessary
- Diary entry 3, we throw him into a ‘hole’
13
Q
Psychological aspects of time
A
- Institutionalisation breaks up continuity
- Apparent circularity of time
- People overreact to minor stimuli and fail to plan for major events
14
Q
Anonymity
A
- conditions removed uniqueness from participants and minimised individuality
- uniforms, numbers, standard hair cuts
- limited possessions
- minimised privacy and mass eating as well as mass exercise
15
Q
Reactions
A
- Banuazizi & Movahedi (1975)
questioned, realism, phenomenological significance, Zimbardos active role as superintendent, alternative explanation also reality and simulation were mixed - Reicher & Haslam (2006)
bbc recreated a prison and also recruited former inmates, social identity theory
