Zimbardo 🏚️ Flashcards
What is conformity to social roles?
When an individual adopts a particular behaviour in a social situation.
Conducted experiment is 1973
What was Zimbardos aim?
To see whether people would confirm to social roles (behaviour displayed in prsion) given to them due to external sitautional factors or internal dispositional factors.
What was the procedure of the experiment?
A mock prison was set up in the basement of Stanford University.
24 healthy volunteers were randomly allocated the role of either guard or prisoner.
Priosners —-> arrested from home and strip searched.
Guards —-> given uniform and shades.
What were the results of the experiment?
Guards became a threat to prisoners health.
Caused experiment to be stopped after 6 days instead of 2 weeks.
Prisoners were dehumanised which led them to become extremely submissive.
PPTs experienced deindividuation (sense of identity lost)
Prisoners retalliated by going on hunger strike, however guards became more aggressive and controlling due to rules that were enforced, highlighting diffferences in social roles.
Conclusion of standford prison experiment
Displayed that external situational factors impact social roles as it leads to deindividuation.
Some prisoners believed they were actually in prison.
Strength
Evaluation of Zimbardo
Had good controls over variables such as participation variables.
Recruited healthy volunteers.
Gives clear representation of how “normal” participants can be affected by social roles.
Weakness
Evaluation of Zimardo
Over-exaggeration of external factors and minimisation of internal influences.
One third of prisoners acted brutally to prisoners and others tried to sympathise with them.
More to do with their personalities.
Weakness as environmental factors were said to be main cause.
Should be seen as a partial explanation.
Strength
Evaluation of Zimbardo
Abu Ghraib prison experiment 2003:
Real life example of conformity in social roles.
Iraqi prisoners were subjected to sexual/physical and mental harassment by US military.
US military abused their authority and their power was not questioned as they were deemed as morally correct.
Even though Zimbardos study lacks mundane realism, real life examples suggest that it is a valuable explanantion for conformity.
Weakness: Reicher and Haslam 2006
Evaluation of Zimbardo
Lack of research supporting Zimbardos study.
Reicher and Haslam
Study was replicated using 15 men whose roles were randomly assigned.
Guards did not associate with their status and refused to impose their authority.
Prisoners grouped together and challeneged authority, leading to a shift in power.
Suggests that social roles may not be automatic and are based oon dispositional factors.
What were Zimbardos findings linking to social identity?
Guards associated themselves with the in group which assigned the prisoners to the out group.
Suggests why guards behaviour was more agggressive as they had to fit into the narrative of what a guard stereotypically was to be seen as socially acceptable.
