Validity - Zimbardo et al study

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    Study Psychology

    Cards (5)

    • The study has high internal validity as the researchers had a degree of control over how the roles were assigned and gave the participants uniforms to help them adopt their social roles.
    • The study is criticised for it's lack of ecological validity. Banuazizi & Movahedi (1975) argued participants were play-acting in the mock prison, not adopting a social role.
    • McDermott (2019) argues the study has high ecological validity as the setting was very realistic for the participants.
    • Reicher & Haslam (2006) replicated the study for the BBC and found that participants did not adopt the social roles of prisoner and guard. This suggests the study lacks temporal validity.
    • The study lacks population validity as only male students from the USA were used. This does not represent the wider population.