Studied by 0 people
Looks like no one added any tags here yet for you.
What are social roles?
Expectations of how certain members are supposed to act in a social group.
Zimbardo's Stanford Prison Experiment procedure
- 21 men
- screened for criminal records and substance abuse
- arrested and put through the same procedures as real prisoners
- randomly assigned to be guard or prisoner
- given uniforms
Zimbardo's findings
- Guards acted enthusiastically, treating prisoners harshly
- Prisoners rebelled
- Guards reminded prisoners who were in charge - headcounts, punishments
- Prisoners became subdued and anxious
- Some left early
- Experiment ended early after 6 days (instead of 14)
Conclusions
- Participants assumed their social roles
- Social roles influence behaviour.
Strengths
- Randomly assigned roles
- Lab experiment
- McDermott claimed participants actually believed the prison was real
-screened for drug abuse and criminal record - no confounding variables
Limitations
- Lacked realism - participants knew it was not a real prison
- Some argued participants were acting on stereotypes not roles
- Exaggerated findings - only 1/3 of guards behaved brutally
Note 
Flashcard (59)