Conformiy to social roles: Zimbardo

• social roles are the parts people play as members of social groups - accompanied by expectations of others and appropriate behaviours for their role.
• zimbardo's prison experiment was conducted in 1973, in the basement of stanford university.
• the aim of Zimbardo's prison experiment was to see how readily people conform to new social roles.
• • Zimbardo gathered his participants by putting an advert in a newspaper, gathering 75 respondants.
  • these filled out a questionnaire about physical and mental health.
  • the 24 deemed most stable were selected for the study.
  • all participants were american male students.
• • prisoners were arrested at their homes, and transported to the mock prison.
  • they were given a smock to wear and a number, which they were to be referred to as.
  • guards were also given uniforms and batons.
  • guards were told they were not to be physically violent, but no other restrictions were given.
• • the effects of their social roles was displayed in their behaviour.
  • prisoners rebelled at first - guards became increasingly physically aggressive.
  • experiment was stopped after 6 days - many prisoners released early.
  • guards harrassed prisoners - midnight headcounts.
  • one prisoner went on hunger strike - guards force fed him.
• LIMITATION: LACK OF REALISM

  • not in a real prison.
  • participants were play-acting, performance was based on pre-formed stereotypes of guards and prisoners from the media.
  • one guard admitted to basing his actions on one of his favourite film characters.
  • tells us little about conformity in real prisons.
• STRENGTH - INTERNAL VALIDITY:

  • researchers say that participants did behave as if they were actually in a prison, as the prisoners were under the influence that it was real.
  • 90% of conversation surrounded prison life.
  • suggests high internal validity.
• LIMITATION - EXAGGERATES POWER OF THE ROLES:

  • may have exaggerated the impact of the social roles.
  • only 1/3 of guards showed brutality.
  • another 1/3 tried to remain fair.
  • the final 1/3 sided with the prisoners.
• LIMITATION - ALTERNATIVE EXPLANATION:

  • Zimbardo states conforming to the role came naturally.
  • psychologists argue this doesnt account for the behaviour of the non-brutal guards.
  • social identity theory states guards had to actively identify with their roles to act in the way that they did.