Zimbardo

Question 1

Phillip Zimbardo

Answer 1

One of the most distinguished psychologists best known for the controversial Stanford University Prison Experiment (Haney et al., 1973) He wondered how people react to new social roles in a stimulated prison envrinmoent

Question 2

What was the aim of the experiment?

Answer 2

To investigate how readily people would conform to the roles of ‘guard’ and ‘prisoner’ in a role play exercise that stimulated prison life

Question 3

What were the procedures?

Answer 3

• Male students volunteered to take part and were physically and psychologically screened and 24 of the most suitable were randomly allocated into their roles. They were paid $15 a day.
• Prisoners were unexpectedly arrested at home and on entry to the ‘prison’ they were put through a delousing procedure ( given a uniform and ID number they were referred to the whole time).
• Prisoners were allowed certain rights including three meals, three supervised toilet breaks a day and two visits a week.
• Gaurds were given uniforms, clubs, whistles and reflective sunglasses to stop eye contact.
• Zimbardo also took on the role as the prison superintendent. The study was planned to last two weeks.

Question 4

Findings

Answer 4

• Within a few days the guards became more sadistic and abusive to the prisoners; had to preform degrading tasks e.g cleaning the toilets with their bare hands when woken up between the night constantly.
• Some guards were more enthusiastic and volunteered to do extra hours without pay.
• Prisoners began to conform to their roles even when unaware they were being watched, forgetting that it was a psychological study.

Question 5

Evaluate the ethical issues

Answer 5

The experiment was considered to be ethical as it followed the guidelines set by Stanford University ethics committee. Also the participants were warned prior to the experiment that some of their rights will be suppressed.

However, the right to withdrawal was not fully acknowledged and the experiment should have been stopped earlier. Participants experienced emotional distress and confidentiality was not fully considered as the documentary exposed their identities. .

Question 6

Evaluate the demand characteristics

Answer 6

Many of the participants were able to assume the aims of the experiment, making them act to their social roles. Banuazizi and Movahedi (1975) argued this, saying that their behaviour was not a response to the ‘compelling prison environment.’

Question 7

Evaluate the participants conformity to social roles

Answer 7

Haslam and Reicher (2012) argued that as the guards behaviour varied from being fully sadistic to, for a few, being ‘good guards’, this shows that they chose how to behave rather than blindly conforming into their social roles.
Zimbardo believed that the naturally drifted into their new roles causing them to suppress their ability to engage with the fact that what they were doing was wrong.

Question 8

Further evaluation points:

Answer 8

• Lacked ecological validity
• Cultural relativism
• Was gender biased