Conformity to social roles
- Created by: jessicawarren
- Created on: 29-04-16 08:48
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- Conformity to social roles
- What?
- Don't just conform to particular group situation, but a particular role
- Copy people performing role/to expectations of what people are likely to do
- The Stanford Prison Experiment
- US Navy/US Marines wanted to investigate cause of conflict between guards/ prisoners
- Previous explanations used dispositional attribution: Condition of prisons due to nature of guards/prisoners
- Zimbardo argued the situation is cause of behaviour rather than disposition
- Aim 1: Show how taking on social roles would lead to excessive conformity to the role
- Aim 2: Test dispositional hypothesis
- Guards not told to behave except they were not allowed to use physical punishment/aggression
- Guards wore uniforms to help with identification
- Prisoners humiliated- searched, stripped, deloused
- Findings
- Guards behaviour became a threat to prisoners psychological/physical health
- Study stopped after 6 days
- Within 2 days, prisoners rebelled against harsh treatments- ripped guards uniforms, shouted/ swore at them, guards retaliated w/ fire extinguishers
- Guards played prisoners against one another, conducted frequent headcounts, punished smallest things
- After rebellion, prisoners became subdued, depressed, anxious. Some released due to psychological disturbance.
- Power of situation to influence peoples behaviour. Guards, prisoners, researchers all conformed to roles within prison
- Evaluation
- Control over variables- emotionally stable participants chosen, randomly assigned roles. More valid
- Lack of realism- participants 'play acting' based on stereotypes. However, situation seemed real to participants- 90% conversation about prison life
- Role of dispositional influences- only third of guards displayed brutal behaviour, third wanted to be fair, third helped prisoners. Zimbardos conclusion overstated
- Ethical issues- when participant asked to leave study, Zimbardo convinced him not to, acting in role of superintendant
- What?
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