conformity to social roles

• stanford prison experiment

  Zimbardo and his colleagues wanted to see the conditions as to why police officers behave brutally-sadistic personalities or because of the situation they are in
• procedure

  • A mock prison was set up in the basement of the univeristy.Male student volunteers were screened ,the 24 most stable of these were randomly assigned to either play the role of the prisoner and guard.
  • prisoners were arrested at home and when they arrived they were put through a delousing procedure ,given prison uniforms, and an ID number.
  • Prisoners were allowed certain rights (3 meals,3 supervised toilet trips,two visits per week)
  • The guards were given uniform,clubs,whistles and wore reflective sunglasses to prevent eye contact.Zimbardo played the role of Prison superintendent.
• findings

  • the guards were increasingly tyrannical and abusive towards the prisoners.They woke up prisoners in the night and forced them to clean the toilets with their bare hands.Some guards were so enthusiastic that they volunteered to do extra hours without pay.Even when they were unaware of being watched ,they still conformed to their roles.One prisoner had had enough and asked for parole rather than asking to withdraw from the study.
  • The study was terminated after 6 days after the researchers were reminded that this was a psychological study and did not justify the abuse to participants.
• conclusion of the SPE

  The study demonstrated that both positions conformed to their social roles.The guards became more cruel and sadistic  and the prisoners became increasingly passive and accepting of their plight.