Zimbardo et al

1. Zimbardo et al The Stanford Prison Study

2. Introduction • This study is applicable to both conformity and obedience. • The type of conformity the experiment explores is identification. • It was carried out by Phillip G. Zimbardo in 1971. • He is still professor of psychology at Stanford University. • His website is www.zimbardo.com and his email is zim@stanford.edu

3. A Aims • Zimbardo wanted to demonstrate the power of social situations on people’s behaviour. • He was trying to refute the dispositional hypothesis • He created a prison-like environment which was psychologically as real as possible

4. P Procedures • He chose his Participants very carefully… • The prisoners were arrested at their own homes out of the blue… • The differences between the guards and prisoners appearances was huge…

5. F Findings • The guards soon began to behave in a authoritative manner... • The prisoners became withdrawn and in some cases more extreme behaviour was shown… • Some were released early… • One even developed a rash over his whole body. • The guards de-humanised the prisoners by referring to them by their numbers and even the prisoners referred to each other the same way. • The study was ended soon before its official closing date...

6. C Conclusions • He rejected the dispositional hypothesis… • He also said that if any normal person was put in the participants’ place they would behave in the same way. • He summarised that a brutal environment would produce brutal behaviour.

7. C Criticisms