Zimbardo Conformity to Social Roles

• Zimbardo: Research procedure


  - Mock prison in the basement of Stanford University

  - Volunteer sampling for those who were 'emotionally stable'

  - 24 Male PPs randomly assigned roles of guards or prisoners

  - They were issued a uniform and number

  - The prisoners had to follow rules enforced by guards

  - Names were never used

  - Guards had complete power over prisoners
• Zimbardo: Findings


  - Guards behaviour became a threat to prisoner's psychological and physical health so study was stopped after 6 days instead of the intended 14

  - Conducted frequent headcounts

  - Prisoners became depressed and anxious

  - 1 prisoner was released on 1st day because they showed symptoms of PTSD

  - 2 more were released on the 4th day

  - 1 prisoner went on hunger strike

  - Guard's behaviour became more brutal and aggressive, enjoyed the power they had over prisoners
• Zimbardo: Conclusion


  - Revealed power of the situation to influence people's behaviour

  - Guards, prisoners and researchers all conformed to roles within prison.

  - Even volunteers who came in to perform certain functions found themselves behaving as if they were in a prison rather than a psychological study.
• Zimbardo A03: Control over variables


  - Zimbardo had some control over variables e.g selection of PPs

  - Chose emotionally stable PPs and randomly assigned them to social roles

  - Tried to rule out individual personality differences in the findings

  - If PPs behaved differently but only had these roles by chance then behaviour may have been due to pressures of the situation

  - This increases internal validity of study
• Zimbardo A03: Role of dispositional influences


  - Zimbardo exaggerated the power of the situation and minimised role of personality factors

  - 1/3 guards behaved in a brutal manner, another 1/3 were keen on applying the rules fairly, and the other 1/3 tried to help and support prisoners

  - Differences in guard's behaviour indicate they were able to exercise right and wrong choices despite situational pressures to conform to a role
• Zimbardo A03: Ethical Issues

  • Major ethical issues arose in Zimbardo's study
  • Failed to protect from harm
  • Deception as they were not randomly assigned the role of prisoner or guard and were arrested without knowing
  • Ethical guidelines were broken and cannot be conducted today
• Zimbardo A03: Lack of realism

  • PPs were only play acting and not genuinely conforming to roles
  • Qualitative data gathered from an interview with a guard said he based his performance off a movie being a typical guard
  • Reduces validity of findings
  • However, the situation was real to PPS - qualitative data gathered showed that 90% of prisoners conversations were about prison life
  • This gives a high degree of internal validity
• A03 Zimbardo: Real World Application

  • Lead to a social change in the way US prisons are run
  • Influenced ethical considerations in psychological research
  • Brought awareness to prison abuse and abusing roles of power in general