Zimbardo’s Prison Study (1973): Conformity to Social Roles

Question 1

Procedure summary P1-

Answer 1

• Stanford University basement: mock prison
• Randomly allocated to guards or prisoners
• Prisoners strip searched, blind-folded and given numbers- dehumanisation
• Social roles strictly divided

Question 2

Procedure summary P2-

Answer 2

• Guards took up roles with enthusiasm
• Prisoners played off against each other
  -Prisoners became subdued/depressed after rebellion was put down
• Two prisoners released on fourth day- hunger strike included
• Stopped at 6 days instead of the intended 14

Question 3

Findings-

Answer 3

• Prisoners psychologically harmed:
  Humiliation- Denied toilet access and refused the ability to leave experiment
• Guards became aggressive with their roles

Question 4

Conclusion-

Answer 4

Situation has power to influence people’s behaviour- both guards and prisoners conformed to the roles they were allocated

Question 5

Evaluation:
Demand Characteristics

Answer 5

Weakness
Argued participants were play acting rather than genuinely conforming to a social role

One guard based his behaviour on a film ‘cool hand luke’

Limitation- questions the validity of the findings and whether it reflects conformity to social roles

Question 6

Evaluation:
Demand characteristics counter argument

Answer 6

Study was real to participants- shown through stress experienced throughout the study

Prisoner 416 said he felt it was a real prison but run by psychologists rather than the government

Question 7

Evaluation:
Random Allocation

Answer 7

Strength- well controlled
Roles of guards and prisoners were randomly allocated

Chose participants most stable to minimise the effect of personality differences as an explanation of the findings

Increases validity- that conformity to social roles occurs and can be used as an explanation for guard brutality

Question 8

Evaluation:
Random allocation
Counter argument

Answer 8

Behaviour of the guards varied dramatically

Some demonstrated sadistic behaviour
Others helped the prisoners

Suggests situational factors are not the only cause of conformity to social roles

Personality can play a role- conclusion may have been overstated

Question 9

What was the aim of Zimbardo’s study?

Answer 9

To investigate how people conform to roles they are given- how they would adopt the roles of prisoners and guards