Conformity to social roles
- Created by: hellostudents
- Created on: 22-04-20 16:04
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- Conformity to social roles
- Key study: the Stanford prison experiment
- Procedure: Mock prison in the basement at Stanford uni (planned to last 2 weeks)
- Male student volunteers were psychologically and physically screened and the 24 most stable were randomly assigned to roles of either prisoner or guard
- Prisoners were unexpectedly arrested and put through a delousing procedure and were given an ID number and prison uniform they were allowed simple rights including 3 meals a day, supervised toilet breaks and two visits per week
- Guards were given a uniform, clubs, whistles and wore reflective sunglasses (to prevent eye contact)
- Zimbardo took the role of Prison Superintendent
- Male student volunteers were psychologically and physically screened and the 24 most stable were randomly assigned to roles of either prisoner or guard
- Findings: over the first few days the guards grew increasingly abusive towards the prisoner and even made them carry out degrading activities
- Some of the guards even asked to work extra hours for free
- Even when they were unaware of being watched they still conformed to their role
- 5 prisoners were released early because of extreme reactions after just 2 days
- Study was fully terminated after just 6 days
- The study demonstrated that both guard and prisoners conformed to their social roles
- The guard became increasingly cruel and sadistic and the prisoners became passive and accepting of their plight
- Procedure: Mock prison in the basement at Stanford uni (planned to last 2 weeks)
- BBC prison study:
- Procedure: 15 male PP's divided into 5 groups of 3 matched to key personality variables in each group there was a randomly chosen guard and 2 prisoners the study ran for 8 days
- Findings: PP's did not conform automatically like in the Stanford experiment
- Prisoners began to form a group and challenge the guards
- The guards also failed to identify with their role which led to a short of power and collapsed the prisoner-guard system
- Prisoners began to form a group and challenge the guards
- Evaluation:
- Conformity to roles is not automatic:
- In the SPE guard behaviour varied from sadistic to a few 'good guards'
- This shows that the guards chose how to act rather than blindly conforming to their roles
- In the SPE guard behaviour varied from sadistic to a few 'good guards'
- The problem of demand characteristics:
- Banuazizi and Movahedi believed that the behaviour of the guards wasn't to do with the prison environment but the demand characteristics in the situation itself
- Were the studies ethical:
- Zimbardos study was considered ethical because it followed the guidelines of the Stanford uni ethics committee that approved it
- There was no deception
- However Zimbardo admits that the study should have been stopped earlier as many of the PP's experienced emotional distress
- Tried to fix it by offering debriefing sessions for several years after and concluded no long lasting affects
- Zimbardos study was considered ethical because it followed the guidelines of the Stanford uni ethics committee that approved it
- The SPE and its relevance to Abu Ghraib:
- Zimbardo believed that the guards who committed the abuses were the victims of situational factors e.g lack of training, unrelenting borders and no higher authority was present .
- What did we learn form the studies?:
- Zimbardos conclusion from the SPE was the people defend into tyranny because they conform unthinkingly to the roles that authorities prescribe without the need for specific order that it was a
- natural consequence of being allocated the role of guard and asserting power associated with the role
- The result of the BBC prison study suggests that the way in which member of strong groups behave depends upon the norms and values associated with the role
- Zimbardos conclusion from the SPE was the people defend into tyranny because they conform unthinkingly to the roles that authorities prescribe without the need for specific order that it was a
- Conformity to roles is not automatic:
- Key study: the Stanford prison experiment
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