zimbardo's study - conformity to social roles Flashcards
what type of participants were used in zimbardo’s study?
24 US male undergraduate volunteers
what was the aim of zimbardo’s study?
to investigate how readily people would conform to the social roles in
a simulated environment (and why good people do bad things)
describe the procedure of this study.
- 24 students were randomly assigned either role of prisoner or guard.
- zimbardo took role of the prison superintendent.
- he used a mock prison set up in basement of Stanford University.
- prisoners were given uniform, ID number and some rights (meals)
- guards were given uniforms, clubs, whistles, reflective sunglasses.
describe the findings of this study.
- both guards and prisoners conformed to social roles e.g guards forced prisoners to carry out degrading tasks and prisoners did as they were told (even when unaware of being watched - still conformed)
- shows that their roles affect behaviour and behaviour is influenced by identity loss (guards became increasingly cruel and prisoners increasingly passive)
what are the strengths of this study?
contribution to prison policy - it altered the way US prisons are run
(in a good way).
debriefing - participants were fully debriefed about the aims and results of the study.
what are the limitations of this study?
demand characteristics - behaviour of participants may have been a consequence of demand characteristics rather than conformity to roles.
ethical issues - protection from harm.
lacks ecological validity - in attempt to stimulate a real prison environment.
conformity to roles is not automatic - Haslam and Reicher said that guard behaviour varied from being fully sadistic to being good guards - shows they chose how to behave rather than blindly conforming to their social role.
