Conformity to social roles

• Zimbardo‘s prison experiment

  set up a mock prison in Stanford university basement, with 21 male student volunteers who tested as emotionally stable, they were randomly assigned prisoner or guard with a coin toss

  both prisoners and guards were encouraged to conform to roles, verbally and physically
• Uniform- guards had wooden clubs, handcuffs mirrored shades and prisoners wore a loose smock and cap and identified by numbers

  The uniforms created a loss of personal identity, so they were more likely to conform to perceived social roles

  Behaviour- guards constantly reminded they had full control over prisoners, prisoners had several procedures like applying for parole
• Findings

  guards quickly took to their role, treating prisoners harshly, after 2 days prisoners rebelled by ripping their clothes off and shouting at guards, Guards retaliated with a fire extinguisher.

  The guards played prisoners off against each other and constantly harassed them to remind them they were powerless, they conducted frequent head counts, they took every opportunity to punish them. The prisoners became subdued, depressed and anxious. 

  Study ended after 6 days instead of intended 14
• conclusion

  Social rules have a strong influence on individuals behaviour

  The guards became brutal, and the prisoners became submissive

  roles were easily taken on by all participants even volunteers who came to perform specific functions found themselves behaving as if they were in a real prison
• A strength is Zimbardo had control over key variables

  Selection of participants meant he could select emotionally stable individuals and randomly assign them to the roles of guards and prisoners. This ruled out individual personality differences as an explanation of the findings.

  If guards and prisoners behaved very differently but were in those roles by chance then their behaviour must’ve been due to the role itself

  this increases internal validity
• A limitation is that Zimbardo may have exaggerated the power of social roles to influence behaviour

  Only one third of guards behaved in a brutal manner, another third tried to apply the rules fairly, and the rest helped the prisoners

  Most guards were able to resist situational pressures to conform to a brutal roll

  This suggests that Zimbardo over stated his view that participants were conforming to social roles and minimised the influence of dispositional factors
• One limitation is the lack of realism

  The mock prison didn’t have the realism of a real prison, psychologists argue participants were just playing acting rather than conforming to a social role. One participant said he based his role on a brutal character from a film.

  However, some argue that the participants did behave as if the prison was real. 90% of conversations were about prison life, and they discussed how it was impossible to leave.