conformity to social roles

Question 1

what are the strengths of the SPE?

Answer 1

• control over key variables - volunteers were screened and emotionally stable participants were chosen, they were randomly assigned to their roles so behaviour must be due to role itself
• participants were fully and completely debriefed about the aims and results of the study

Question 2

what are the weaknesses of the SPE?

Answer 2

• lack of realism - not a true prison and participants were just play-acting than genuinely conforming to a role, participants’ behaviour due to stereotypes of how prisoners and guards behave
• however, participants did behave as if the prison was real to them, 90% of conversations were about prison life, participants discussed how it was impossible to leave the SPE before their ‘sentence’ was over
• Zimbardo may have exaggerated the power of social roles to influence behaviour, only 1/3 of guards behaved in a brutal manner so overstating the view that the participants were conforming to social roles and minimising the influence of dispositional factors like personality