AO3- Zimbardo(1971)

• Individual differences may have played a part, some participants may have personalities more inclined to conform.
• Stereotypes may have influenced participants conformity. One of the guards claimed he based his role on a character from the film 'Cool Hand Luke'.
• Fromm (1973) suggested individual differences may play a part, as only one-third of the guards acted in a brutal manner.
• Personality characteristics such as an Authoritarian Personality may explain some of the findings. These types value authority and would follow the rules. This may influence their likelihood to conform.
• Informed Consent was broken as prisoners were arrested without prior knowledge from their homes/ places of work.
• Deception was broken as participants were led to believe that the mock prison was real.
• Right to withdraw was broken as participants were led to believe they could not leave the experiment. This was particularly true for prisoners who were locked in cells.
• Protection from harm was also broken as many participants suffered negative effects from their experience in the study. Five of the prisoners left the experiment early because of their adverse reactions to the physical and mental torment.
• Protection from harm was also an issue for the participants playing the guards. Some reported feelings of anxiety and guilt, as a result of their actions.
• Confidentiality was broken as the participants were video and audio recorded throughout the experiment.
• Zimbardo gave participants a debriefing after the experiment but admitted he became absorbed in his role of prison governor.
• 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.
• The study helps our understanding of social power, deindividuation and powerlessness.
• There are several ways this study is useful, in helping our understanding of conformity to social roles.
• We have a better understanding of how people become influenced by their social roles.
• The police, prison service and others in positions of power need to be aware of the influence their social role might have on their behaviour.
• The study was carried out in an artificial environment with some experimental controls, however, would be difficult to replicate.
• McDermott (2019) suggested the study did replicate the social roles of prisoners and guards. One 'prisoner 416' later said he believed the prison to be real.
• Reicher and Haslam (2006) replicated Zimbardo’s research by randomly assigning 15 men to the role of prisoner or guard. In this replication, the participants did not conform to their social roles.
• The sample of all men is biased (androcentric)..
• The sample included only 24 participants so is not representative of the wider population.
• The sample were all American men so cannot be generalised to other cultures (ethnocentric).