Zimbardo

Question 1

Zimbardo’s dispositional and situational hypothesis

Answer 1

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

Question 2

Zimbardo’s study aim

Answer 2

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

Question 3

Zimbardo’s study method

Answer 3

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

Question 4

Zimbardo’s study results

Answer 4

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

Question 5

Zimbardo’s study conclusion

Answer 5

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

Question 6

Zimbardo’s study weaknesses

Answer 6

-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

Question 7

Zimbardo’s study strength

Answer 7

control over variables - emotionally stable p’s were randomly allocated to roles as a way of eliminating individual personality differences - increases internal validity