Zimbardo - Confrmity To Social Roles Flashcards
What are social roles? (2 marks)
Parts people play as members of social groups e.g. teachers and students. Accompanied by expectations that we and others have of appropriate behaviour in each role. Expectations are internalised so they shape behaviour
Why did Zimbardo conduct his study?
To know why prison guards behaved brutally - sadistic personality or social roles causing behaviour?
Aim?
To investigate how freely people conform to social roles of guard and prisoner in a role playing exercise recreating prison life.
Sample?
Volunteer sample, 24 ‘emotionally stable’ US male university students
How were ppts split?
10 guards
14 prisoners
How were volunteers allocated
Randomly
What happened to prisoners?
Arrested at homes, given smock uniform, searched, deloused, referred to as a number
What happened to guards?
Given uniforms, ‘night stick’, mirrored sunglasses. Told to keep prisoners under control but not use violence
What did the uniforms create?
Loss of personality, encouraging ppts to conform to their social role
Where was converted into a mock prison
Basement of psychology department at Stanford
What were prisoners given in terms of routine?
Shift and meal times, visiting times, a parole and disciplinary board and prison chaplain
What role did Zimbardo take on?
Prison superintendent
If a prisoner wanted to leave what did they have to do?
Go through a parole meeting
Within a day…
Prisoners rebelled and ripped of their numbers, guards responded locking them in cells and taking away blankets
Punishments of the guards escalated and prisoners were
Humiliated and deprived of sleep by guards conducting head counts
What was noticeable by the prisoners referring to each other by their numbers instead of their names?
Identification
The prisoners became rapidly subdued, some showed signs of
Stress related reactions
How many prisoners were released due to signs of psychological disturbance?
3
The role play was intended to run for how long but only lasted how long?
2 weeks, six days
Guards, prisoners and researchers confirmed to what?
Their social role within the prison
Social roles have an extraordinary power over individuals, making even the most well adjusted
Capable of brutality towards others
Zimbardo is prone to…
Demand characteristics
Why is Zimbardo prone to demand characteristics? WHOLE PEEL
Took on the role of superintendent himself.
Could influence how ppts acted, conforming as they believe that’s what the aim was instead if actually conforming to their social role due to environment.
ALSO they were paid, acting as an incentive.
Lowers internal validity
Why were there ethical issues in Zimbardo’s research? What is the counter argument?
Lack of informed consent - didn’t know they would be arrested at homes
Lack of right to withdraw - parole process
No protection from harm - signs of psychological disturbance
COUNTER; spoke to ppts years after and there were no long lasting negative effects.
Why does Zimbardo have practical apps?
Soldiers in Abu Ghraib military prison in iraq, similar to Zimbardo’s findings, prisoners tortured, humiliated and physically abused.
Helps develop prevention programmes to train prisons.
Important part of applied psychology
What bias does Zimbardo’s research have? COUNTER?
Gender bias
All male sample
Cant generalise to women, role of guard is violent so women less likely to conform due to nurturing and caring personality.
COUNTER: interested in explaining brutality in American prisons where most guards are male
