Zimbardo & Conformity to social roles Flashcards
What is a strength of Zimbardo’s research?
It has high control over extraneous variables
What is an example of high control over extraneous variables?
Researchers assessed the emotional stability of the participants prior to the experiment and randomly assigned them the role of prisoner and guard
What did random allocation allow Zimbardo to do?
Allowed him to accurately measure the power of social role on levels of conformity rather than it being affected by individual personal differences - increasing the internal validity
What is the discussion surrounding high control in Zimbardo’s research?
He may have exaggerated the power of socials roles to influence behaviour - e.g 1/3 of guards were brutal, 1/3 tried to apply the rules fairly and 1/3 actively tried to help and support prisoners - minimising other factors such as personality
What bias can Zimbardo’s research be criticised for?
Gender bias as he used an androcentric sample
Why is gender bias a weakness?
It is difficult to generalise the findings that people conform to their social roles to women as it could be argued that the role of a guard is violent, where females would not conform as much due to stereotypically being more caring and concerned for others - reducing external val
What is the discussion surrounding gender bias?
Zimbardo was interested in explaining brutality in American prison systems, in which the majority of guards were male potentially explaining his choice
What is a weakness of Zimbardo’s research?
There are major ethical issues
Why are there major ethical issues?
There was a lack of informed consent as the prisoners did not consent to being arrested at their homes and were only told they were taking part in an experiment investigating prison life and they were not protected from harm as some showed signs of psychological disturbance
What do the ethical issues reduce?
They reduce the credibility of Zimbardo’s research
What is the discussion surrounding the ethical issues?
Zimbardo carried out extensive debriefing sessions with the participants for several years afterwards and concluded that there were no long lasting negative effects. Also, the benefits to our understanding of social roles outweighs the minor cost of ethical issues as it has been used to improve training for armed forces and prison environments.
What is a criticism of Zimbardo’s research?
It is prone to demand characteristics
Why is it prone to demand characterisitics?
Zimbardo took on the role of superintendent meaning he could have influenced how the ppts acted e.g conforming to a role as they believed that’s what Zimbardo wanted - they were also paid, lowering the internal val
