The stanford prison experiment

• Conducted by Zimbardo
• conformity to social roles= when an individual adopts a particular behaviour and belief, while in a particular social situation. EG teacher, identification, observation- imitation- conformity,
• zimbardo wanted to investigate if people in guard positions were naturally brutal people, or if the situation creates the behaviour
• sample of 21 male uni students
• volunteers from a newspaper advert
• the sample taken from the over 70 volunteers was based on their overall mental and physical stability
• randomly assigned pps, earned 15 dollars a day
• guards supplied with their own equipment, dark reflective sunglasses, handcuffs and a truncheon and they were instructed to run the prison without using any physical violence,
• The prisoners were stripped and given a no,
• Zimbardo wanted to add to the realism of the study so he had arranged for the prisoners to be arrested at their homes by real life local police officers, and then fingerprinted as well,
• he also turned the basement of stanford uni into a mock prison to add to the realism
• Zimbardo instated himself as the warden of that prison, was in control of the guards and was the boss of the prison
• was due to run for 2 weeks
• both the guards and prisoners quickly identified with their social roles
• within days, the prisoners rebelled against the guards, did not last long as the guards quickly crushed the rebellion after which the guards then increasingly became very abusive towards the prisoners, prisoners regularly dehumanised, the guards would stop them from sleeping during the night regularly, force them to clean the toilets with their bare hands. and so on, the prisoners became increasingly more obedient with the guards, more and more identified with a subordinate role.
• 5 of the 6 prisoners released early as they had received such harsh reactions to the physical and mental torment that they were being subjected to, signs of psychological disturbance,- uncontrollable crying, anxiety and depression.
• Although the experiment was to be ran for 2 weeks, it had to be terminated after only 6 days, was not Zimbardo who ended it, fellow post-graduate student had to convince him the conditions were cruel and inhumane.
• Conclusions- people conform to their social roles quickly, even when the role goes against their moral principles, situational factors were highly responsible. None of the pps had ever demonstrated these behaviours previously.
• Evaluation of the study- Ethical issues- considerable psychological harm to the prisoners as he had a dual role he was not looking out for his pp but treating them as prisoners, lack of realism- many argue the pps were acting on demand characteristics rather than truly conforming,
• Further evaluation- real world app, his findings were later applied to the brutality that was seen in Abu Gharib showing the impact of situational factors.
• Further evaluation- individual differences- the sample was 24 men who volunteered for a prison study, later research shows people who volunteer for similar studies are more likely to have authoritarian personalities- concentrated anger/aggression.
• aim- to investigate the extent to which people will conform to social roles, prisoner and guard.
• procedure- advert placed in the newspaper. male volunteer students responded and 24 rated most physically and mentally stable were chosen. they were randomly allocated into either guard or prisoner role. Zimbardo also played role of researcher as well as superintendant.
• Prisoners were picked up by police , finger prints and mugs taken, and then transported to mock prison, in Stanford Uni. Guards given uniforms and items of power and prisoners wore smocks and were given numbers.
• Findings- both prisoners and guards conformed to social roles, prisoner's rioted and guards responded with fire extinguishers, guards became authoritative and demanding and sadistic at times, prisoners become submissive and many had mental breakdowns,
• conclusion- situational factors affect behaviour and that people do conform to social roles.
• guards became increasingly sadistic, for example, they forced the prisoners to continually repeat their assigned numbers and made them go to the toilet in buckets in their cells, as punishment, the guards refused to allow prisoners to empty these buckets, took away their mattresses and made them sleep on the concrete floor, taking away their clothes
• the results of the prison study suggest people conform to social roles to a significant extent
• study abandoned after 5 days
• zimbardo ended it after realising the guards' abuse of the prisoners had gone too far