Zimbardo's prison study
- Created by: c.derbyshire24
- Created on: 11-02-21 20:24
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- Zimbardo's Conformity study
- Aim
- Do prison guards behave brutally because they have sadistic personalities or is it because of the situation such behaviours are created?
- Procedure
- A mock prison was set up in Stanford University
- Participants were recruited via advertisement for student volunteers and they were each randomly assigned the role of prisoner or guard
- All participants were deemed emotionally stable before taking part
- Volunteers were 'arrested' from their homes, blindfolded, ***** searched and given a uniform and a number. They were only referred to by this number and guards were given complete power over them.
- The study was ended after 6 days instead of the intended 14
- Results
- After 2 days, prisoners began to rebel
- Participants displayed characteristics of depression and anxiety
- one participant had to leave early due to psychological disturbance
- Conclusions
- The power of situation influences peoples behaviour
- Participants began acting as though they were in an actual prison
- Evaluation
- Good control over variables - increases external validity
- Psychologists Banuazizi and Movahedi argue participants were play acting
- Zimbardo stated the situation was very real for the participants (90% of conversation was prison talk)
- Zimbardo could have exagerated the power of situation - only 1/2 of guards behaved brutally
- A BBC prison study found different findings to Zimbardo
- Ethical issues - majority of participants experienced physical and psychological harm
- Aim
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