Zimbardo prison experiment

• What was the aim of zimbardos experiment

  How quick people conform to roles of guard + prisoner in simulated prison environment. was prison violence due to personalities (dispositional explanation) or or the environment (situational). in study if violence then its situational
• What was the procedure of zimbardos experiment

  24 male volunteers in mock prison randomly assigned either guard or prisoner, real as possible: guards wore uniform and had props, prisoners wore prison clothes and had numbers, treated like actual prisoners. verbal but no physical harassment. Zimbardo observered and was prison overseer, controlled observation
• What were the findings of zimbardos experiment

  Participants settled into roles quickly, guards harassed prisoners brutally and sadistically, prisoners had to leave early as showed signs of depression. Terminated early on sixth day
• What were the conclusions of zimbardos experiment

  People will conform to social roles Faster if stereotyped such as guards. Prison caused behaviour so supports situational explanation
• weakness of zimbardos experiment: lack reliability

  Replicated study contradicts zimbardo as guards didnt conform to roles and prisoners overthrew them. dispositional explanation also relevant
• weakness of zimbardos experiment: Lack ecological validity

  Prisoners knew prison was fake so were playing along > not reflective of real life, cannot be generalised to world
• weakness of zimbardos experiment: Demand characteristics

  Participants claimed they were acting > behaviour not influenced by factors which affect behaviour in real life. cannot be generalised low validity