Conformity to social roles: Zimbardo's research

• Zimbardo conducted the Stanford Prison Experiment (SPE) to investigate how individuals conform to social roles, especially within a prison environment, and how situational factors influence behavior, rather than personal characteristics.
• Social roles are the parts people play as members of various social groups. These are accompanied by the expectations we have and others have of what is appropriate behaviour in each role.
• Procedure

  • Zimbardo set up a mock prison in the basement of Stanford University.
  • 24 male college students were selected from a volunteer pool, who were deemed psychologically stable and healthy.
  • Participants were randomly assigned to one of two roles: prison guards or prisoners.
  • The guards were given uniforms, batons, and reflective sunglasses to promote anonymity and power.
  • The prisoners were arrested at home to make it more realistic. They wore smocks, had ID numbers and were subjected to certain humiliations e.g. being referred to by number rather than name, doing menial tasks etc.
• The Stanford Prison Experiment was meant to last two weeks, but it was terminated after only six days due to the extreme behaviour exhibited by both guards and prisoners.
• What is "deindividuation," and how did it occur in the SPE?

  • Deindividuation is the loss of self-awareness and personal identity
  • It occurred when guards wore uniforms and sunglasses, making them feel anonymous.
• Zimbardo found that there was conformity to social roles.

  • The guards quickly adopted their authoritarian roles, becoming aggressive and abusive, while prisoners became passive and submissive, and some even showed signs of psychological distress.
• Zimbardo found that there was deindividuation.

  • The guards’ uniforms and sunglasses contributed to a sense of anonymity, reducing personal accountability/identity and leading to more extreme behaviour.
• Zimbardo found that there was a loss of identity and dehumanisation.

  • The prisoners, reduced to numbers, felt powerless and began to internalize their roles as victims.
• Conclusions:

  • People conform to the roles they are given, especially in structured environments like prisons, where power dynamics are strong.
  • Behaviour is influenced by situational factors, not inherent personality factors.
• A major limitation of the SPE is its lack of generalisability. The participants were all male, predominantly white, and college-aged, meaning the findings may not be representative of the general population. Additionally, the participants were selected based on their mental health and lack of a criminal record, which further limits the applicability of the results to real-world prison settings, where prisoners and guards often have more diverse backgrounds and experiences. This makes it difficult to generalise the findings beyond the specific sample, limiting its population validity.
• A strength of the SPE is that it has had real-world applications in institutions, allowing us to understand abuses of power. For example, the findings have been used to explain events such as the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, where U.S. military personnel exhibited cruel and dehumanizing behaviour toward prisoners. Zimbardo argued that situational factors, rather than individual personalities, played a significant role in these events. This strengthens SPE as it contributed to reforms in prisons, and the military, to ensure that those in authority are held accountable for their actions.
• A weakness of the SPE is its lack of ecological validity. The prison environment was artificial, and participants were aware that their situation was not real, which may have influenced their behaviour. Banuazizi and Mohavedi (1975) argued that participants were merely play-acting, rather than genuinely conforming to the role. For example, some guards later admitted they were simply "playing a role" based on stereotypes of how guards behave. This weakens the study because participants exhibited demand characteristics, which reduces the internal validity of the study.
• A weakness is that it has ethical issues. Firstly, there was a lack of informed consent: participants were unaware of the full severity of the conditions. Secondly, prison participants experienced great psychological distress at the hands of the guards. Another issue is that Zimbardo failed to clarify that the participants had a right to withdraw. Lastly, Zimbardo acted as the prison superintendent, leading to a conflict of interest, and hindering his ability to protect participants from harm. This weakens the SPE: it can be argued that it is unjust to violate ethical guidelines for research.