Conformity to Social Roles

• Stanford Prison Experiment 1971 (Procedure):

  • 21 male volunteers randomly allocated prisoner or guard
  • Prisoners would be arrested then taken to a real police station
  • Conformity to roles encouraged by uniforms and instructions given
  • Prisoners- de-individuation via being given numbers instead of names, required to submit parole to leave, 3 meals, 3 toilet visits allowed per day
  • Guards- given uniforms, batons, sunglasses (limits eye-contact with prisoners), had control and power
• Stanford Prison Experiment (Findings):

  • Guards- harsh, degrading treatment towards prisoners, some volunteered for extra shifts
  • Prisoners- attempted to rebel but failed- prisoners left feeling submissive and depressed, lost sense of identity
• Stanford Prison Experiment (Conclusions):

  • 1 participant showed signs of psychological disturbance and was released early
  • 5 pps released early for their 'extreme' reactions- crying, rage, anxiety
  • Study terminated on day 6 after researchers were reminded that the behaviour shown was abusive
  • Social conformity was quickly shown- through the guards following their roles (physical punishments, harsh control) and the prisoners behaviour (discussing prison issues, rebelling against each other)
• Stanford Prison Experiment (Ethical Issues):

  • Lack of informed consent
  • Abuse of participants
  • Lack of debrief
  • Encouragement of abusive behaviour
  • No consent to being arrested at home
• Conformity is increased when one group is placed in a higher level of authority than the other. This affects both groups, as those with more authority will conform to their role since they have more power than in their normal lives, and those with less authority will conform to their role due to fear of 'stepping out of line'- or they will rebel in an attempt to gain authority and break conformity (like the prisoner's rebellion, where night-shift guards volunteered for extra shifts to stop the rebellion).
• People are more likely to conform to their social role if it is highly stereotyped, shown by the guards usually describing themselves as one of three stereotypes in the interviews after- good, tough but fair, cruel
• The findings of Zimbardo's study support the situational explanation for obedience, not the dispositional explanation- the location (the prison) was a key factor in the behaviour of the guards and prisoners (guards did not act in the same way in their real lives)
• Deindividuation- when the sense of identity and personal responsibility are lost due to becoming too used to the norms of the group
• Example of deindividuation- the guards might have behaved that way as they did not feel personally responsible, since other guards are also acting the same and in the same uniform (forming a group norm)
• Prisoners might have experienced learned helplessness, where they felt like they had no effect on their situation, therefore conforming and showing submissive behaviour.
• The findings of Zimbardo's experiment can also be used to support the idea of reinforcement- guards continued to escalate the aggressive behaviour as they were positively reinforced by other guards and received the feeling of power from prisoners. Prisoners could have learned to do what they were told through negative reinforcement- acting in line to prevent unpleasant behaviour towards them.
• Evaluation of Zimbardo's Prison Experiment:

  • Low external validity- didn't replicate actual prison set-ups and the pps were college students, which doesn't reflect the actual population of prisons
  • Low internal validity- strong demand characteristics- Banuazizi and Movahedi, respondents who were given a description of the study were able to predict how pps would behave, suggesting pps were playing roles, not conforming
  • Sample bias- findings cannot be applied to female prisons as there were no female pps
• Evaluation of Zimbardo's Prison Experiment:

  • Unethical- study was terminated early (on day 6) due to aggressive treatment of prisoners causing emotional breakdowns BUT the study led to a review into ethical guidelines