Conformity to social roles Zimbardo

• Zimbardo and his colleagues

  Set up a mock prison in the basement of the psychology department
• Purpose of the mock prison

  • To test if the brutality of prison guards was the result of sadistic personality or if the situation created it
• Participants


  24 emotionally stable students determined by psychological testing to be guards of prisoners
• Participant recruitment


  1. Arrested the students in their homes to increase realism

  2. Their lives were then heavily regulated

  3. Went through de-individualisation
• Prisoner rebellion


  1. Prisoners rebelled against their treatment within two days

  2. Guards harassed the prisoners

  3. Guards highlighted differences in social rules by creating opportunities to enforce the rules
• Guards


  • Took to their roles with enthusiasm
  • Their behaviour affected the prisoners' wellbeing
• After the rebellion


  The prisoners became subdued and anxious
• Prisoner outcomes


  • Three prisoners were released early due to psychological disturbance
  • One prisoner went on hunger strike
• The simulation revealed


  1. The power of the situation to influence behaviour

  2. Everyone conformed to their roles

  3. The more the guards took to their role the more brutal they became
• Strength of SPE


  • Researchers had some control over variables
  • Emotionally stable participants were randomly assigned to either guard or prisoner
  • Behaviour was due to the pressures of the situation, not their personalities
  • Control increased the internal validity
• Limitation of SPE


  Major ethical issues
• Zimbardo was both researcher and prison superintendent

  Limited Zimbardo's capabilities of protecting his participants
• Potential limitation of SPE

  Lack of realism
• Participants were play acting and their performances represented their stereotypes on how they view guards and prisoners behaviour
• One guard based his behaviour on a TV show and the prisoners based theirs on riots
• 90% of the prisoners' conversations were about prison life, the simulation appeared to be real to them
• The simulation's internal validity was increased