Zimbardo's Research

Question 1

what was the aim of Zimbardo’s research?

Answer 1

the extent to which ordinary students conformed to the roles of prison guards and prisoners (social roles)

Question 2

where was the mock prison set up in?

Answer 2

Stanford University

Question 3

how many ppts are in Zimbardo’s research?

Answer 3

24 of the most stable male volunteers (signed up from an advert)

Question 4

how were the ppts allocated to either prisoner or guard?

Answer 4

random allocation

Question 5

how much were ppts paid?

Answer 5

$15 per day

Question 6

what was Zimbardo’s role in the experiment?

Answer 6

prison superintendent

Question 7

what was the role of the prisoners?

Answer 7

• referred to by their numbers
• follow rules

Question 8

what was the role of the guards?

Answer 8

• enforce the rules

Question 9

what happened on day 1 in ZImbardo’s research?

Answer 9

one prisoner was released by choice

Question 10

what happened on day 2 in ZImbardo’s research?

Answer 10

• prisoners rebelled and the guards would retaliate with harsher treatments
• prisoners became subdued, depressed and anxious

Question 11

what happened on day 4 in ZImbardo’s research?

Answer 11

• 2 prisoners leave
• 1 prisoner begins a hunger strike, the guards attempted to force feed him and he was put in a hole. This prisoner was shunned by other prisoners

Question 12

what happened on day 6 in ZImbardo’s research?

Answer 12

research was stopped (it was meant to be 14 days)

Question 13

what is the conclusion of Zimbardo’s research?

Answer 13

• simulation revealed the power of situation to influence people’s behaviour
• guards, prisoners and even Zimbardo conformed to their social roles

Question 14

what type of experiment was Zimbardo’s experiment?

Answer 14

field experiment

Question 15

how were the participants of Zimbardo’s experiment chosen?

Answer 15

• an advert was placed in the newspaper asking for male volunteers and Zimbardo psychologically evaluated these volunteers

Question 16

how was the start of the experiment?

Answer 16

• there was a slow start to the experiment but the guards became increasingly tyrannical in response to the prisoners misbehaviours

Question 17

what is a weakness of Zimbardo’s research(R)?

Answer 17

• lacks realism to a true prison
• Banuazizi and Movahedi argued ppts were merely play-acting rather than actually conforming to their social roles
• ppts performance = based on stereotypes of how prisoners and guards are supposed to behave
• e.g. one guard had said that they based their role on a brutal character from Cool Hand Luke, which explains why the prisoners rioted because that’s why real prisoners would have done
• findings tell us little about conformity to social roles in real prisons

Question 18

what is a strength of Zimbardo’s research(C)?

Answer 18

• Z and colleagues had control over key variable
• e.g selection of ppts (emotionally stable and they were randomly allocated to role of prisoner or guard)
• one way that researchers ruled out individual personality differences as an explanation of findings
• if guards and prisoners behaved very differently, their behaviour must be due to the role
• control over variables, increases internal validity of study, we can be much more confident in drawing conclusions about influence of social roles on conformity

Question 19

what is a weakness of Zimbardo’s research(E)?

Answer 19

deemed as unethical

Question 20

what is a weakness of Zimbardo’s research?

Answer 20

• may have exaggerated the power of social roles in influencing behaviour(Fromm)
• only 1/3 of guards actually behaved in brutal manner
• 1/3 tried to apply rules fairly
• rest actively tried to help and support prisoners, offered them cigs, sympathised and reinstated privileges
• most guards were able to resist the situational privileges to conform to brutal role
  -minimised influence of dispositional factors