Conformity to social rules
Cards (10)
- Zimbardo and his colleagues were interested in investigating whether the brutality reported in American prisons was due to sadistic personalities of prison guards or whether it was their social role (as a prison guard) that created their behaviour
- Social roles--The 'parts' people play as members of various social groups-These are accompanied by expectations we and others have of what is appropriate behaviour in each role
- Stanford prison experiment procedure --Ppts respond to newspaper ad to volunteer to be paid $15 a day-21 men were randomly assigned role of prison guard or prison and taken to basement of stanford-Uniforms were worn by both, guards military style with mirrored glasses and wooden club and prisoners wore loose fitting deindividuated them-Guards work shifts, prisoners in 24 hours-Zimbardo observed behaviour
- Stanford prison experiment results--Both groups quickly identified with social roles-Guards treated prisoners harshly-Prisoners became more submissive and passive to guards-5 prisoners released early due to extreme emotional response-Was expected to run for 2 weeks but was cancelled after 6 days
- Stanford prison experiment conclusion--Social roles appear to have strong influence on individuals behaviour, guards became brutal, prisoners became submissive-Situational factors were largely responsible for behaviour found, as none of ppts had demonstrated these behaviours previously
- Abu Ghraib prison--2003 to 2004 US army military police personnel committed serious human rights violations against Iraqi prisoners at Abu Gharib prison in Baghdad-Prisoners were tortured, physically and sexually abused, routinely humiliated and some murdered
- Strength - Controlled-Initial set up was well controlled-Carefully selected ppts using psychological screening to ensure health, psychologically stable , no criminal records-Roles were randomly allocated-Supports argument that behaviours shown in SPE resulted from social roles and prison environment rather than individual dispositions
- Strength- Practical applications-SPE insights into how social roles can influence behaviour can help explain incidents of abuse in institutional settings-For example, Abu Ghraib-Recognising impact of situational factors on human behaviour has led to increased training and oversight in military and law enforcement to prevent abuse
- Weakness - Validity-Zimbardo took on a dual role, involvement may have led to experimenter bias-Demand characteristics likely to have occurred, ppts acting in ways they believed matched Zimbardo expectations-Recent reviews of SPE provide evidence that guards were trained to be aggressive, there is serious doubt over validity of observed behaviours
- Weakness - Ethics-Ppts experienced significant psychological harm his decision to continue despite signs of emotional breakdown and extreme reactions demonstrates need for strict ethical control in psychological experiments