conformity to social roles - Zimbardo

• what are social roles?

  Social roles are the 'parts' people play as members of various social groups. Everyday examples include parent, child, student, and so on. These are accompanied by expectations we and others have of what is appropriate behaviour in each role, for example being caring or obedient.
• Aims of Zimbardo's Stanford prison study (1973)

  > to investigate the extent to which people would conform to the roles in a role-playing stimulation of prison life.

  >to investigate whether conforming behaviour was due to the person (dispositional factors) or the prison context (situational factors - so in real life they would not conform to the roles)
• The procedure of Zimbardo's Stanford prison study (1973)

  > the Stanford prison study - a mock prison in the basement of Stanford university USA.

  >a controlled observation

  >24 male students from a volunteer sample

  >all volunteers were physically and psychologically screened

  >participants were randomly allocated to either the role of prisoner or guard

  >Zimbardo played the role of both prison supervisor and also running the experiment

  >the experiment was planned to last 14 days
• dehumanisation process - procedure

  >prisoners were unexpectedly arrested at home and taken to the prison and dehumanised

  >Dehumanisation is a process where people are degraded by lessening their human qualities

  >prisoners were dehumanised by being blindfolded and given stocking caps to stimulate a bald head and there were also made to do menial tasks such cleaning toilets with their bare hands
• deindividuation process - procedure

  > a process where individuals lose their lose their sense of personal identity

  >prisoners were deindividuated by being dressed in smock dresses and given prison ID numbers to which they were referred to by instead of their actual names

  >guards were deindividuated by wearing military uniforms and reflective silver sunglasses which made them feel anonymous

  >the glasses also hid their eyes which took away their humanness
• Findings of Zimbardo's Stanford prison study (1973)


  >Dehumanisation was apparent as the guards began to humiliate the prisoners and made them clean the toilets with their bare hands.
• Conclusion of Zimbardo's Stanford prison study (1973)


  > the study revealed the power of the situation. The social roles that the participants had to play influenced their uncharacteristic behaviour, even when such roles override an individual's moral beliefs about their personal behaviour.
• Evaluation of research into conformity to social roles (Zimbardo): findings

  Real life example:
• Evaluation of research into conformity to social roles (Zimbardo): procedure


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