Zimbardo's study - conformity to social roles

• Aim - Zimbardo et al aimed to see how ordinary people would behave if you placed them in a prison environment. Would they conform to the social role which they had been assigned?
• Participants answered newspaper adverts - 24 volunteers were selected.

  They were all white, middle class students from across USA

  P’s signed a consent form and were told they would receive $15 per day for up to 2 weeks

  Zimbardo converted a corridor in Stanford University to a set of prison cells
• P's then randomly allocated to either act as a prisoner or guard for 2 weeks

  Those assigned to the role of ‘prisoner’ were arrested at

  home and charged. They were not informed that this would

  happen.(didn't consent)

  Also handcuffed and taken to a real police station.

  Taken blindfolded to the basement prison.

  Stripped naked and given smocks to wear.
• Prisoners remained in the prison 24 hours a day and followed a schedule of work assignments, rest periods & meal/toilet visits.

  Prisoners were referred to by number only and were allocated three to a cell
• The guards wore military-style uniforms and

  reflector sunglasses, to make eye contact

  impossible.

  Guards were on duty 24/7, each working an

  8-hour shift.

  They had complete control over the prisoners,

  but the only instructions were to maintain order.

  They were told not to use physical violence.

  Zimbardo himself took on the role of Prison

  Superintendent – he oversaw the environment but

  as a result, forgot his role as a researcher.
• findings

  P's at times forgot it was a psychological study. They forgot who they were,the guards became increasingly sadistic and prisoners accepting of their plight. when they were unaware they were being watched they still conformed to their roles. Five prisoners had to be released early due to extreme reactions. Study was terminated after 6 days.
• Conclusions

  According to Zimbardo, this experiment shows that situational

  factors, not dispositional ones (personality) are more important

  in shaping behaving.

  This means we all are capable of acting out of character when

  placed in certain situations.
• There are conflicting research findings when investigating conformity to social roles by Reicher and Haslam. They conducted a similar study in the UK with 15 male p's and it ran for 8 days. They found they didn't conform automatically to their assigned role, and the prisoners increasingly identified as a group to challenge the guards. The guards also failed to identify to their roles which led to a power shift and collapse of the system. This suggests American findings can't be generalised to the UK and other countries. Lacks external validity when investigating conformity to social roles.
• One limitation of Zimbardo's study is that it has gender and culture bias. This is from his use of 24 white American males. His research shows androcentrism where he only uses males and applies his conformity findings to all genders would show the same level of conformity and ethnocentism where he assumes findings from American p's apply to all. Therefore, Zimbardo's research into conformity to social roles is weak.
• Another limitation of Zimbardo's research is his methodology in obtaining his p's. Zimbardo used volunteer sampling,where p's volunteered to take part. Researchers who interviewed who interviewed other students about what they thought the aim of the SPE was and they correctly guessed it. This suggests Zimbardo's 24 p's may have also guessed the aim, and as well as volunteering themselves,may have changed their behaviour to meet Zimbardo's aims. Further weakening Zimbardo's research into conformity roles.
• However a strength of the SPE is that it led to a reform in the ethical guidelines. Due to the exposure to harm the prisoners faced(verbal abuse,breakdown,nervous rash) this led ethical committees to enforce researchers to protect their p's from harm. This means that p's have more protection in research; meaning the SPE has external validity as a measure of conformity to social roles.