In Zimbardo’s experiments, men who were mentally and physically fit were chosen for his study. The role of either being a guard or prisoner was done by the flick of a coin (random allocation), however, the participants were unbeknownst to the role they were given.

Fundamental Attribution Error: Assuming bad character if there is bad behaviour.

→ Instead, it is often the social situation that is causing the bad behaviour

Found in:

• Shelters for abused women

• Militaru

• Abu Ghraib prison in America

What can we learn from Zimbardo’s experiment

From Zimbardo’s experiments, it was found that it is not only dispositional factors that affect someone’s behaviour but it was also situational. Zimbardo’s experiment has found to have parallels between the Abu Ghraib Prison in the Unites States, where behaviour from the guards yp prisoner

The value of Zimbardo’s experiment was that we should not only focus on the dispositional factors of a person in regards to their attitude and behaviour, but also on the situational aspects of what the person is the way.

How can knowing that situational factors affect someones behaviour and attitude more than dispositional factors?

Explain why, in Zimbardo’s prison experiment, as the guards assumed their roles and began the behaviour of mistreating prisoners, their attitude towards their prisoners changed:

• This is due to the self-perception theory where once you notice your behaviour, you change your attitude to fit. When the prisoners noticed the power that they held, they abused their role and abused the prisoners

• Because they had a negative behaviour towards the prisoners due to the full immersion of role-playing within the task, they started to feel disgust and hatred towards their prisoners

  Some prisoners first rebelled but with no real control, became submissive and depressed (they were assuming their role as prisoners)