Zimbardo

• Define Conformity to Social Roles


  when people behave in certain ways because they feel that's expected of them.
• Study aim


  to investigate the extent to which people would conform to the roles of guard/prisoner in a role-playing exercise that simulated prison life.
• Study method


  - 24 ppts

  - prisoners were blindfolded and strip-searched, deloused and issued a uniform/number.

  - students were randomly assigned guard or prisoner.

  - 'prisoners' were arrested in their homes by local police and the delivered to the 'prison'.

  - prisoners daily routines were heavily regulated.

  guards - own uniform, told they had complete power over the prisoners.
• Study results


  - guards took up their roles with enthusiasm.

  - behaviour became a threat to the prisoners' psychological and physical health.

  - study stopped after 6 days instead of 14.

  - within 2 days, the prisoners rebelled against their treatment from the guards.

  - after rebellion, prisoners were subdued, depressed and anxious.

  - 1 prisoner released as showed symptoms of psychological disturbance.

  - 2 prisoners released on 4th day.

  - guards became more aggressive and brutal.
• Study conclusion

  - simulation revealed the power of the situation to influence people's behaviour.

  - guards, prisoners & researchers all conformed to their roles within the prison.

  - roles were taken on very easily by the ppts.

  - found themselves behaving as if they were in a prison rather than in a psychological study.
• Lack of Research Support (Weakness)


  - Reicher and Haslam's findings contradict Zimbardo's.

  - replicated research by randomly assigning 15 men to the role of prisoner or guard.

  - ppts didn't conform to their social roles automatically.

  - guards didn't identify with their status and refused to impose their authority, the prisoners identified as a group to challenge the guard's authority.

  - results contradict the findings of Zimbardo and suggest that conformity to social roles may not be automatic.
• Role of dispositional factors (Weakness)


  - Fromm accused Zimbardo of exaggerating the power of the situation to influence behaviour, minimising the role of dispositional factors.

  - in Zimbardo's experiment the guard's behaviour varied from extremely brutal to prisoners who actually helped the prisoners.

  - suggests that situational factors aren't the only cause on conformity to social roles.
• Ethical Issues (Weakness)


  - 5 of the prisoners left the experiment early due to adverse reactions to the physical and mental torment.

  - guards reported feeling guilty for their actions.

  - Zimbardo followed the ethical guidelines of Stanford University and debriefed the ppts afterwards, he acknowledged the study should've been stopped earlier.
• Control (Strength)


  - emotionally stable ppts were recruited and randomly assigned the role of prisoner or guard.

  - one way to rule out individual differences.

  - if the guards/prisoners behaved differently, this was only due to chance and the pressures of the situation.

  - increases the internal validity.