Conformity To Social Roles - Zimbardo’s
Research
What He Wanted To Investigate
A different kind of conformity to what we have looked at before. Rather
than looking at how we conform to behaviours or opinions of others, he
investigated conformity to social roles.
Social Role - The parts people play as members of social groups, and the
expectations that come with this.
Following reports of brutality by prison guards in America in the 60s, he
wanted to answer the following question:
Do prison guards behave brutally because they have sadist
personalities, or is it the situation which creates this kind of
behaviour?
The Experiment
Procedure
Zimbardo set up a mock prison in the basement of the psychology
department at Stanford University.
They advertised for students willing to volunteer, and selected those who
were deemed as ‘emotionally stable’ after extensive psychological testing.
The students were randomly allocated the roles of guards or prisoners.
To heighten the realism of the study, the prisoners were arrested in their
homes by the local police, and were then delivered to the ‘prison’. They
were blindfolded, strip-searched, deloused, and issued a uniform and
number.
The social roles of the prisoners and the guards were strictly divided.
Research
What He Wanted To Investigate
A different kind of conformity to what we have looked at before. Rather
than looking at how we conform to behaviours or opinions of others, he
investigated conformity to social roles.
Social Role - The parts people play as members of social groups, and the
expectations that come with this.
Following reports of brutality by prison guards in America in the 60s, he
wanted to answer the following question:
Do prison guards behave brutally because they have sadist
personalities, or is it the situation which creates this kind of
behaviour?
The Experiment
Procedure
Zimbardo set up a mock prison in the basement of the psychology
department at Stanford University.
They advertised for students willing to volunteer, and selected those who
were deemed as ‘emotionally stable’ after extensive psychological testing.
The students were randomly allocated the roles of guards or prisoners.
To heighten the realism of the study, the prisoners were arrested in their
homes by the local police, and were then delivered to the ‘prison’. They
were blindfolded, strip-searched, deloused, and issued a uniform and
number.
The social roles of the prisoners and the guards were strictly divided.
