Social Influence - 3. Conformity to Social Roles: Zimbardo's Research
- Created by: Kiera McQue
- Created on: 11-07-19 08:02
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- Conformity to Social Roles: Zimbardo's Research
- Procedure
- mock prison in basement of Stanford University
- advertised for willing volunteer students, chose those deemed "emotionally stable"
- randomly assigned to roles of guard / prisoner
- prisoners arrested in homes, deloused, *****-searched, blindfolded, given uniform and number
- prisoners numbers used not names
- prisoners had heavily regulated routines enforced by guards
- guards had uniform, wooden club, mirror shades, handcuffs and keys. Told they had complete power
- Findings
- guards took up roles with enthusiasm, threatened prisoners' psychological and physical health
- study stopped after 6 days instead of 14
- prisoners rebelled after 2 days
- guards harassed prisoners constantly, created opportunities to enforce rules and punish
- after rebellion was put down, prisoners became depressed and subdued
- guards identified more closely with their role. Some seemed to enjoy power
- Evaluation
- Control of variables
- e.g. selection of participants
- random assortment - rule out personality differences, behaviour only due to situation pressure
- good internal validity
- Lack of realism
- Banuazizi & Mohavedi (1975)
- pp's were play-acting, based on stereotypes
- Zimbardo showed through quantitative data that 90% of prisoners' conversations were about prison life - real to them
- high degree of internal validity
- Banuazizi & Mohavedi (1975)
- Role of dispositional influences
- Fromm (1973)
- Zimbardo exaggerated the power of the situation to influence behaviour, and minimised the role of personality factors
- 1/3 of the guards acted brutally. Clearly able to exercise right and wrong choices
- Fromm (1973)
- Lack of research support
- Reicher & Haslam (2006)
- BBC Prison Study
- prisoners took control and harassed guards
- guards failed to develop shared social identity as group prisoners did
- BBC Prison Study
- Reicher & Haslam (2006)
- Ethical issues
- Zimbardo's dual roles
- one pp wanted to leave - Zimbardo more concerned about running of prison in role of superintendent
- Control of variables
- Procedure
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