zimbardo standford prison experiment

Question 1

aim

Answer 1

to investigate the extent to which people would conform to the conform to the roles or a guard/prisoner in a role playing exercise that stimulated prison life

Question 2

method

Answer 2

used 24 male participants
set up mock prison in basement of psychology department at Stanford Uni

they advertised for students willing to volunteer and selected those deemed to be emotionally stable

randomly assigned roles either guard or prisoners

to increase realism of study, arrested people in homes

they were then blindfolded, strip searched and numbered

Question 3

findings

Answer 3

guards took their role with enthusiasm

became a threat to prisoners psychological and physical health

study finished in 6 days instead of intended 14

prisoners rebelled against guards in day 2

Question 4

conclusion

Answer 4

stimulation revealed power of situation to influence peoples behaviour

guards, prisoners, researchers all conformed to their roles within prison

roles were very easily taken on by the ppts

Question 5

weakness-ethical issues

Answer 5

Zimbardo’s experiment has been heavily criticised for breaking many ethical guidelines

Question 6

weakness-role of dispositional factors

Answer 6

Fromm accused Zimbardo of exaggerating the power of the situation to influence behaviour and minimise role or personality

Question 7

weakness-lack of research support

Answer 7

Reicher and Haslam contradicts findings of Zimbardo. Replicated Zimbardo’s research by randomly assigning 15 men to roles

Question 8

strength-control

Answer 8

control his variables for instance able to control the selection of ppts