zimbardo’s research Flashcards
Aim
To investigate whether people would conform to the social roles of guard or prisoner and whether the behaviour displayed in prisons is due to internal dispositional factors or external situational factors
Type of investigation
Controlled observation under a lab setting, however Zimbardo argued that he conducted the lab experiment with the variables IV= prisoner or guard DV= conformity
Sampling technique
Volunteer sampling through a newspaper ad offering $15 a day for two weeks
Participants
24 American male undergraduates
Procedure
– Mock prison set up in basement of Stanford University
– randomly allocated to either guard or prisoner
- guards given props like uniforms and sunglasses to remain anonymous.
– prisoners were unexpectedly arrested from their homes and were transported to the prison where they were stripped and given a number by which they were known throughout the study.
– study was to last 14 days
– Zimbardo took the role of superintendent
Findings
– Identification occurred almost immediately and guards began to humiliate the prisoners and made them carry out degrading acts.
– the prisoners were submissive and showed signs of mental distress.n
– study cancelled after six days
Conclusion
Situation caused normal men to become either abusive or submissive according to the role that they was assigned. One3 of the gods showed sadistic behaviour which showed the roles had the power to change people.
Grave evaluation
G – male sample can’t be generalised
R – contradictory research suggests lack of reliability.
A – lack of realism
V – Zimbardo had control over variables
E – ethical issues
Strength – REAL LIFE APPLICATION
P – real world application of improving the US prison system
E – beneficial reforms in the way some prisoners are treated for example juvenile detainees
C – however Zimbardo considers his research have been a failure in meeting this overall objective since prison conditions in America have gotten arguably worse
Limitation – ETHICAL GUIDELINES
P – breached many ethical guidelines
E – five prisoners left the experiment early due to the physical and mental torment showing that they were protected from harm. Some guards also reported feelings of guilt and anxiety due to their actions. Deception due to prisoners being arrested from their homes without their knowledge.
C – Zimbardo responded to participants as a superintendent rather than a researcher so this dual role meant serious ethical issues arose
Limitation– LACK POPULATION VALIDITY
P – only male participants
E – current generalise the results to other populations like females
I&D - beta bias
C – lacks population validity as further research is needed to show whether females would conform to social roles
Limitation – LACK OF REALISM
P – argued that participants were play acting rather than conforming
E – the performances are said to be based on stereotypes of how prisoners and gods are supposed to behave.
C – Zimbardo pointed to evidence of the situation was real to participants and expressed the prison was real but run by psychologists instead of the government
What year was Zimbardo‘s study?
1973
