standford prison

• what was the study for

  conformity to social roles
• aim

  whether the situation creates behaviour
• method


  24 participants (the most physically amd mentally stable) were randomly assigned to a ssocial role of either guard or prisoner
• what happened to the 'prisoners'


  they were arrested at their homes and stripped with all belongings and stripped only being reffered to as a number
• what did the guards have


  the guards were given reflective sunglasses to make eye contact with the prisoners impossible and also given full control over the prisoners
• results

  it was planned to end after 14 days but had to be stopped after 6 as well as 5 participants released early due to severe negative emotions
• AO3- strengths


  the high levels of control increased the validity of the experiment as they were able to rule out individual differences ensuring behaviour was due to the pressure of situation
• AO3- strengths


  practical applicaton- it can explain the behaviour of the Nazi guards who behaved brutally towards their prisoners as the experiment provided an explanation of conformity to social roles
• AO3- limitations


  alternative findings- a BBC study repeated this and found completely different results this may have been due to the presence of a charismatic leader who influenced the other guards to behave in a certain way
• AO3- limitation

  zimbardos experiment lacks ecological validity as all the participants knew it was an experiment and the prisoners had not done anything wrong suggesting that we don't know if people would conform if not for an experiment