Zimbardos research into conformity to social roles Flashcards
define social roles
the ‘parts’ we play as members of social groups. We have expectations about what appropriate behavior is for each role
provide info about the ppt in Zimbardo study
-How many
-How were they assigned
-How were they chosen, and why?
-24 male students selected
-they were randomly assigned to either prisoner or guard
-ppt recruited using an advert and selected via questionnaire to see if they were psychologically healthy
What is the aim of Zimbardo’s research?
To find out if the reasons for brutal prison guards’ behavior was due to them conforming to a social role or if they naturally had sadistic personalities
Outline the procedure of Zimbardos study
-Mock prison set up in the basement of Stanford prison psych department
-prisoners arrested from home to make study more realistic
-social roles enforced through uniforms. prisoners are given smocks, caps, ankle chains and a number as an identifier to de-individuate prisoners (loss of identity)
Guards are given baton, handcuffs and mirrored sunglasses to de identify
-Zimbardo observed the extent to which ppt conformed to social roles
What were the two main methods used to encourage conformity towards social roles?
uniforms
instructions about behavior- ppt encouraged to act the way their role would expect them to
define de-individuation
loss of personal identity
(mirrored sunglasses and numbers)
What were the results of Zimbardo’s study? (4)
-guards enthusiastically took up social roles, treated prisoners harshly, and used divide-and-rule tactics. Also highlighted differences in social roles by giving punishments
-prisoners rebelled first 2 days ripping uniforms and shouting
-after the rebellion shut down prisoners became depressed and showed psychological disturbance. 3 prisoners were released due to breakdowns, one went on hunger strike
-the study ended after 6 days instead of 14 when Zimbardo finally realized it was wrong as he played the role of warden and he also conformed to his social role and didnt realise
What conclusions did Zimbardo make about conformity to social roles?
That conformity to social roles was very high and taken on very easily.
Even prison Chaplain conformed to social roles.
This supported the abuse prison guards subjected prisoners to in Abu Gharib- they were conforming to the same social roles
What were the 2 strengths of Zimbardo’s study?
-High internal validity
-High external validity
Explain how Zimbardo’s study had high internal validity
why is this a strength?
in para say…Although study has high ex val, also has high int val
-Zimbardo selected ppt with high levels of control as they were deemed as emotionally stable through testing
-Ppt were randomly assigned to the role of guard or prisoner which rules out the extraneous variable of individual differences therefore it didn’t influence the results
- strength because we can be confident in drawing conclusions about behavior from the study as individual differences are very unlikrely change outcome of study
How did Zimbardo’s study have high external validity?
why is this a strength?
(jean)
Jean Orlando selected staff at a psychiatric ward to play the role of their patients. After 2 days several of them experienced psychological disturbance and became anxious like their real patients.
This gives his study high external validity as similar effects were observed in Zimbardo’s study
strength because we can generalise the results to real life and findings can be used in real situations
What could be a potential counterbalance to Zimbardo’s study having high external validity?
why is this a limitation?
PPT knew they were in an experiment, one based behavior of a character from a film so shows PPT may have been playing out a stereotype and not conforming to social roles
PPT may have guessed the aim and behaved accordingly eg. I’m a guard so I need to be brutal
limitation because if PPTs are playing out expected roles then it lowers the validity so we cannot draw any conclusions from this
Explain how Zimbardos study has ethical issues?
why is this a limitation?
informed consent- didn’t cover all aspects like arrests at night
protection from harm- zimbardo encourages guards to be cruel prior to study and prisoners suffer physically and psychologically
limitation because may damage psychology’s reputation as very few people will want to take part in future research
