AO1

• Zimbardo proposed two explanations for the reason behind violent conditions in prison settings, the dispositional and situational explanation.
• Dispositional Explanation


  People behave the way they do due to their nature and who they are as a person.
• Situational Explanation


  People behave the way they do due to the environment they are in.
• Zimbardo had two aims for his Stanford Prison Experiment

  • to test the situational vs dispositional hypothesis
  • to see how people would conform to social roles
• Zimbardo's experiment was conducted in a basement at Stanford Uni with 24 male students; 12 guards and 12 prisoners. The experiment was expected to last 1-2 weeks where prisoners followed a strict schedule implemented by the guards.
• Method: Prisoners

  Prisoners were arrested by real policemen in their own home and were thumbprints, stripped and blindfolded. They were given uniforms, stocking hats to simulate a shaven head and numbers for identification.
• Method: Guards

  Guards wore khaki uniforms and sunglasses (in order to avoid eye contact) and were told not to use physical violence and to maintain a certain degree of order for effective functioning of the prison.
• Findings: Prisoners

  Initially, prisoners rioted but were dealt with by the guards. One prisoner asked to leave within the first day, but Zimbardo responded by asking him to be a 'mole' for him and giving him some time to think about, which he later declined and was released after 36 hours. Over the next few days, 3 more were released. Prisoners began to show deindividuation by referring to each other by their numbers and experienced further emotional and mental distress.
• Findings: Guards

  Guards begun to humiliate and punish prisoners, becoming increasingly aggressive. They gave prisoners meaningless tasks and woke them up in the middle of the night to complete them. However, not all guards were like this. There were 'bad' and 'good' guards.
• Zimbardo: General Findings

  The experiment ended after 6 days, shorter than the expected 1-2 weeks, due to the emotional and mental harm on prisoners caused by the increasing aggression of the guards. In later interviews, both prisoners and guards said that they were surprised at their uncharacteristic behaviour
• Zimbardo: Conclusion

  Zimbardo concluded that the situational hypothesis explains the violent behaviour found in prisons as 'normal/stable' people displayed uncharacteristic behaviour. They also found identification. This lead to the conclusion that individuals conform to roles given to them even if they override their morals. However, there were individual differences shown in the behaviour of the guards.