[Topic 3] Conforming to social roles

Question 1

Outline the procedures of Zimbardo’s Standford prison experiment

Answer 1

• Zimbardo and his colleagues Standford Prison Experiment investigated how participants behave when given the role of either ‘prisoner’ or ‘guard’ in the absence of an obvious authority figure.
• He created a Mock prison experiment in the basement of standford university
• The 24 Participants had all been judged to be psychologically stable before the study began and they were randomly assigned as a prisoner or a guard
• Guards wore uniform and reflective sunglasses, which prevented eye contact with the prisoners.
• Prisoners wore a smock with an identification number
• Guards referred to prisoners by their number rather than their name. The guards carried truncheons but were told before hand that they could not use them

Question 2

What was found in Zimbardo’s study

Answer 2

• The guards quickly became tyrannical and abusive towards the prisoners.
• The prisoners became increasingly passive and accepting of their situation.
• Both guards and prisoners conformed to their roles
• Some of the guards were so enthusiastic about their role they volunteered to do unpaid overtime
• The SPE was supposed to last 2 weeks but was ended after only 6 days.
• Five prisoners had to be ‘released’ early because of their extreme reactions to the situation they found themselves in.
• These reactions had begun after only 2 days of the SPE

Question 3

Evaluation 1: Not all the guards behaved sadistically

Answer 3

• Not all the guards behaved sadistically, so such behaviour might not be due to an automatic embracing of the role.
• For example some guards were aware that what they were doing was wrong
• Haslam and Reicher argue this shows participants did not automatically conform to their roles, but chose how they behaved.
• This suggests that Zimbardo was wrong to claim the guards behaviour was an automatic consequence of them conforming to their role

Question 4

Evaluation 2: The SPE was a controversial study

Answer 4

• The SPE was a controversial study but it was conducted ethically
• The study was approved by the ethics committee at the university where it was conducted.
• Participants were not deceived because they were told before hand that many of their usual rights would be temporarily suspended
• However Zimbardo acknowledges that the SPe could have been stopped earlier, given the emotional stress the prisoners experienced. He did however debrief the prisoners.
• Even though, Zimbardo claims there were no lasting negative effects, the SPE highlights the importance of ethical considerations in psychological research