Conformity to social roles

• AO1 - Aims and environment

  Zimbardo et al set up a mock prison in the basement of the psychology department at Stanford university to investigate the effect of social roles on confomity.
• AO1 - participants

  21 male student volunteers who were tested as ‘emotionally stable’, were randomly allocated to the role of the guard or prisoner.
• AO1 - Uniform and Instructions about behaviour

  The social roles were encourages by 2 routes:

  • Uniform: prisoners were strip-searched, given a loose smock to wear and were identified as a number, which encouraged de-individuation. Guards had their own uniform with handcuffs.
  • Instructions about behaviour: prisoners had to apply for parole. Guards had complete power over prisoners.
• AO1 - rebellion

  • Guards played their roles enthusiastically and treated prisoners harshly.
  • Within 2 days, the prisoners rebelled by ripping their uniforms and shouting and swearing at the guards.
  • The guards retaliated with fire extinguishers to remind the prisoners of their powerless role.
• AO1 - psychological and physical health


  • After the rebellion was put down, prisoners became anxious and depressed.
  • 3 prisoners were released early as they showed signs of psychological disturbance.
  • 1 prisoner went on a hunger strike and the guards attempted to force-feed him then punished him by putting him in ‘the hole’.
  • Due to the increasingly aggressiveness of guards, Zimbardo ended the study after 6 days instead of the planned 14 days.
• AO1 - conclusion

  Social roles have a strong influence on behaviour as guards became brutal and prisoners became submissive.
• AO3 - ✔️control over key variables


  • Emotionally-stable participants were recruited and randomly allocated roles.
  • Guards and prisoners had those roles by chance, so their behaviour was due to the role itself rather than their personalities.
  • This control increased the study‘s internal validity, so we have more confidence in drawing conclusions about the influence of social roles on conformity.
• AO3 - ✖️lacked the realism of a true prison


  • Researchers argued that participants were play-acting and their performance reflected stereotypes of how prisoners and guards are supposed to behave.
  • E.g. one guard based his role on a character from the film ‘Cool Hand Luke’.
  • Suggests the findings tells us little about conformity in actual prisons.
• AO3 - counterpoint; lacked the realism of a true prison

  • McDermott argued participants did behave as if the prison was real.
  • 90% of the prisoners’ conversations were about prison life.
  • Prisoner 416 believed it was a real prison run by psychologists.
  • Suggests the SPE replicated the roles of guards and prisoners just as in a real prison, increasing internal validity.
• AO3 - ✖️Zimbardo exaggerated the power of social roles


  • Only a third of the guards behaved in a brutal way, whilst another third applied the rules fairly.
  • The rest supported prisoners by offering them cigarettes and reinstating privileges.
  • Most guards were able to resist situational pressures to conform to a brutal role.
  • The SFE overstates the views that guards were conforming to brutal roles and minimises the influence of dispositional factors.