Zimbardo’s (1973)

• Aim – To see if prison guards behave brutally because they have sadistic personalities (they are bad seeds – this would be a dispositional explanation) or whether it is the situation (the result of the prison soil - this would be a situational explanation) that creates such behaviour.
• Method – 75 university students responded to a newspaper advertisement asking for volunteers for a study of prison life paying $15 per day (volunteer sample).  24 were chosen to participate (those who were considered the most physically & mentally stable). 
• How many participants were assigned to each role in the experiment?

  9 participants per role
• What was the purpose of having spare participants in the experiment?

  To replace any original participants if needed
• How were prisoners treated upon their arrest?

  Like every other criminal, with standard procedures
• What procedures did prisoners undergo at the police station?

  Fingerprinting, photographing, and booking
• Where was the prison simulation set up?

  In the basement of Stanford University
• What was the initial action taken when prisoners arrived at the prison?

  They were stripped naked and deloused
• What was the significance of prisoners being referred to by their number only?

  It was part of the deindividuation process
• What was the daily routine for prisoners in the experiment?

  • Followed a strict daily routine
  • Had to obey 16 rules
  • Rules enforced by guards
• Results –

  ·         The experiment was planned to last for 14 days but was stopped after 6.

  ·         Guards behaved brutally and abusively towards prisoners (with some seeming to enjoy it) and after 2 days the prisoners rioted but when the rebellion was put down they became depressed and passive.

  ·         5 prisoners had to be released early after experiencing severe negative emotions.

  ·         Even the researchers became caught up in the role play and overlooked the abusive behaviour until graduate student Christina Maslach stepped in and stopped the experiment.
• How many guards worked at a time during the experiment?

  Three guards worked at a time
• What power did the guards have over the prisoners?

  Complete power, including toilet access
• What uniform were the guards issued?

  Khaki uniform with accessories
• Why were guards given dark glasses?

  To make eye contact with prisoners impossible
• What was prohibited in terms of guard behavior?

  No physical violence was permitted
• What role did Zimbardo play in the experiment?

  He acted as the prison superintendent
• Conclusion – Behaviour was situational rather than dispositional as none of the participants had shown these character traits before. 

  Individuals conform readily to the social roles of a situation even when the role overrides their moral beliefs.
• Conformity to Social Roles – Key Points

  • Social situations have social norms which are learned
  • Learned social roles become internal mental scripts
  • Conformity to social roles involves IDENTIFICATION, not compliance or internalisation, because when the participants returned to their normal lives, they adopted the roles required of them in that social situation
  • Conformity to social roles allows understanding and prediction of social behaviour so it creates social order.
• strength

  • The researchers tried to control as many variables as possible (e.g. the selection of emotionally stable individuals and random allocation to guard or prisoner role) so they tried to rule out individual differences to ensure that behaviour was due to the pressure of the situation.  This increases the internal validity of the study because cause and effect conclusions can be drawn.
• strength

  • Quantitative data collected during the procedure showed that 90% of prisoners’ conversations were about prison life.  This gives the study high internal validity as it was testing what it intended to (conformity to roles).  In other words, it seems that prisoners were convinced by their roles as it dominated their conversations.
• strength

  • Practical application: The study can explain why Nazi guards or guards at Abu Ghraib behaved brutally towards their prisoners – they were identifying with the social norms of that situation.
• Weaknesses

  • The study lacks ecological validity – the researchers did their best to create a natural environment (even arresting the prisoners in their own homes etc.) but it is still not possible to fully recreate a real-life prison environment with all of its situational and environmental variables and the pps knew they were taking part in an experiment so behaviour may not reflect everyday life.
• Weakness

  • Banuazizi and Mohavedi (1975) argued that there was a lack of realism and that guards and prisoners were just acting as they had seen guards/prisoners do on television.  If this is so, then internal validity would be low because the study was not testing conformity to roles but the ability to copy roles.
• Weakness

  • Reicher and Haslam’s BBC Prison Study was a replication of the SPE and found completely different results – prisoners took control of the prison and subjected the guards to a campaign of harassment.  This suggests that the results of the SPE were not reliable.
• weakness

  • Practical application: Zimbardo thought his research would improve the lives of prisoners and it did in the short term but prisons in America are now even more brutal than in the 1970s.
• Obedience is when we follow the instructions (orders) of an authority figure.

  It is assumed that without such an order from an authority figure, the person would not normally act this way.

  Obedience can be seen as beneficial. 

  For example, obeying the laws set by the government to ensure that society runs smoothly.

  However sometimes people are urged by an authority figure to do things which are morally wrong. 

  An example is the apparent blind obedience by the Nazis.  The concentration camp guards used the defence that they were only following orders.