Conformity To Social Roles Flashcards
(23 cards)
Who studied social roles and conformity
Zimbardo
What did Zimbardo want to investigate
how we conform to social roles rather than behaviors and opinions of others
what was the question Zimbardo wanted to answer following the reports of prison guard brutality
Do prison guards behave brutally because they have sadist personalities or is it the situation that creates this behaviour?
what was the name of the experiment Zimbardo conducted to research conformity to social change
The Stanford Prison Experiment
Briefly outline the Stanford Prison Experiment
.conducted in basement in stanford uni’s psych basement
.recruited 21 emotioanlly stable students
.randomly assigned roles of either guards or prisoners
.prisoners were arrested in their homes and blindfolded to be taken to the prison and then stripsearched and issued a uniform and number
.their daily routine was heavily regulated
.guards had complete power over prisoners
why were prisoners arrested in their homes and delivered to the prison
to increase realism
what were the prisoners known by
numbers not names (loss of identity)
how many rules where there to follow
16
how did the guard shifts work
they worked in shifts 3 at a time
what did the guard uniform consist of
wooden club, handcuffs, keys and mirror shades
what were the findings for the prisoners
within 2 days they rebelled against their treatment and ripped their uniforms and shouted and swore at the guards who retaliated with fire extinguishers
what were the findings for the guards
they harassed the prisoners constantly by conducting frequent headcounts sometimes in the middle of the night and they highlighted differences in social roles by creating opportunities to enforce the rules and punish slight misdemeanors
how did the guards behaviour change throughout the experiment
after a slow start, the guards took their roles with enthusiasm and their behavior became a threat to the prisoner’s psychological and physical health
what was the health of the prisoners like
They became subdued, anxious, and depressed
.3 Prisoners were released early due to psychological harm
.1 prisoner went on a hunger strike but was force-fed by guards and was punished by being put in ‘the hole’
after how many days was the study stopped compared to how many days it was supposed to be
stopped after 6 days instead of the planned 8 days
what did the stimulation reveal about the power of the situation to influence peoples behavior
all roles conformed to their social roles within the prison and as for the guards, the more they identified with their roles the more brutal and aggressive they became
STRENGTH: In what ways did Zimbardo have control over his research
.choice of participants- emotionally stable
.randomly allocated to conditions to avoid the influence of personality
STRENGTH: what is the benefit of there being good control over variables in a study
There is good internal validity- cause and effect of the roles
LIMITATION: what were the ethical issues presented in this study
.They were deceived as even though they signed an agreement they didn’t know they would be arrested at home
.Psychological harm as they were humiliated and dehumanized by the initiation procedure
.The ends do not justify the means and this study became too real for those who took part
STRENGTH (counterpoint): How did Zimbardo tackle some of the ethical issues
.They had several sessions with participants to help them deal with their emotional responses to the experiment
.They maintained contact with the participants to prevent any negative effects from happening
LIMITATION: why was it an ethical issue that Zimbardo was both the lead researcher and superintendent
Because both his roles conflicted with each other as they both had different motives, this limited his ability to protect participants from harm. This stemmed from when a student who wanted to leave the study spoke to him and he responded as a superintendent who worried about how the prison ran rather than as a researcher
LIMITATION: what did other psychologists argue about the study’s realism
that the play-acting was based on stereotypes which affects the validity of the results
STRENGTH (counterpoint): how did Zimbardo counteract their claim
He found that through quantitative data that the prisoners thought it was a real prison
