A01

• conformity to social roles as investigated by philip zimbardo
• aim


  to investigate if prison brutality happens because of personality of guards and prisoners or because they are conforming to social roles
• overt and controlled observation
• zimbardo turned the basement of a university into a mock prison
• 75 male university students responded to zimbardo's newspaper advert, 21 were recruited to participate
• 21 of those participants were divided into the role of either prisoner or guard
• prisoners were arrested , stripped of clothes, fingerprinted and made to dress like prisoners, to make it as real as possible
• the guards were given uniforms and given sunglasses, handcuffs and bats
• he put the 21 participants in a controlled environment and observed their behaviour
• first the prisoners tried to rebel and barricaded themself using their beds
• guards got mad, crushing rebellion
• the guards after the rebellion taunted the prisoners and gave them meaningless tasks to do
• prisoners who protested were punished, placed in solitary confinement, prevented from peeing and made to sleep on floor
• prisoners that sided with guards given special priveleges
• one prisoner was released early after fit of hysterical crying
• another prisoner went on a hunger strike
• after 6 days, zimbardo's partner stepped in and told him the experiment can't continue because it is unacceptable
• guards acted cruelly and harassed prisoners, acted brutally and sadistically
• conclusion


  prison violence is caused by people conforming to social roles of prisoners and guards, because violence is seen when normal people are put in prisons
• experiment supported the conclusion that prison brutality is driven by the situation and social roles not personality
• zimbardo ensured pp were physically and mentally stable before the study began