zimbardo (RIP)

Question 1

what type of experiment is zimbardos SPE

Answer 1

controlled observation

Question 2

how many participants were involved in the SPE

Answer 2

24 male student volunteers

Question 3

how were the participants assessed before the study

Answer 3

check they were physically and mentally healthy

Question 4

how were the participants assigned prisoner or guard

Answer 4

randomly

Question 5

what happened to the prisoners before the experiment had started

Answer 5

they were unexpectedly arrested at their homes

Question 6

how did the guards refer to the prisoners

Answer 6

by their numbers

Question 7

what were the guards given

Answer 7

uniforms, clubs, whistles and reflective sunglasses

Question 8

why were the guards given reflective sunglasses

Answer 8

to prevent eye contact

Question 9

how long was the study supposed to last

Answer 9

14 days

Question 10

how long did the study actually last

Answer 10

6 days

Question 11

what was zimbardos role in the SPE

Answer 11

superintendent

Question 12

how were the guards told to run the prison

Answer 12

with no physical harm

Question 13

what happened over the first few days of the SPE

Answer 13

guards grew increasingly tyrannical + abusive towards prisoners

Question 14

what examples of behaviours did the guards show

Answer 14

• woke prisoners up in the night
• made them clean their toilet with their hands

Question 15

how many prisoners had to be released early

Answer 15

5 prisoners due to extreme emotions

Question 16

how did they act even when no one was watching

Answer 16

still conformed to the roles of prisoner and guard

Question 17

how were the guards described as being

Answer 17

increasingly cruel and sadistic

Question 18

how were the prisoners described as being

Answer 18

passive and submissive

Question 19

why can the SPE be criticised for being unrealistic

Answer 19

powerful demand characteristics

Question 20

what do banuazizi and mohavedi suggest about the behaviour of the guards

Answer 20

the guard’s performance was based on stereotypes of how they should have acted according to the demands of the experimental situation

Question 21

how did they test the powerful demand characteristics of the study

Answer 21

showed the study to students who had not heard of the research and the majority correctly guessed the aim of the study. also, one guard admitted he modelled his behaviour on his favourite film, cool hand luke

Question 22

what is the problem with demand characteristics

Answer 22

may have affected the way the prisoners and guards acted
rather than the role they were assigned which challenges the internal validity of the results

Question 22

how did zimbardo counteract the idea of demand characteristics

Answer 22

he suggested that 90% of the prisoner’s conversations were about prison life, with prisoner 416 stating it was a real prison run by
psychologists rather than the government

Question 23

why is zimbardo criticised for ignoring dispositional factors

Answer 23

overexaggerating the power of the situation

Question 24

why do researchers argue zimbardo overemphasises situational factors

Answer 24

this is because only a minority of guards (1/3) behaved in a brutal way, another 1/3 were ‘fair’ in applying the rules and 1/3 were overly helpful, even offering them cigarettes

Question 25

why is it therefore important to consider personality factors

Answer 25

individual differences in the extent the participants conformed to a
social role and that the power of the situation is not a complete explanation. if it was, then all of the guards would have acted similarly as they all had a shared environment. it is therefore important to consider personality factors when generalising the findings from the Stanford Prison study to other populations

Question 26

how does the SPE have real life applications?

Answer 26

can help explain behaviour in prisons and wars

Question 27

what is an example of how the SPE has good real life application?

Answer 27

Abu Ghraib Prison

Question 28

what is abu ghraib and what happened there?

Answer 28

one of the most notorious prisons in Iraq during the government of Saddam Hussein.

when the US Army took over in 2003, they tortured, physically and sexually abused, and even murdered some prisoners.

Question 29

how does the SPE explain the events of abu ghraib?

Answer 29

zimbardo argued that the guards who committed the abuse and murder were victims of the situational factors rather than them being inherently evil.

he describes the situation as a ‘bad barrel’ rather than the soldiers as ‘bad apples’.

Question 30

what situational factors were the guards at abu ghraib prison subject to?

Answer 30

lack of training
boredom
no accountability to higher authority

Question 31

why can the SPE therefore be used for real world application?

Answer 31

the findings of the study have been very useful in helping to understand the factors which
make humans act in ‘evil’ ways.

the research also helped the shape the USA prison reforms in
the 1970s.

Question 32

what is a problem with the reliability of the SPE

Answer 32

contradictory findings

Question 33

who replicated the SPE

Answer 33

reicher and haslam

Question 34

what did reicher and haslam find

Answer 34

contrastingly, this time it was the prisoners that took control in the mock prison and subjected the guards to harassment.

Question 35

how do reicher and haslam explain their findings

Answer 35

the researchers used Social Identity Theory (SIT) to explain the behaviour, which argues that
our self-identity is based on membership within social groups.

Question 36

how does social identity theory explain the findings in reicher and haslams study

Answer 36

they suggested that the guards
failed to develop a shared social identity, unlike the prisoners and it was this identity that
encouraged them to refuse to accept the limits of their role as prisoner.

Question 37

what does reicher and haslams study mean for the SPE?

Answer 37

this contradictory finding challenges Zimbardo’s conclusion of the Stanford Prison study as the findings of The BBC Prison Study does not suggest that the situation makes people conform the social roles.

Question 38

what is a major problem with the SPE

Answer 38

ethics

Question 39

why was the SPE criticised for questionable ethics?

Answer 39

lack of protection from harm

Question 40

how is a lack of protection from harm shown in the SPE

Answer 40

guards woke prisoners up in the middle of the night and made them clean toilets with their bare hands.

one prisoner also asked to leave the study “on parole” and Zimbardo who had the dual role of the Prison Superintendent refused his request.

Question 41

how did zimbardo overcome the distress of his study

Answer 41

Zimbardo did fully debrief all participants for several years later and claimed there was no long-lasting damage

Question 42

why can we take a cost-benefit approach regarding the ethics of the SPE?

Answer 42

the lack of ethics does not diminish the validity of the findings

the study did have a long-term positive effect in Psychology as it was due to this study and
Milgram’s shock experiment that led to the development of the Ethical Guidelines which are
still used today.