1.4

• Social rules


  It focuses on social identity i.e. the ways in which group membership influences behaviour e.g. your social role as teacher or student, parent, child, or others.
• What Zimbardo wanted to investigate?


  How readily people would conform to the assigned social roles of guard and prisoner in a role-playing exercise that simulated prison life.
• What did Zimbardo's study entail?


  The study was conducted in the basement of the Stanford University building in a mock prison, where it lasted for two weeks, and 21 student volunteers, selected as emotionally stable, participated. Participants were randomly assigned to either the role of prisoner or guard. Prisoners and guards were encouraged to conform to their social roles both through instructions and the uniforms they wore.
• What did Zimbardo's study show?


  Both guards and prisoners settled into their new roles very quickly. The guards adopted their social role quickly, easily and with enthusiasm Within hours of beginning the experiment some guards began to harass prisoners and treat them harshly Within two days the prisoners rebelled; they ripped their uniforms and shouted and swore at guards.

  
  

  The prisoners soon adopted prisoner-like behaviour too e.g. they became subdued; they 'snitched' to the guards about other prisoners, took prison rules seriously, and increasingly became docile and obedient. As the prisoners became more submissive, the guards became more aggressive and assertive taking on their social roles easily. The guards demanded ever greater obedience from the prisoners A colleague of Zimbardo's visited the study and was horrified at the abuse and exploitation she saw Zimbardo ended the experiment after six days instead of the 14 originally planned.
• What are the strengths of this study?

  Prisoners and guards were randomly assigned to their roles, increasing the control Zimbardo had over the internal validity (whether the study actually measured what it intended to) of the study. A major practical application is that the study meant practices were changed in US prisons to protect the vulnerable and make prisons safer, and a lot of this was due to the study.
• What are the weaknesses of this study?

  Individual differences and personality also determine the extent to which a person conforms to social roles. The guards' behaviour differed between them, because not all guards were so harsh or cruel It has been said the participants were acting in a stereotypical way.

  
  

  There is a lack of realism and many argued that it did not have the realism of a real prison There were ethical issues with the study: The participants were subjected to psychological harm, which could have been long-lasting. Also, the right to withdraw was made difficult, perhaps because Zimbardo himself was playing the role of super intendent, which made it hard for at least one prisoner to withdraw from the study