Conformity to Social Roles- Zimbardo's Stanford Prison Experiment

social roles

the ‘parts’ people play as members of various social groups. eg you will behave differently at work to when you are around your family or friends.

what was the aim of Zimbardo’s study?

to attempt to explain the violent and brutal conditions often found in prisons.

what was the dispositional hypothesis of the study?

guards and prisoners are “bad seeds”- the conditions of prisons are down to the nature of the people within them.

what was the situational hypothesis of the study?

the brutality is due to the enviromental conditions of prisons, eg it being crampedor unsanitary.

who were the participants?

male students who were paid $15 per day. study was expected to last 1-2 weeks. applicants with any criminal record, history of narcotic abuse or any kind of disability were not allowed to participate.

what was the mock prison like?

3 prisoners per cell, cells and prison gown numbered. prisoners to be reffered to only by their gown number, blindfolded when taken to the toilet and not given any underwear.

procedures for prisoners

prisoners “arrested” at their homes (they weren't informed that this was going to happen to them), they were made to do headcounts at 2:30AM, were made to do things like pushups when they did things wrong.

procedures for guards

guards were told to “keep the prisoners in line” and they could do this however they wanted as long as no physical harm was inflicted.Many of the guards chose to wear mirrored sunglasses (a form of de-identification) and worked 8 hour shifts.

what were the guards found to do?

began to humiliate and punish the prisoners, they became increasingly aggressive, some guards played “good” and “bad” roles, “bad” guards occasionally requested to work extra shifts although they had nothing to gain from this

what were the prisoners found to do?

initially decided to riot, they showed sign of mental and emotional distress. 1 had to be released within the first 36 hours and 3 more were released over the coming days, they showed sign of deindividuation by referring to themselves and their gown numbers rather than their actual names.

how long did the study last? why did it have to end early?

6 days. It ended early due to the harm it was having on the prisoners and the increasingly aggressive nature of the guards. Participants were later shocked to reflect upon how they conducted themselves during the study.

which hypothesis did the study support?

the situational hypothesis because the environment induced this uncharacteristic behavior from the participants

EVALUATION- control over the study 👍🏽

had control over the selection of participants by ensuring emotionally stable individuals were chosen and randomly assigned to the roles which increases the internal validity of the study.

EVALUATION- lack of realsim 👎🏽

Mohavedi and Banuazizi (1975) argued the participants were merely playing along and conforming to a role. Can be argued that they were displaying demand characteristics as their performances were based on stereotypes of how prisoners and guards are supposed to behave.

EVALUATION- role of dispositional influences 👎🏽

Fromm (1973) argues that Zimbardo exaggerates the power of the situation to influence behaviour and minimises the role of personality (dispositional influences) only 1/3 of the guards behaved in a brutal manner proving that people are still able to exercise right and wrong choices, despite situational pressures to conform to a role.