Conformity to social roles: Zimbardo

• The Stanford Prison Experiment (1973) ZIMBARDO


  -12 prisoners, 12 guards volunteers to recreate prison life for 2 weeks in a mock prison

  -Prisoners had 16 rules to follow

  -Prisoners were never addressed by names only numbers, were told what to do and when, followed a strict schedule while the guards had more freedom and authority

  -Randomly assigned

  -Operation shut down after 6 days

  -Tests the theory if evil is effected by the environment or whose in it

  -Conclusion that people with power are more like to become evil/abuse it
• The Stanford Prison Experiment Findings

  -Within 2 days prisoners rebelled against their treatment-Guards employed a divide-and-rule tactic, playing the prisoners against each other

  -Frequent headcounts, punishments, abuse from the guards

  -Prisoners eventually became derepressed, subdued

  -One prisoner was released on the first day after signs of psychological disturbance, two more on fourth day

  -Behaviour from guards elevated in brutality and aggression due to power dynamics
• TSE Conclusion (1973)


  All test subjects conformed to their roles. They were taken very seriously by participants as if it were a real prison.
• Negative evaluations TSE

  -Ethical issues such as psychological disturbance caused

  -Wasn’t accurate to say everyone conformed to their roles

  -Zimbardo took up two roles, therefore too involved with the experiment

  -Traumatic for some participants, being arrested in the night

  -Weak internal validity, participants could guess what the aim of the study was (counter argument would be the quantitative data 90% conversations were about prison life, 416 prisoners expressed it was real but run by psychologists)
• Positive evaluations TSE

  -Strong internal validity, good control over other variables such as choosing confederates with good emotional well-being

  -Strong study because it can be applied to Abhu Ghraib, real world application, powerful external validity
• What is a limitation in terms of realism with Zimbardo's study?

  • Banazuazizi and Mohavedi suggested the ppts were role playing rather than genuinely conforming to a role
  • Performances were based off stereotypes on how they thought prisoners and guards were supposed to behave
  • One guard claimed they based their behaviour off a brutal character from a film
  • This may have explained the rioting and extreme behaviours basing off stereotypes, therefore limiting zimbardo's ability to explain conformity to social roles
• What is a strength of Zimbardo's findings to support the idea that ppts did conform to their roles? (AO3)

  • Quantiative data, 90% of prisoners' conversations were about prison life
  • Prisoner 416 expressed they saw the prison as a real one run by psychologists rather than the government
  • This increases its internal validity and may provide support to suggest findings could be applied to explanations of conformity as people did truly conform to their roles
• Limitation of Zimbardo and overstating conformity? (AO3)

  • Zimbardo was accused of exaggerating the power of the situation to influence behaviour and minimising the role of personality
  • Only a 1/3rd of guards behaved in a brutal manner
  • Another 1/3rd applied rules fairly
  • The rest actively tried to help and support prisoners by reinstating privileges and offering them cigarettes
  • Therefore suggests Zimbardo's conclusion that ppts conformed to social roles was overstated
  • Differences in Guard's behaviour indicates ability to make right and wrong choices due to their disposition, not situation
• Limitation- replication by Reicher and haslam (BBC Prison study AO3)

  • In their study, prisoners did not passively conform but instead resisted the guards
  • contradicting Zimbardo’s claim that people automatically adopt assigned social roles
  • Reicher and Haslam argued that behaviour is influenced by social identity theory (SIT)
  • where individuals conform only when they strongly identify with their group
  • challenges Zimbardo’s conclusion that situational factors alone determine behaviour and suggests that personal identification with a group plays a crucial role
  • The findings of R/H may suggest that Zimbardo's findings may have been exaggerated due to demand characteristics or researcher bias.