Describe a study which investigates either conformity or obedience This essay is going to talk about a study on The Stanford Prison Experiment on Conformity by Zimbardo

Authors Avatar

Describe a Study that describes Conformity or Obedience

This essay is going to talk about a study on The Stanford Prison Experiment on Conformity by Zimbardo. It is going to explain why it was done, how it was set up, how the participants were picked, what happened during the experiment, why it was stopped, and the findings. ()

In 1971, Zimbardo a respected Psychologist heard about recent prison uprisings and became interested in what it would mean psychologically to be a prisoner and a guard. Zimbardo decided to do a study on conformity and had the idea of simulating a prison to see how people would internalise into their roles. After conferring with the British Psychological Society he began to set up his experiment. ()

Join now!

Participants were picked by maturity, intelligence, on their physical and mental health history and also their criminal history.  The twenty-four participants selected were given consent forms to sign and a contract (with legal advice) stating they would receive a daily payment of fifteen Dollars for various tasks and work activities within the prison. Zimbardo split participants into two groups; half prisoners who were given rules they had to comply with or they’d be punished. An example was: “Prisoners must always address the guards as “Mr correction officer” and the warden as, “ Mr chief correctional officer.”()

 The rest were ...

This is a preview of the whole essay