conformity to social roles

• what is a special type of conformity

  conformity to social roles
• where to expectations of how to behave come from

  these expectations arise out of the roles we play in society and are powerful influence on our behaviour
• what is conformity

  a type of social influence where a person changes their belief, behaviour or attitude due to real or imagined pressure from a person or group of people
• what are social roles

  a set of expected behaviour that is attached to a position in society
• what are some examples of social roles

  politions, police, teacher and student
• what are the expected behaviour of student

  respectful, attentive and dedication to studies
• who conducted the stanford prison experiment

  zimbardo
• what did the SPE investigate

  the extent to which people will conform to the role of police guard and prisoner in a role playing simulation of prison life
• what are example of prison guard behaviour

  agressivness, dominat, confident and demanding
• what are example of prisoner behaviour

  submissive, defiant and compliant
• how many guards and prisoners were there in the SPE

  12 of each
• how were the prisoners brought in

  in police cars and arrested - blindfolded and handcuffed
• how were the prisoners treated

  dehuminised and as dangerous prisoners
• how were the prisoners referred to

  by a number
• how were the prisoners humiliated

  strip searched, put in smocks, made to sing, push ups, clean toilets with bear hands, made to recreate sexual/ degrading acts and made to chant untrue things about themselves
• how long did the SPE last

  had to be abandoned after 6 days
• how did zimbardo set up experiment (method)

  he set up a mock prison in the basement of the psychology department at Stanford university and zimbardo was the lead researcher of the experiment and also the superintendent
• how did zimbardo choose the participants (method)

  he advertised for students willing volunteer and selected those who were deemed 'emotionally stable after psychological testing, then they were randomly assigned the roles of guard or prisoner
• how did zimbardo heighten the realism of the experiment (method)

  to heighten the realm of the study, the prisoners were arrested in their homes by the local police and were delivered to the prison
• what happened to the prisoner when they first arrived at the prison (method)

  they were stipped naked, hosed down and put in smocks
• how were the social roles divided (method)

  the prisoners and guards were strictly divided, there were 16 rules they had to follow which were enforced by the guards who worked the shifts
• what did the guards have (method)

  the guards, to underline their role, had their own uniform, complete with a wooden club, handcuffs, keys and mirror shade, they were told they had complete power over the prisoners
• what is an example of how the guards had complete control over the prisoners (method)

  they decided when the prisoners could go to the toilet
• what kind of behaviour did the guard show in the study (results)

  they became increasingly brutal, controlling, demanded things from the the prisoners and had full control of them
• what kind of behaviour did the prisoners show in the study (results)

  they became submissive, compliant and began to have breakdowns
• when did the study end (results)

  the study had to be abandoned after 6 days
• what can you conclude from zimbardo's study

  this suggests that guards and prisoners all conformed to their social roles in the experiment
• what is a strength of SPE (variables)

  P - a strength of SPE is that the researcher had some control over variables

  E - Zimbardo had assessed the participants before the experiment. He assessed their psychological state and choose their most stable participants. Additionally, he assigned the role of prisoner and guard randomly

  E - therefore by using random allocation there was no bias in the personality type and therefore the observed behaviour was not due to the bias

  L - this suggests that there was high validity and this increases the conclusion of the studies validity in the influence of social roles
• what is a limitation of SPE (studies)

  P - SPE has been contradicted by subsequent research

  E - reicher and Haslam partially replicated the SPE, with different findings, they found that the prisoners took charge due to developing a shared identity

  E - tajfel's social identity theory explains this. Guards in the replication failed to devlop shared social identity as a group but prisoners did and refused to accept the limits of their roles

  L - so the brutality of the guard in the SPE study was due to a shared group identity rather than conformity to roles
• what is a limiation of SPE (ethics)

  P - a final limitation is that there were major ethical issues with the SPE

  E - Zimbardo was the lead experimenter and the prison superintendent and as a result he also fell into the role

  E - zimbardo broke the ethical issues right to withdraw and protection from harm. on the first day a prisoner asked zimbardo to leave and he refused, this breaks the right to withdraw ethic and he was full involved in his role as superintendent. this lead to the prisoner having a nervous breakdown

  L - this suggests that zimbardo playing 2 roles can lead to him not thinking ethically and therefore the study lacks validity
• what does conformity to social roles involve

  a person changing their behaviour to fit in with what is expected within their position in society