Institutional aggression - General evaluations

Question 1

What are issues with research into institutional aggression ?

Socially sensitive research

Answer 1

Real life implications of the lives of the prisoners.

Findings aggression being due to situational factors can be positive as it can lead to improvements in the prison environment.

Findings of aggression being due to dispositional factors can be negative as it can be used as a justification for cutting budgets.
(They may argue making prisons more uncomfortable wont affect aggression but will be a good deterrent)

Question 2

Explain how Zimbardo’s prison experiment is support for situational factors

Answer 2

Participants were screened before the experiment so unlikely to have dispositional factors.

The experiment esqualted quickly into aggression from both prisoners/guards.

The conditions were bad - the staff obvs untrained.

The aggression was due to the situational pressure of the simulated prison.

Question 3

Explain the interactionist approach

(Positive)

Answer 3

Most valid explanation
Suggests that it is both dispositional and situational factors that cause aggression in prison.