What did Zimbardo aim to investigate?
Conformity to social roles ie. identification
What was the procedure of Zimbardo’s prison study?
He converted the basement of Stanford university into a mock prison and advertised in a newspaper for people to take part in an experiment to play either prisoner or guard.
Randomly assigned pps to prisoner or guard.
Prisoners had a uniform and a number
Guards had a khaki uniform, handcuffs, whistle and dark-tinted sunglasses.
No physical violence was permitted
What were the findings for Zimbardo’s study?
They adopted their roles quickly.
Guards began to harass the prisoners.
Prisoners became submissive after trying to resist it.
Guards invented nastier punishments.
Prisoners became so distressed the experiment was cut short
What was the conclusion of Zimbardo’s study?
Social role conformity can adapt our behaviour
What were the strengths of Zimbardo’s study?
He helped to alter the way in which prisons are ran in the US, eg. Juveniles are not kept with adults
The harmful treatment of the participants led to recognition of ethical guidelines
In Zimbardo’s defence, he could not predict the response from the prisoners as they were tested beforehand for any previous mental health problems
What were the weaknesses of Zimbardo’s study?
- Demand characteristics - they will have just been acting to fit the roles
- It cant be generalised to a real life prison
- Lacks population validity - US students were male so has gender bias and cant be generalised to females
What were the ethical issues in Zimbardo’s study?
- a few of the participants experienced severe emotional distress
- clear they were caused psychological harm
- lack of fully informed consent - didn’t expect it to happen
- the participants who played the prisoners were not protected from harm
