conformity to social roles

• conformity=a change in a person’s behaviour or opinion as a

  result of a real or imagined pressure from a person or group of people’
• zimbardo's stanford prison experiment investigated conformity to social roles
• social roles can be defined as the parts that people play as members of their social group - accompanied by expectations of what behaviour is appropriate for each role
• zimbardo's sample consisted of 24 male students from Stanford university
• key features of zimbardo's study:

  American student volunteers were paid to take part in the study.

  They were randomly issued either guard or prisoner.

  Both prisoners and guards had to wear uniforms.

  Prisoners were only referred to by their assigned number. Guards were given props like handcuffs and sunglasses
• findings of zimbardo's Stanford study:

  identification occurred very fast, as both the prisoners and guards adopted their new roles and played their part in a short amount of time.

  Guards began to harass and torment prisoners in harsh and aggressive ways – they later reported to have enjoyed doing so.

  The guards became more demanding of obedience and assertiveness towards the prisoners while the prisoners become more submissive. This suggests that the respective social roles became increasingly internalised.
• reicher and haslam's study replicated the Stanford prison experiment in the UK. found that participants did not conform to their roles automatically. guards were reluctant to impose authority. shows that conformity may vary over the world.
• zimbardos study caused Psychological harm – Participants were not protected from stress, anxiety, emotional distress and embarrassment e.g. one prisoner had to be released due to excess distress and uncontrollable screaming and crying. One prisoner was released on the first day due to showing signs of psychological disturbance, with a further two being released on the next day. This study would be deemed unacceptable according to modern ethical standards.
• zimbardo's study was terminated after only 6 days out of the originally planned 14 days
• zimbardo used participant observation to observe behaviour, meaning his own behaviours may have effected the findings of study, so the validity of the findings is questionable