RECAP What is the name of Zimbardo’s research? Where was the experiment set? What was the sample used? How were the participants brought to the study? What were the social roles in the study and how were participants assigned to their social roles? Standford prison experiment Standford university

Zimbardo Continued… During the 1960s, brutal attacks by prison warders on the prisoners increased. Why did this brutality occur? Perhaps, prison warders have sadistic/aggressive personalities? Perhaps, the rigid power structure of the social environment in prisons is responsible?

Zimbardo Continued… Zimbardo gathered some emotionally stable students to act as ‘warders’ and ‘prisoners’ in a mock prison to see whether the hostility seen in real prisons would be reflected here. The participants did sign an informed consent form before the experiment began. Despite this, some of the mock guards became very aggressive, during the experiment, and four of them had to be released early.

Zimbardo’s Prison Experiment The prisoners were then brought into our jail one at a time and greeted by the warden, who conveyed the seriousness of their offence and their new status as prisoners. Each prisoner was systematically searched and stripped naked. He was then deloused with a spray, to convey the belief that he may have germs or lice A degradation procedure was designed in part to humiliate prisoners and in part to be sure they weren't bringing in any germs to contaminate our jail

Zimbardo’s Prison Experiment While nothing happened on the first day of the experiment, the prisoners started to rebel against the guards from the second day and onwards; so much so that the guards felt reinforcements were needed to be called in! As a result, the guards harassed the prisoners much more. The prisoners could only eat at certain times and needed permission from the guards for everything, including going to the toilet. By the fourth day, the prisoners became more subdued and submissive, which egged the guards on to be more aggressive towards them. Notes on Zimbardo’s experiment (Source: http://www.prisonexp.org/psychology/20

Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Experiment (1973) Philip Zimbardo based the Stanford Prison Experiment on social power- i.e. the forces available to motivate attitude/behaviour change. In this experiment, some individuals were given greater social power, by being allowed to decide when to reward and punish others. Others had less social power

Findings Both guards and prisoners settled quickly into their social roles Dehumanisation was increasingly apparent with the guards becoming even more sadistic, taunting the prisoners and giving them meaningless, boring and inhumane tasks to do, the prisoners became submissive and unquestioning of the guards behaviour Prisoners were seen to take sides with the guards against any prisoners who dared to protest De-individuation was noticeable by the prisoners referring to each other and themselves by their prison numbers instead of their names In later interviews, both guards and prisoners said they were surprised at the uncharacteristic behaviours they had shown.

What can we conclude from the research? What does it tell us about the extent people are willing to conform to social roles?

Questions… Answers

Social Influence Conformity to social roles Zimbardo’s research AO3 Objectives: To evaluate Zimbardo’s research

Evaluation Individually, on your whiteboards, come up with as many strengths and weaknesses as you can in relation to Zimbardo’s study.

Video

Questions… Apply your knowledge 1. If you were referring to the Stanford prison study in an exam, how should you refer to (reference) the study? ( 1 mark) 2. What sampling method was used to obtain a pool of participants? (1 mark) 3. From the volunteers they had available, how did they select the actual participants? (1 mark) 4. How were the participants allocated to their social roles? (1 mark) 5. Which two social roles were being investigated? (1 mark) 6. For each of these two social roles, suggest two ways in which the researchers helped to reinforce these roles. (4 marks) 7. Summarise the main findings of the study. (4 marks) 8. What was the main conclusion drawn by Zimbardo from this study? (1 mark)

Evaluating Zimbardo’s Experiment Strength P: Zimbardo showed that situational factors, such as, the power structure of an organisation, can greatly impact the way we behave. E: for example, Even stable individuals, like the student-participants of the experiment- will often abuse the social power they possess, behaving in unacceptable ways. E: therefore this shows the extent to which people are willing to adopt to their social roles, to potentially cause harm to others L: Zimbardo’s research has enabled us to understand the power of social roles and has contributed massively to this.

Evaluation: Lack of realism… Were the participants merely play-acting? Weren’t the prisoners just behaving how they were supposed to behave? On the other hand… they referred to the prison as throughout their conversations during the experiment so there must have been a degree of realism Complete the evaluation using page 21 of the textbook.

Recent research P: More recent research into social roles contradicts Zimbardo’s findings E: Haslam’s (2006) partial replication of the Stanford prison experiment was broadcast on the BBC, known as the BBC prison study. E: Their findings were very different to those of Zimbardo. The prisoners actually took control of the mock prison and subjected the guards to a campaign of harassment and disobedience. L: therefore this challenges the findings of Zimbardo because…

Evaluating Zimbardo’s Experiment Weaknesses P: There are serious ethical issues here in exposing the participants to degrading and humiliating hostility. E: Protection of participants was breached as many of the prisoners were subject to humiliation, embarrassment and were forced to carry out degrading tasks E:While the mock guards may have pretended to be aggressive, the physical abuse and harassment they showed went beyond mere pretending. L:

Task…Ethical Considerations Name the ethical issues that we need to be aware of in psychology… CCDW&POP Which of these ethical guidelines were broken in the Stanford prison experiment? How can we DEAL with them?

Ethical Defence However, in Zimbardo's defence the emotional distress experienced by the prisoners could not have been predicted from the outset. Approval for the study was given from the Office of Naval Research, the Psychology Department and the University Committee of Human Experimentation. This Committee also did not anticipate the prisoners’ extreme reactions that were to follow. Alternative methodologies were looked at which would cause less distress to the participants but at the same time give the desired information, but nothing suitable could be found.

Ethical Defence Extensive group and individual debriefing sessions were held and all participants returned post-experimental questionnaires several weeks, then several months later, then at yearly intervals. Zimbardo concluded there were no lasting negative effects.

Ethical Defence Zimbardo also strongly argues that the benefits gained about our understanding of human behaviour and how we can improve society should out balance the distress caused by the study. However it has been suggested that the US Navy was not so much interested in making prisons more human and were in fact more interested in using the study to train people in the armed services to cope with the stresses of captivity.

Task – Complete the sheet… Using the sheet, and your own knowledge, develop the ethical issues which may be raised in Zimbardo’s research Work in pairs/groups if you need to.

Hints: • Zimbardo put his own research interests before the welfare of the participants. • The neighbours had no way of knowing this was a simulated study. How would that reflect on the participant and his family? • Some participants were treated far more harshly than they might have expected when they volunteered to take part

Debate… Half of the class are going to highlight ethical guidelines that have been broken Half of the class are going to defend Zimbardo. To prepare… you each need to come up with either an ethical issue or a point to defend Zimbardo.

Apply your knowledge… Abu Ghraib… Now you understand Zimbardo and the findings/conclusions… how would you explain the behaviour of Abu Ghraib?

Outline the aim, procedure, results, conclusion of Zimbardo… Plenary Outline the aim, procedure, results, conclusion of Zimbardo…