1. Reicher and Haslam The BBC prison study

2. Reicher and Haslam: the BBC prison study Aims To study the interactions between groups of unequal power To analyse conditions that result in group identity and challenge To examine the roles of organisational, social and clinical (mood) factors in group behaviour To develop ethical guidelines for such studies

3. Reicher and Haslam: the BBC prison study Hypotheses Dominant group members will identify with their group Subordinate group members will only identify with their group and challenge authority if the groups are impermeable and illegitimate

4. Reicher and Haslam: the BBC prison study Background Stanford prison experiment Social identity theory SPE A study by zimbardo that established a situational explanation for prison roles Social identity theory (Tajfel) in an unequal society group members look for: Permeability Legitimacy Cognitive alternatives

5. Reicher and Haslam: the BBC prison study Participants Volunteer sample of 332 males through national press Reduced to 15 through screening Divided into groups of 3 based on personality 1 from each 3 then randomly selected to be a guard

6. Reicher and Haslam: the BBC prison study IVs Planned interventions 1. permeability 2. legitimacy 3. cognitive alternatives

7. Reicher and Haslam: the BBC prison study Procedure Mock Prison set up with full camera coverage Inequality introduced Guards had more freedom, better food, could smoke when they liked, could punish Prisoners were locked up, had poor food and no right to smoke, could be punished by solitary or bread and water

8. Reicher and Haslam: the BBC prison study Measurements of the DV Social variables.. Social identification Measured by self report and observation Organisational variables.. Rule following Measured by observation Clinical variables.. Stress and depression Measured by saliva tests and self reports

9. Reicher and Haslam: the BBC prison study The planned interventions Permeability and legitimacy Told that the “right prisoner could become a guard” Legitimacy 3 days in they were told that the groups had been allocated randomly and no further changes would be made Cognitive alternatives Day 4 prisonner 10 introduced… with new ideas and skills

10. Reicher and Haslam: the BBC prison study Results (Phase 1) “Rejecting inequality” Social identification The guards identified strongly after day 1 but this fell thereafter The prisoners identified poorly at first but by day 2 had exceeded the guards continung to a high on day 5

11. Reicher and Haslam: the BBC prison study Results Intergroup relations Low identity amongst guards led to poor leadership Prisoners saw them as illegitimate (legitimacy intervention was not needed really) Prisoner 10 joined on day 5 and cognitive alternatives, already occurring, increased.

12. Reicher and Haslam: the BBC prison study Results of other measures Willingness to comply with authority Willingness to engage in citizenship Both dropped on day 5 when the prisonners began to work against the reigeme Self efficacy (belief in your own ability) This increased with prisoner unity Depression This decreased for prisoners over first 5 days but went up for guards

13. Reicher and Haslam: the BBC prison study Results (Phase 2 “Embracing inequality”) Once the prisoners rebelled on day 6 They negotiated a commune with the experimenters Two prisoners would not obey the commune rules- causing a crisis within 24 hours A new harsher authoritarian regime was proposed The study was ended for ethical reasons

14. Reicher and Haslam: the BBC prison study Critiques: Role of TV Role of personality The reality of inequality and power Did the interventions work?

15. Reicher and Haslam: the BBC prison study The Social Identity explanation of tyranny Behaviour is not always dominated by context (see tom quarry) The consequences of social identification Social, clinical and organisational Reactions to group failure Failure of guards Failure of commune

16. Reicher and Haslam: the BBC prison study: Conclusions Support SPE that group behaviour cannot be understood by looking at individuals Contradicts the traditional view that group processes are toxic, leading to mindless anti- social behaviour Breakdown of groups creates the conditions for tyranny In the SPE tyranny flourished when the prisonners were told they could not leave. It is possible to run ethical field studies into social processes