conformity to social roles - ZIMBARDO

what was the Stanford prison experiment?

mock prison set up at Stanford University by Zimbardo

what roles were the students assigned to?

male students were randomly assigned to play the role of ‘prisoner’ or ‘guard’

how were the prisoners identified?

prisoners wore smocks and were given ID numbers, which they were referred to as for the duration of the study

how were the guards identified?

guards were given uniforms, clubs and whistles and wore reflective sunglasses.

how long was the experiment meant to last?

two weeks

what did the guards do during the experiment?

the guards grew increasingly tyrannical and abusive towards the prisoners and made them carry out various degrading activities

did the ppts conform to their roles?

despite the fact this was a study, prisoners and guards conformed to their roles, even when they were unaware of being watched.

how long did the study actually last?

five prisoners were released early because of their extreme reactions and the study was ended after six days following the intervention of Christina Maslach.

who conducted the BBC prison study?

Reicher and Haslam (2006)

what was the procedure of the BBC prison study?

male participants were randomly assigned to roles of guard or prisoner in a mock ‘prison’

how were the ppts divided during The BBC prison study?

participants were divided into groups of three, with each person closely matched with the other twi. One was assigned the role of guard, the other two prisoners.

did the ppts conform to their assigned roles during The BBC prison study?

ppts did not conform to their assigned roles. prisoners worked collectively to challenge the authority of the guards.

why did the ppts not conform to their assigned roles?

guards were reluctant to impose their authority on the prisoners, which led to a collapse of the prisoner-guard system.

ao3 - lack of realism

* Mohavedi at el argued that participants were role-playing rather than genuinely conforming to roles. their performances were based on stereotypes of how guards and prisoners are supposed to behave.
* eg - one guard claimed he based his role on a violent character in Cool Hand Luke.
* however, Zimbardo collected qualitative data that showed that 90% of conversations were about prison life which suggests that the situation was real for the participants, adding internal validity.

ao3 - ethical issues?

* psychological and physical harm done to the participants
* Zimbardo acted as a superintendent of the prison rather than a researcher with responsibility when a prisoner asked to leave.

ao3 - dispositional factors?

* argued that Zimbardo exaggerated power of situation and minimised dis-positional factors (participant's personalities).
* eg- only 1/3 of guards were actually brutal, the rest tried to help the prisoners.
* suggests that Zimbardo's conclusions were overstated.

ao3 - lack of research support?

The BBC Prison Study - social identity theory is used to explain this as the guards failed to develop a shared identity as a group but the prisoners did.