● Social roles are the ‘parts’ people play as members of various social groups. For example, being a teacher, students and pa
● These are accompanied by expectations we and others have of what is appropriate behaviour in each role such as caring o
AO1:
Aims:
● To investigate the extent to which people would conform to the social roles of guard and prisoner in a role-playing simula
Procedure: Findings:
● A mock prison was set up in the basement of the psychology department at ● Within a day the prisoners rebelle
Stanford University. responded by locking them in the
● There were 24 male students from a volunteer sample. All volunteers were ● The guards’ behaviour became a t
psychologically and physically screened to select those who were most stable physical health.
with no violent or anti-social tendencies.
● Dehumanisation was increasingly
● Participants were randomly allocated to either the role of a prisoner or a guard. aggressive, while the prisoners be
The prisoners were unexpectedly arrested at home and taken to the prison. guard’s behaviour.
● Dehumanisation (degrading people by diminishing their human qualities and ● Prisoners were humiliated, depriv
their best qualities) was increased as prisoners were dressed in smock uniforms, their bare hands in the night.
wore stocking caps to stimulate shaved heads and were referred to by their ID
number, ● Deindividuation (a state in which
weaker sense of personal respons
● The guards were given uniforms, cubs (physical punishment was not permitted) the relative anonymity of being pa
and wore reflective sunglasses. Zimbardo played the role of the prison referring to each other and thems
superintendent. names.
● The study was planned to last 14 days but had to be stopped after just 6. ● The prisoners became rapidly dep
released because he showed sym
prisoners developed similar symp
prisoner went on a hunger strike.
AO3:
Real life applications Lacks ecological validity Lacks population validity
P A strength of Zimbardo’s experiment is P A weakness of Zimbardo’s research P A weakness of Zimbardo’s research
that its findings can be applied to is that it lacked ecological validity. is that his sample lacked
improve the lives of real prisoners. E Despite the effort Zimbardo went population validity.
E Zimbardo argued that situational to in making the prison experience E Zimbardo only used 24 US male
factors such as lack of training, as realistic as possible, it was still participants. This means his sampl
boredom, and no accountability were not real. was gender biased and
present in both the SPE and Abu L Therefore, the participants were unrepresentative of the general
Ghraib. conforming to social roles which population as it consisted of only
E Therefore, to an extent, conformity to they knew weren’t real so there is males - it cannot be applied to
social roles is affected by situational some doubt as to whether this tells females.
factors. Situational factors are in our us anything about conformity to E Additionally, the study only
control and something that prisons social roles by real guards in real included people from America so i
can monitor and improve. prisons. wasn’t representative of other
L Zimbardo’s research is therefore useful cultures.
as it can be used to improve the lives L Therefore, the study lacks
of prisoners. population validity, reducing the
validity of his findings.
● These are accompanied by expectations we and others have of what is appropriate behaviour in each role such as caring o
AO1:
Aims:
● To investigate the extent to which people would conform to the social roles of guard and prisoner in a role-playing simula
Procedure: Findings:
● A mock prison was set up in the basement of the psychology department at ● Within a day the prisoners rebelle
Stanford University. responded by locking them in the
● There were 24 male students from a volunteer sample. All volunteers were ● The guards’ behaviour became a t
psychologically and physically screened to select those who were most stable physical health.
with no violent or anti-social tendencies.
● Dehumanisation was increasingly
● Participants were randomly allocated to either the role of a prisoner or a guard. aggressive, while the prisoners be
The prisoners were unexpectedly arrested at home and taken to the prison. guard’s behaviour.
● Dehumanisation (degrading people by diminishing their human qualities and ● Prisoners were humiliated, depriv
their best qualities) was increased as prisoners were dressed in smock uniforms, their bare hands in the night.
wore stocking caps to stimulate shaved heads and were referred to by their ID
number, ● Deindividuation (a state in which
weaker sense of personal respons
● The guards were given uniforms, cubs (physical punishment was not permitted) the relative anonymity of being pa
and wore reflective sunglasses. Zimbardo played the role of the prison referring to each other and thems
superintendent. names.
● The study was planned to last 14 days but had to be stopped after just 6. ● The prisoners became rapidly dep
released because he showed sym
prisoners developed similar symp
prisoner went on a hunger strike.
AO3:
Real life applications Lacks ecological validity Lacks population validity
P A strength of Zimbardo’s experiment is P A weakness of Zimbardo’s research P A weakness of Zimbardo’s research
that its findings can be applied to is that it lacked ecological validity. is that his sample lacked
improve the lives of real prisoners. E Despite the effort Zimbardo went population validity.
E Zimbardo argued that situational to in making the prison experience E Zimbardo only used 24 US male
factors such as lack of training, as realistic as possible, it was still participants. This means his sampl
boredom, and no accountability were not real. was gender biased and
present in both the SPE and Abu L Therefore, the participants were unrepresentative of the general
Ghraib. conforming to social roles which population as it consisted of only
E Therefore, to an extent, conformity to they knew weren’t real so there is males - it cannot be applied to
social roles is affected by situational some doubt as to whether this tells females.
factors. Situational factors are in our us anything about conformity to E Additionally, the study only
control and something that prisons social roles by real guards in real included people from America so i
can monitor and improve. prisons. wasn’t representative of other
L Zimbardo’s research is therefore useful cultures.
as it can be used to improve the lives L Therefore, the study lacks
of prisoners. population validity, reducing the
validity of his findings.
