Zimbardo

• Who is Philip Zimbardo?

  An American psychologist and professor at Stanford university who is best known for his Stanford prison experiment
• What was Zimbardo’s aim in the Stanford prison observation?

  He questioned if prison guards behave brutally because of sadist personalities (dispositional factors) or if it is the situation which creates this behaviour (situational factors)
• When was the Stanford prison observation?

  1973
• How did the prisoners in the Stanford prison experiment behave?

  They started to rebel by doing things such as a hunger strike (prisoner 416) and disrespect the guards although some of them accepted the guard’s behaviours.
• How did the guards behave in the Stanford prison observation?

  They harassed the prisoners and were dominant, powerful, intimidating and cruel. However, not all of the guards conformed to their social roles
• Who were the participants in the Stanford prison observation?

  College students
• What was done before the Stanford prison experiment to ensure everyone was ‘normal’?

  Personality tests
• What was unethical about the Stanford prison observation?

  The prisoners were degraded and stripped when they entered the prison and didn’t feel like they had the right to withdraw
• What defence do people use when discussing the Stanford prison observation?

  People were able to act organically which was very informative as well as leading to changes in ethics
• How many prisoners were included in Zimbardo’s observation?

  10
• How many guards were used in Zimbardo’s observation?

  11
• What role did Zimbardo take on in the observation?

  Prison superintendent
• When was Reicher and Haslam’s replication?


  2002
• What was Reicher and Haslam’s aim?


  To see why humans commit atrocities and understand how power plays a role in crimes
• How many participants were in Reicher and Haslam’s replication?

  15 men out of 300
• How many guards were in Reicher and Haslam’s replication?


  5
• What were Reicher and Haslam’s results?


  Prisoners began to behave as a group while the guards had no group identification, causing stress, prisoners broke into the guard’s quarters (that had better amenities), one of the prisoners found the guard’s keys and negotiated for a better prison in exchange for keys
• Did Reicher and Haslam find similar results to Zimbardo?


  No