Zimbardo (1973) - Research into conformity and social roles

• What was Zimbardo's aim?

  -Zimbardo (1973) aimed to test whether ordinary people would conform to the social roles of prison guard and prisoner in a mock prison as part of the 'Stanford Prison Experiment' (SPE).
• What was the procedure of Zimbardo's experiment - 1?

  -Procedure:

  -Fake prison created in the basement of Stanford university. 21 male students rated as physically and mentally stable chosen from 75 volunteers who responded to newspaper advert. -Random selection of 10 guards, 11 prisoners.

  -Prisoners given realistic arrest by local police, fingerprinted, stripped, deloused. And given a prison uniform and a number to dehumanise them.

  -They had to follow strict rules during the day. Guards had complete control and given a uniform, clubs, handcuffs and sunglasses to avoid eye contact.

  -The guards referred to the prisoners by their numbers.

  -Zimbardo took on the role of Prison Superintendent and the study was planned to last for two weeks
• What were the findings of Zimbardo's experiment?

  -Prisoners and guards conformed to their social roles quickly, but after two days prisoners revolted against the poor treatment by the guards.

  -In day six the experiment was cancelled early due to fears for the prisoner's mental health.

  -Extreme behaviour of previously stable students suggests prison environments have the situational power to change behaviour to conform to socially defined roles.
• Evaluation - Evidence

  -Evidence against the SPE comes from a replication conduction for the BBC:

  -Reicher and Haslam (2006) found that it was the prisoners, not the guards, who eventually took control of the mock prison and subjected the guards to a campaign of harassment.

  -It was concluded that the prisoners developed a shared social identity which allowed them to act with a shared purpose whilst the guards did not (social identity theory).

  -This is a problem for Zimbardo's SPE findings as it suggests we do not automatically conform to social roles and other factors (such as developing a shared group identity) play a part too.
• Evaluation - Practical applications

  -One strength of the research is that it may have practical applications:

  -This means it has helped to highlight the ways in which ordinary, emotionally stable people can behave extremely differently in the right social context and could be used to help prevent brutality in other prison-like contexts.

  -For example, similar social pressures may have played a role in the brutality shown at Abu Ghraib prison.

  -This is a strength as it may help prevent future brutality by having a greater awareness of the issues raised.