Zimbardo Flashcards
What did zimbardo study?
conformity to SOCIAL ROLES
What was zimbardos procedure?
He advertised willing students to participate in his mock prison
*Randomly assigned as prisoners or guards
*Prisoners were arrested from homes, stripped searched, blindfolded
*Guards were given a uniform and wooden club, told they had complete power over prisoners
What were the findings of Zimbardos procedure?
*within 2 days, prisoners were rebelling (ripping uniform, swearing, etc) Guards retalliated with fire extinguishers
*Guards harrassed prisoners, enforcing rules, reminding them of their social roles
*prisoners became depressed and anxious, one was SENT HOME due to psychological disturbance
*Study ended after 6 days, instead of 14
What were the conclusions from Zimbardos procedure?
*Revealed that the power of social roles influenced behaviour
*All participants conformed to their roles. (even chaplaincy volunteers behaved as if it was a real prison)
How is the artificial setting a strength for Zimbardos research?
The selection of who was a prisoner and guard was random.
The research team tried to rule out individual differences as an explanation for the findings.
This means that the conformity was due to conforming to social roles.
This creates high internal validity, as we can be sure we’re measuring conformity to social roles!
What is one critisicms of Zimbardos research
He overexaggerated the results.
Only 1/3 guards acted brutally.
1/3 wanted to apply the rules fairly
1/3 tried to support and sympathise with the prisoners
How is overexaggerating the results a weakness?
The difference in the guards behaviour, shows they were not all affected in the same way.
They were able to differentiate right from wrong, despite the pressures to conform to their role
How was the internal validity a critisicm in Zimbardos study?
B&M argued that participants were play acting rather than genuinely conforming to their role.
THIS MEANS THAT…
They were potentially showing D.C’s, acting according to the stereotypes.
PROBLEM BECAUSE:
It lacks internal validity, and if it is not controlled it can become a confounding variable and lower the internal validity of the study, making us unsure whether we are measuring the correct study.
