Zimbardo Flashcards
Zimbardo’s dispositional and situational hypothesis
dispositional = the prison brutality and violence was due to the sadistic (inhumane aggression) personalities of the guards and prisoners
situational = the prison brutality and violence was due to the harsh conditions of the prison environment
Zimbardo’s study aim
to see if a persons personality allows them to rise above a negative environment and to see if people would conform to the roles of a guard
Zimbardo’s study method
in the basement of Stanford University where students responded to adverts places in the uni (volunteer sampling) saying they’d play a role for 2 weeks for £15 a day - did a questionnaire to test psychological stability
sample of 21 male students randomly allocated as a guard or prisoner - the prisoners were treated like criminals by being arrested at their own home and taken to the station, blindfolded,
stripped when at the station, fingerprinted and had personal belongings removed
-provided with uniform and referred to as a number - guards were given uniform and glasses to be de-huminized - only went on for 5 days his wife stopped it
Zimbardo’s study results
after a few hours of the experiment guards began to harass the prisoners and behaved brutal and sadistic
-prisoners were insulted, turned against each other and snitched
-the more hostile and submissive the prisoners were, the more aggressive and hostile the guards were
Zimbardo’s study conclusion
the ‘evil’ wasn’t due to students but the situation they were in and good people can do bad things when placed in a brutal environment
Zimbardo’s study weaknesses
-lack of realism, its argued p’s were merely play-acting rather than genuinely conforming - their behaviour was just based on stereotypes of their roles however 90% of the prisoners conversations was about prison life and one expressed their view that the prison was real giving it some internal validity
-Fromm accused Zimbardo of exaggerating situational factors and ignoring dispositional factors such as personality e.g one 1/3 of the guards were brutal another third applied the rules fairly with the last third sympathising with the prisoners which suggests his conclusion may be over-stated and that some could exercise right and wrong choices despite the environment
-ethical issues especially protection from harm, 5 prisoners left early because of their adverse reactions of the physical and mental torment and some guards reported anxiety
Zimbardo’s study strength
control over variables - emotionally stable p’s were randomly allocated to roles as a way of eliminating individual personality differences - increases internal validity
