Social Influence - Conformity: Zimbardo's research

Question 1

Where did the experiments take place?

Answer 1

In the basement of Stanford universities psychology building

Question 2

How many participants were recruited to take part in the experiment?

Answer 2

24
12 prisoners and 12 guards

Question 3

How were the participants recruited?

Answer 3

Volunteer sampling

Question 4

What was the basis of the participants being selected?

Answer 4

That they were in good psychological condition

Question 5

How were the participants allocated to their roles?

Answer 5

Randomly allocated

Question 6

How did Zimbardo heighten the realism of the experiment?

Answer 6

The participants who were ‘prisoners’ were blind folded, strip searched, deloused and assigned a uniform and number.

Question 7

How many rules did the prisoners have to follow?

Answer 7

16

Question 8

“How were prisoners deindividuated to emphasize their role?”

Answer 8

-Uniform
- Given a number instead of name

Question 9

How were guards deindividuated to emphasize their role

Answer 9

• Uniform
• Sunglasses to hide their face

Question 10

How many days did the experiment last and how many days was it meant to last?

Answer 10

It was meant to last 2 weeks and it actually lasted 6 days

Question 11

How many days did it take for the prisoners to rebel?

Answer 11

2 days

Question 12

Give an example of how prisoners rebelled.

Answer 12

• Ripped their uniforms and swore and shouted at guards

Question 13

Give an example of how guards put down the prisoners rebellion

Answer 13

They used ‘divide-and-rule’ tactics, playing the prisoners off against each other, and completing headcounts, sometimes at night

Question 14

What can we conclude from SPE?

Answer 14

1)Social roles appeared to have a strong influence on individuals’ behaviour in this study
2)Power may corrupt those who wield it i.e. the guards over the prisoners
Institutions may brutalise people and result in deindividuation (for both guards and prisoners)

Question 15

Two Strengths of SPE

Answer 15

-Prisoners and guards were randomly assigned to their roles, increasing the control Zimbardo had over the internal validity (whether the study actually measured what it intended to) of the study
-A major practical application is that the study meant practices were changed in US prisons to protect the vulnerable and make prisons safer, and a lot of this was due to the study

Question 16

One weakness of SPE - Ethical issues

Answer 16

There were ethical issues with the study: The participants were subjected to psychological harm, which could have been long-lasting
The right to withdraw was made difficult, perhaps because Zimbardo himself was playing the role of superintendent, which made it hard for at least one prisoner to withdraw from the study

Question 17

Another weakness of SPE- Lack of realism

Answer 17

It has been said the participants were acting in a stereotypical way
For example, one guard said that he based his behaviour on a brutal character he had seen in a film
There is a lack of realism and many argued that it did not have the realism of a real prison