Social Influence: Zimbardo and conformity to social roles (AO1) Flashcards
(16 cards)
Define a ‘social role’.
A position or status that a person holds. Social roles may carry expectations about appropriate attributes and behaviour for the role.
What was the aim of Zimbardo’s (1971) research?
To investigate how readily people would conform to the roles of guard and prisoner in a role-playing exercise that simulated prison life.
Zimbardo and his colleagues were interested in finding out whether the brutality reported among guards in American prisons was due to the sadistic personalities of the guards (dispositional) or had more to do with the prison environment (situational).
Where did Zimbardo’s (1971) experiment take place?
A basement of the Stanford University psychology building, which had been converted into a mock prison.
How much were the participants of Zimbardo’s (1971) experiment paid?
$15 a day.
What was Zimbardo’s (1971) sample?
24 American male college students.
How did Zimbardo acquire the sample?
A newspaper advert was used (volunteer sampling). All 75 applicants underwent diagnostic interviews and personality tests to eliminate candidates with psychological problems, medical disabilities, or a history of crime or drug abuse. Of these applicants, 24 were deemed to be the most mentally fit, so these 24 took part in the experiment.
How were the participants given the role of prisoner or guard?
Participants were randomly allocated the role of prisoner or guard.
How was the role of prisoner created in Zimbardo’s (1971) experiment?
Prisoners were treated like every other criminal. They were arrested at their own homes, without warning, and taken to the local police station. They were fingerprinted, photographed, and ‘booked’. When the prisoners arrived at the prison, they were stripped naked, deloused, had all their personal possessions taken and locked away, and were given prison clothes and bedding. Their clothes comprised of a smock with their number written on it but no underclothes. They also had a tight nylon cap to cover their hair, and a locked chain around one ankle. All prisoners were only referred to by their number.
How was the role of guard created in Zimbardo’s (1971) experiment?
All guards were dressed in identical uniforms of khaki, and they carried a whistle around their neck and a billy club borrowed from the police. Guards also wore special sunglasses to make eye contact with prisoners impossible. Three guards worked shifts of eight hours each, while the other guards remained on call.
What instruction was given to the guards?
Guards were instructed to do whatever they thought was necessary to maintain law and order in the prison and to command the respect of the prisoners. However, no physical violence was permitted.
What was Zimbardo’s role in the experiment?
Zimbardo observed the behaviour of the prisoners and guards as a researcher, and also acted as a prison warden.
What were the key findings of Zimbardo’s (1971) study?
The behaviour of the prisoners and guards quickly got out of hand. Within two days, the prisoners rebelled by refusing to obey the rules. The guards reacted by punishing the prisoners and withdrawing privileges (e.g. depriving the prisoners of sleep by waking them up to conduct headcounts). The prisoners became subdued, depressed, and anxious. One prisoner went on a hunger strike and was punished by being kept in a closet overnight. When prisoners went to Zimbardo to ask to leave, he would try to ask them to stay, reminding them that they had agreed to stay for the whole two weeks. Eventually, the study ended after only six days.
What was the conclusion of Zimbardo’s (1971) study?
People will readily conform to the social roles they are expected to play, especially if the roles are strongly stereotyped (such as prison guards). The prison environment was an important factor in creating the guards’ brutal behaviour, as none of the participants who acted as guards showed sadistic tendencies before the study. Therefore, the findings support the situational explanation of behaviour rather than the dispositional one.
What are the two processes that Zimbardo proposed to explain the behaviour of the guards and the prisoners?
Deindividuation (guards)
Learned helplessness (prisoners)
What is deindividuation and how does it explain the behaviour of the guards?
Deindividuation is a state where you become so immersed in the norms of the group that you lose your sense of identity and personal responsibility. The guards may have been so sadistic because they did not feel that what was happening was down to them personally, as it was a group norm. They also may have lost their sense of identity because of the uniform they wore.
How does learned helplessness explain the behaviour of the prisoners?
The prisoners learnt that whatever they did had little effect on what happened to them. In the mock prison, the unpredictable decisions of the guards led the prisoners to give up responding.
