Zimbardo's experiment

Question 1

what type of conformity did zimbardo focus on and why

Answer 1

identification - are they changing their behaviour to fit into their assigned roles

Question 2

what was the type of sampling used for zimbardo’s experiment

Answer 2

volunteer

Question 3

what was the aim of Asch’s investigation

Answer 3

to investigate whether the brutality reported among American prison guards was due to the guard’s sadistic personalities (dispositional) or the prison environment (situational)

Question 4

how do we know it was a controlled ppts observation

Answer 4

it was an artificial prison setting which Zimbardo took part in

Question 5

how were ppts assigned to the roles of prisoner or guard, and why

Answer 5

random allocation - rules out experimental bias and ppt variables

Question 6

what were ppts assessed for prior to the study and why

Answer 6

any psychological abnormalities to show a clear cause and effect

Question 7

3 ways that zimbardo’s experiment was done to make it as realistic as possible for prisoners

Answer 7

• dehumanisation (guards had sticks and sunglasses)
• prisoners were only addressed by numbers
• prisoners were arrested outside their homes

Question 8

what details proves that the guards conformed to their roles

Answer 8

• degraded prisoners by shouting, insulting, and dehumanising them
• woke prisoners in the night
• made prisoners clean toilets with their bare hands (guard’s idea)

Question 9

what details proves that the prisoners conformed to their roles

Answer 9

• 416 ‘became his number’
• followed the orders
• felt helpless and unable to leave

Question 10

did Zimbardo’s experiment have informed consent

Answer 10

yes and no:
the ppts volunteered to take part, however, they did not know the real aim, and did not know that they were going to be arrested

Question 11

did Zimbardo’s experiment have a debrief

Answer 11

yes - this is ethical because he checked that ppts were ok and left in the same state they came in

Question 12

did Zimbardo’s experiment have the right to withdraw

Answer 12

yes, but ppts did not know. some prisoners did leave, but others were confused (prisoner 8612)

Question 13

did Zimbardo’s experiment have harm

Answer 13

yes, but no physical abuse; the prisoners faced emotional abuse due to being dehumanised, and faced higher levels of distress than everyday life, so they left worse than they started