conformity to social roles

• Social roles are the expectations, responsibilities and behaviours we adopt in certain situations
• Zimbardo -Aim

  • investigate how pps conform to social roles

  procedure

  • 24 male Americans tested as emotionally stable
  • randomly assigned to guard or prisoner
  • prisoners identified by number and given uniform, guards given uniform, club and sunglasses (uniforms = deindividualization)
  • encouraged to conform to roles

  findings

  • guards treated prisoners harshly
  • prisoners became obedient
  • some prisoners left early. ended study at day 6 not 14

  conclusions

  • pps adapted to social roles quickly
• weakness -

  It has been argued that pp’s were play-acting based on stereotypes (demand characteristics) rather than conforming to a role and one guard said that his behaviour was based on a brutal guard from a film.

  Suggests the findings of the SPE tell us little about conformity to social roles in the real world and in actual prisons (low ecological validity)
• strength -

  McDermott (2019) argues pp’s behaved as if the prison was real to them.

  Additionally, behaviours similar to that observed in the PSE have been recorder in real life situations such as Abu Ghraib.

  Suggests the findings of the SPE did replicate the social roles of prisoners and guards in real prions, giving the study a high degree of internal validity.
• strength -

  The SPE has altered the way US prisons are run e.g. juveniles accused of federal crimes are no longer housed before trial with adult prisoners due to the risk of violence against them

  The SPE has had a positive impact on society and prison systems
• weakness -

  The SPE caused psychological harm to pps (several prisoners had to leave earlier due to distress and breakdowns) and the right to withdraw was questionable. (Although, this study led to the formal recognition of ethical guidelines which all studies must now follow!)

  The SPE contained many ethical issues which caused harm to the pp’s, however this has led to positive changes in the field.