Psychology, Social influence, Conformity to social roles Zimbardo

What is a social role?

Social roles are ‘a socially defined pattern that is expected of persons who occupy a certain social position or belong to a particular social category’

An example of a social role may be a teacher (knowledge and corrective), doctor (kind and caring), police officer (confident strong minded) or student (hardworking).

How does the conformity idea of identification link to conformity to social roles?

People who need to conform to social roles may publicly conform to become a tough and strong minded police officer but while they aren’t on duty they may be caring and gentle. They adapt to the behaviours of the group which provides a role of social identity. Because they have conformed to these social roles they feel as if they fit the group better.

Why did Zimbardo decide to conduct this study?

- Zimbardo was concerned about the intense aggression within the united states prison system and thought the reason for this aggression was not dispositional (the personality of the guards) but situational.

- The environment of the prison itself and conformity to social roles created by the prison environment.

- He designed the Stanford Prison Experiment (SPE) to explore conformity to social roles in a simulated prison environment.

- The SPE aimed to understand the psychological impacts of situational forces by observing how typical, healthy individuals would conform to assigned social roles of guards (oppressive) and prisoners (submissive)

Zimbardo SPE (1971) Procedure

- An observational study of 24 male students from the US who volunteered to participate in a 7-14 day study, receiving $15 per day. After they had been psychologically assessed to make sure they were mentally stable and healthy to join, participants were randomly assigned to either the role of a prisoner or a guard.

Explain the role of the prisoners in the SPE

The prisoners experienced unexpected arrests at home, were deloused, given prison uniforms and ID numbers, and three prisoners were placed in mock prison cells in the basement of Stanford University. They were given a list of rules to follow and limited rights, such as three meals a day, supervised toilet trips and family visits.

Explain the role of the guards in the SPE

The guards were given uniforms, clubs, whistles and reflective sunglasses to establish authority and were instructed to manage the prison without harming the prisoners. In teams of three, guards worked 8 hour shifts, after which they were allowed to leave the site and go home, unlike the prisoners.

Explain the role of Zimbardo in the SPE

Zimbardo oversaw the experiment in the role of the chief prison superintendent and lead investigator

What were the findings of the SPE?

- Participants quickly lost their personal identities and adapted to their assigned social roles.

- Prisoners after an initial attempt of resistance showed signs of stress, anxiety, passivity and helplessness; some were released early after emotional break downs.

- Guards felt empowered by their uniforms and anonymity provided by sunglasses, displayed sadistic aggression and domineering behaviour. The study was halted after just six days due to ethical concerns raised by the intense reactions.

What did Zimbardo’s research suggest?

It suggested that situational factors, rather than individual personality traits (Dispositional factors), can drive behaviour, as people who were considered ‘normal’ and ‘healthy’ before the experiment engaged in abusive or submissive behaviours as a result of their assigned social roles and the prison environment

What are two strengths of the SPE?

One strength is that the SPE’s initial setup was well controlled, Zimbardo carefully selected participants psychological screenings to ensure they were psychologically healthy enough to participate and had no criminal record. Additionally, the roles of guards and prisoners where randomly allocated. This supports the idea the behaviours shown in the SPE came from social roles and the prison environment itself rather than individual dispositions.

Another strength is that the SPE showed an insight into how social roles can influence behaviour can help to explain incidents of cruelty and abusive in institutional settings.

What are four limitations of the SPE?

One limitation was Reicher and Haslam’s replication of the SPE for the BBC challenged Zimbardo’s conclusions by demonstrating that participants do not inevitable conform to their assigned roles of guards and prisoner. Unlike Zimbardo’s study, where guards became increasingly cruel, Reicher and Haslam found that participants resisted behaviours that conflicted with their identities.

One other limitation was that Zimbardo took on a duel role as the investigator and the prison superintendent. This involvement may have led to experimenter bias. As Zimbardo’s presence may have influenced the participants behaviour.

One last limitation is that participants experienced significant psychological harm, Zimbardo’s decision to continue the experiment despite signs of emotional breakdown and the extreme reactions of both guards and prisoners demonstrated the need for strict ethical controls in psychological experiments, especially those that may put participants in distressing situations.

An extra limitation is that it cannot be generalised to other cultures as it was done with American men and doing it with , for example, Japanese men would be very different outcome as they have different behaviours then Americans. This study was also gender bias as there was just men involved, if Zimbardo did it with just woman or had a split ratio of men and women the results would of been very different as men are biologically more aggressive then women which may explain the harsh treatment of prisoners by guards.