Conformity to social roles

• One weakness of research into conformity to social roles (zimbardo)…

  • Suffers from cultural and gender bias
  • Sample was androcentric and all ppts were American
  • Lacks representativeness so difficult to generalise which decreases external validity
• one strength of research into conformity to social roles…

  • Zimbardo study used to explain real life events such as abu gharib
  • military prison in Iraq notorious for torture of Iraqi soldiers by us soldiers and was suggested that guards who committed abuse were victims to situational factors such as unrelenting bordem and no obligation to authority
  • provides practical applications and increases usefulness of research findings by zimbardo
• One weakness of research into conformity to social roles…

  • may suffer from ethical issues
  • Prisoners subjected to immense amounts of physical and emotional harm
  • Risk of psychological harm to participants decreases the credibility and repu of research
  • Passed ethical guidelines of its time