-Zimbardo and his colleagues were interested in investigating whether the brutality reported in American prisons was due to sadistic personalities of prison guards or whether it was their social role (as a prison guard) that created their behaviour.
Outline the method
-21 men were randomly assigned the role of prison guard or prisoner and taken to a mock prison in the basement of the Stanford University psychology building.
-Uniforms were worn by both guards and prisoners. Guards wore military style uniforms with mirrored glasses and a wooden club. Prisoners wore a loose-fitting smock that deindividuated them.
The guards worked on shifts
-prisoners remained in prison 24h a day. Guards were instructed to maintain law and order in the prison.
-Zimbardo observed the behaviour of the prisoners and guards.
What were the results
-Both guards and prisoners quickly identified with their social roles
-guards treated prisoners harshly e.g dehumanising them, making them clean toilets with bare hands
What did the prisoners become
-increasingly submissive and passive to guards
5 prisoners were...
-released early due to their emotional response e.g depression crying anxiety
Although the experiment was set to run for 2 weeks..
-Zimbardo cancelled his experiment after 6 days
What was the conclusion
-Social roles appear to have a strong influence on individuals behaviour
-situational factors were largely responsible for the behaviour found as none of the ppts had demonstrated these behaviours previously.
