Zimbardo (Conformity) Booklet 9

Define social roles

• The “parts” people play as members of various social groups.

• These are accompanied by expectations we and others have of what appropriate behaviour is in each role.

Provide information about the participants in Zimbardo’s study:

• How many participants?

• How were they assigned to their roles?

• How were they chosen for the study? Why?

• 24 male students

• randomly assigned as guard or prisoner

• The most emotionally stable (would cope best in mock prison)

Briefly outline the procedure of Zimbardo’s study

• Mock prison set up in basement of Stanford Prison Psychology department

• 24 male participants were randomly assigned to guard or prisoner

• Social roles enforced through uniform: prisoners given caps, chains and numbers, and guards given baton, mirrored sunglasses and handcuffs

• Was supposed to last 14 days

• Zimbardo observed the extent to which participants conformed to social roles

What were the two main methods used to encourage conformity towards social roles?

Define de-individuation

• Deindividuation is a state in which you become so immersed in the norms of the group that you lose your sense of identity and personal responsibility.

• An individual relinquishes individual responsibility for actions and sees behavior as a consequence of group norms and expectations.

What happened initially on the first two days of the study (both from prisoners and guards)?

Guards: enthusiastically took up social roles and treated prisoners harshly. Highlighted differences in social roles by giving punishments.

Prisoners: rebelled by ripping off uniforms, shouting and swearing

What happened after the rebellion was squashed?

Why did the study have to end early?

What conclusions did Zimbardo make about conformity to social roles?

What were the ethical issues present in this study? Why is this a limitation of Zimbardo’s research?

What happened in Abu Ghraib? How did this support the findings of Zimbardo and what are the potential implications?

What research did Jean Orlando conduct? How does this support Zimbardo’s findings?

What research did Jean Orlando conduct? How does this support Zimbardo’s findings?

How may Zimbardo have overexaggerated his findings? What are the implications of this for his explanation of conformity to social roles?

How did Zimbardo’s study have good internal validity? Why is this a strength of his explanation?