conformity to social roles

• what is meant by social roles

  the parts people play as members of various social groups. For example, parent, child, student, passenger. These are accompanied by expectations we and others have of what is appropriate behaviour in each role.
• who created the stanford prison experiment

  Zimbardo et al (1973).
• what was the set up of the prison experiment

  Zimbardo set up a mock prison in the basement of the psychology department at Stanford university. They select 21 male student volunteers who were tested as emotionally stable

  Students were randomly assigned to play the role of prison guard or prisoner. Participants were encouraged to conform to their social role.
• how did the role of uniform affect conformity.

  prisoners were given a cap, a loose smock and identified by number.

  Guards has a uniform with a wooden clyb, handcuffs and mirror shades.

  these uniforms created a loss of personal identity (called de-indidviduation) so they would be more likely to conform to their role
• how were participants instructed to act

  the prisoners were further encouraged to identify with their role by several procedures. For example, instead of leaving the study early prisoners could 'apply for parole'. The guards were encouraged to play their role by being reminded that they had complete power over prisoners
• what was the findings on the guards behaviour

  they acted aggressively and harassed prisoners reminding them that they were powerless. For example, frequent headcounts.

  Some enjoyed this power
• what are the findings on the prisoners behaviour.

  within two days, they rebelled by swearing and shouting at guards.

  Prisoners became depressed and anxious.

  One was released for showing signs of psychological disturbance and two more on the forth day.
• how long did the study go on for

  the study ended after 6 days instead of the intended 14 days.
• what are the conclusions of Zimbardos study

  social roles have a strong influence on a persons behaviour with prisons being submissive and guards being brutal.
• what are the strengths and weaknesses of Zimbardo's study

  + highly controlled

  + withdrew px

  -- lack of realism

  -- exaggerates the power of social roles
• how is zimbardos study highly controlled

  he used emotionally stable participants and randomly allocated their roles.

  increases internal validity
• why is zimbardo ending the study early a strength

  he saw distress and ended the study to stop any harm

  however, px did initally suffer in the study- unethical.
• why does zimbardos study lack realism

  px could have been play acting based on sterotypes. For example, rioting and acting brutal from what they had seen in the media.

  however, prisoner 416 claimed the prison felt real. (McDermott 2019).
• why does zimbardos study exaggerate the power of social roles

  only 1/3 of the guards actually behaved brutally. Another third tried to enforce the roles fairly and the rest tried to support prisoners.

  this suggests zimbardo overstated his view on the impact of social roles