Conformity to social roles
Cards (5)
- Conformity to social roles-Stanford prison experiment –
- Zimbardo et al (1973)
- 21 participants since 3 dropped out, all male student volunteers.
- Randomly assigned the role of a prison guard or prisoner, given uniforms for each, had to conform to their roles.
- Prisoners wore a loose smock and a cap, identified by numbers.
- Guards wore a smart uniform to reflect status, hand cuffs, wooden club and shades.
- Conformity to social roles - Stanford prison experiment-
- Zimbardo et al (1973)
- Encouraged to feel their role, so prisoners could apply for parol and guards had complete control.
- 2-days in there was rebellions by tearing uniforms and shouting/swearing.
- ‘Divide-and-rule’ tactics were used with head counts, so they knew who was in charge.
- Prisoners became depressed and anxious, some showing significant psychological distress (2 released on day 4), hunger strikes.
- Guard started being aggressive and violent, enjoying the power over the prisoners.
- Ended after 6 days, instead of the intended 14.
- Conformity to social roles- Zimbardo 1973-CPS- McDermott (2019) behaved as if the prison was real – 90% of prisoners talked about prison life, some believed it was an undercover prison.CPW- Lacked realism of a real prison – Banuazizi and Movahedi (1975) argued that they were just conforming to the role since their performance was based on stereotypes (films they watched).
- Conformity to social roles- Zimbardo 1973-CPS- Conforming to the role they were given was seen as ‘natural/easy’.CPW- Reicher and Haslam (2006) says it doesn’t account for the non-brutal guards who weren’t conforming to their social role.
- Conformity to social roles- Zimbardo 1973-S- Internal validity since Zimbardo was in control of key variables – all emotionally-stable.W- Fromm (1973) exaggerated social roles, 1/3 guards acted brutal, 1/3 were fair, 1/3 were trying to help the prisoners- Zimbardo overestimated their conformity to social roles due to the pity some guards took.