zimbardo

• To see whether people would conform to new social roles

  21 male psychology students at the Stanford Uni

  Volunteered to take part in the study and were tested for their psychological ‘stability’

  Randomly allocated to two groups : prisoners and prison guards
• Prisoners

  Spent two weeks locked in ‘cells’

  Were arrested at home unexpectedly

  Stripped and given a prison uniform + number

  Wore a smock and stocking over their head + no underwear

  Prison guards

  Were there to look after the prisoners and to keep them under control

  Zimbardo and his colleagues were taking the role of prisons superintendent - giving orders to the guards while observing the behaviour of participants
• Physical punishment 

  Guards stepped on prisoners’ backs while they did push ups or made other prisoners sit on their backs

  Push ups were often used as a form of punishment in Nazi concentration camp

  Asserting authority

  Guards began to harass prisoners

  Prisoners were awakened by blasting whistles for the first of many head counts - way to familiarise the prisoners with their numbers.

  Prisoners started taking prison rules very seriously. They talked about prison issues. They ‘told tales’ on each other to guards. Some sided with the guards against prisoners who did not obey the rules
• Mental breakdowns

  #8612 less than 36 hours into the experiment, #8612 began suffering from emotional disturbance, uncontrollable crying, disorganized thinking + rage

  #819 broke down and cried hysterically when talking to a priest Referred to his identity as #819

  Rebellion

  2nd day - prisoners removed stocking caps, ripped off their numbers and barricaded themselves inside the cells

  As prisoners become more submissive, the guards became more aggressive. Prisoners were dependent on the guards for everything so they tried to find ways to please the guards
• conc of stanfords uni

  Social roles appear to have a strong influence on an individual's behaviour. The guards became brutal and the prisoners became submissive. Roles were taken on easily by all participants, behaving as if they were real.

  Deinidividuation may also help to explain the behaviour of the participants, especially the guards. The guards may have been so sadistic because they did not feel what happened was down to them personally - it was a group of them
• One weakness of Zimbardo's study is that he did not give his participants the right to withdraw. Participants should be aware that they can leave the study at any time, even if they have been paid to take part. However, participants failed to notify them of this. This is important as it means that he failed to follow the ethical guidelines when conducting his study.
• One weakness of Zimbardo’s study is that he did not offer his participants protection from harm.  Adequate protection from physical and psychological harm must be provided to participants during and after research. However, Zimbardo failed to do this which led to severe mental breakdowns in his study. This is therefore a weakness as it shows that Zimbardo failed to follow the ethical guidelines when conducting his study
• One weakness of Zimbardo’s study is that he deceived his participants during the study. For example, he did not inform his participants that they were going to be arrested from their homes at the beginning of the study. This is important as it means he withheld information from his participants and as a result was unable to obtain informed consent. This is therefore a weakness as it shows that Zimbardo failed to follow the ethical guidelines when conducting his study. 
• One strength of Zimbardo’s study is that it used a realistic setting. For example, McDermott (2019) argued that participants behaved as if the study was real to them, with 90% of conversations being focused on prison life. This is important because it suggests that the environment created by Zimbardo is an accurate simulation of a real prison setting.

  This is a strength as it suggests the study was realistic, and therefore higher in ecological validity.
•  One strength of Zimbardo’s study is that he controlled for the individual differences of his participants. For example, he ensured that all his participants were assessed as being psychologically stable prior to the start of the study. This means that we can be sure that any changes in the participant’s behaviour is the direct result of the social roles that they were assigned.This is a strength as it allows us to establish a cause and effect relationship between the roles given (IV) and the behaviours exhibited (DV)
• ESSAY PLAN - AO1

  Social roles are the behaviours expected of a person that occupies a

  particular position or status e.g student, teacher

  Stanford prison experiment.

  Explain his aim- whether prison guards were brutal due to their sadistic personalities or the situation they were in.

  Describe the procedure e.g. involved 24 males, recruited through ad, done in the basement of Stanford University, participants were either guards or prisoners

  Describe the results- prisoners became depressed and were

  mindlessly obedient whilst guards were very aggressive and brutal.
• ESSAY PLAN - AO3

  • alternative explanations- Tajfel (1981) suggests the social identity theory explains the results, guards were able to develop a shared sense of social identity as a group so they acted tg, explains why a replicate of Zimbardo's study by Reicher (2006) had opposite results - the prisoners are the ones that gained a shared identity + treated the guards terribly.
  • good control in Zimbardo's study. participants were randomly allocated to their role. increased internal validity of his study