Zimbardo's prison experiment Flashcards
What did zimbardo want to test?
Whether a situation can make a person evil
Were was the prison set up?
Stanford university
How were participant chosen?
They were advatised for then given psychological testing then split randomly into two groups
What happened to the prisoners for the to be introduced to the study?
They were arrested from their homes by the local police, transported then deloused, strip searched and issued with a uniform and number
How were gaurds introduced to the study?
Given a uniform, wooden clubs, keys, mirrored shades and rules to enforce
How many days did the experiment last
6/14
How did the gaurds act?
1/3 brutal
1/3 indifferent
1/3 helped prisoners
How did prisoners act?
At first they rebelled then. Exams subdued when continually hardware by gaurds, one prisoner went on hunger strike
What conclusion did zimbardo draw?
The situation can include a person’s behaviour causing them to commit evil acts
Why do Banyazizi and Monavedi argue the experiment lacks mundane realism?
Some of the gaurds reported they based their actions of movie ‘cool hand luke’
What happened in the BBC prison study replication?
Prisoners took control of the prison so the findings were very different to zimbardo’s
What were the major ethical issues?
Right to withdraw and protection from harm
Can we genralise the findings
No and it only uses young American make students
Yes as the majority of prisoners are young men
