Conformity to social roles

• where did zimbardo’s study take place?

  Stanford University - mock prison in the basement.
• how were participants assigned roles?

  randomly to avoid researcher bias.
• how did zimbardo try to make the experiment realistic?

  arresting participants unexpectedly at their home, giving them uniforms, and simulating the rota of prison life.
• why was it effective to make the prison study realistic?

  gives the study ecological validity and mundane realism.
• when was the study stopped?


  six days in out of two weeks
• what did the study ultimately show?

  how people conform to social roles with the absence of an authority figure.
• obedience: following a direct order from an authority figure.
• Limitations of zimbardo’s study - independence

  Not all guards conformed to social roles, some acted nicely towards the prisoners showing they chose how to behave not blindly conforming to a role.
• Limitations of zimbardo’s study - demand characteristics


  Research suggests participants behaved the way they did due to guessing how they were supposed to act in the study. Students shown the study guessed that it would involve guards acting hostile and prisoners acting passive. Thus the study would have low external validity.
• ethical issues with zimbardo’s study

  Deception (unexpected arresting), ROW (ppts not reminded of right to withdraw), protection (many prisoners expressed extreme anxiety, crying, rage), informed consent (None with deception)
• Limitation of SP experiment - low replicability.

  -In 2006, the SP study was replicated by the BBC.

  -PPTS were still randomly assigned roles of guard or prisoner and the study ran for 8 days.

  -Found that ppts did not automatically conform to social roles and guards were reluctant to impose authority on prisoners.

  -The prisoner-guard system collapsed. The original study may have low historical validity and low replicability.