12A

1. QUIZ
• What is the definition of conformity?
• What are the 3 types of conformity?
• What are 2 explanations of conformity?
• What percentage of ppt’s conformed in the majority of the clinical trials in Asch’s
study?
• Name 3 evaluation points for Asch’s study
• What is one study (other than Asch) into conformity?

2. STATUS: PERRIN & SPENCER (1980)
• Youths on probation as the participants and
probation officers as confederates.
• The results showed 29% of participants conformed
at least once – a result comparable to Asch’s 1956
study

3. GROUP SIZE: CAMPBELL & FAIREY (1989)
• Group size has a different effect depending on the type of judgement being made
and the motivation of the individual
• If the motivation is to fit in = a larger group size is required to change behaviour
• If the motivation is to be correct = just 1 or 2 others is sufficient to change
behaviour

4. TASK DIFFICULTY: LUCAS ET AL (2006)
• Difficulty of task effected ppt’s low in
‘self – efficacy’

5. CULTURAL DIFFERENCES IN CONFORMITY?
• Smith and Bond (2006) conducted a meta-analysis of
Asch-type studies across different cultures
• Average of 25% conformity rates across individualist
cultures
• 37% in collectivist cultures

6. 1.

7. 2.

9. CONFORMITY TO SOCIAL
ROLES
• INTRODUCTION TO ZIMBARDO
• EVALUATION OF THE STANFORD PRISON EXPERIMENT
• INTRODUCTION TO THE BBC PRISON STUDY (2006)
• APPLICATION OF RESULTS FROM PRISON STUDIES

10. SOCIAL ROLES
• The part people play as members
of a social group. With each social
role you adopt, your behavior
changes to fit the expectations
both you and others have of that
role.

11. CONFORMING TO SOCIAL ROLES
• With each social role you adopt, your behavior changes to
fit the expectations both you and others have of that role
• How many social roles have you played in the last year?

12. ATTICA PRISON, NEW YORK: 1971
• 2,200 inmates initiated a riot based upon political rights and
better living conditions in the prison
• 43 people died in the uprising
• 10 correctional officers
• 33 inmates

13. ZIMBARDO (1971)
• Following the news of the prison riot,
Philip Zimbardo was interested in
finding out whether ‘normal’ people
would conform to prison roles.

14. ZIMBARDO (1971)
• The Stanford Prison Experiment
• Is aggression in prison as a result of Situational Factors or Dispositional
factors?

15. ZIMBARDO (1971)
Zimardo placed an ad in the
local newspaper asking for
volunteers for his prison
study.
All applicants were screened
for any psychological
disorders

16. ZIMBARDO (1971)
• After screening, 21 male college students were randomly assigned to either
prisoner or guard.
• 11 guards
• 10 prisoners
• The experiment was to last for 14 days, the prisoners would spend 24 hours a
day inside the prison

18. ZIMBARDO (1971)
• Prisoners were told to “maintain order within the prison”
• They were not permitted to use any physical violence
• What would you expect to occur during those 2 weeks?

20. ZIMBARDO (1971)
• Findings…
• Violence in the prison was so severe, the experiment had to be prematurely
terminated after just 6 days.
• Even when unaware of being watched, ppt’s still conformed to their prison
roles of prisoner or guard
• Does Zimbardo’s findings support a dispositional or situational view on prison
violence?

21. EVALUATION OF ZIMBARDO’S STUDY (1971)

22. BBC PRISON STUDY (REICHER & HASLAM, 2001)
• 15 male participants were randomly assigned to either guard or
prisoner,
• 5 Guards
• 10 Prisoners

23. BBC PRISON STUDY (2001)
• Do you think the results from Zimbardo’s original study will reflect in the BBC
prison study?
• Why might differences occur?

25. BBC PRISON STUDY (2001)
• Results:
• The prisoners increasingly identified as a group and worked collectively
to challenge guards’ authority.
• The guards failed to conform to their role and failed to impose their
authority.
• The only elements of aggression in this study came from the prisoners.

26. IMPLICATIONS OF RESEARCH INTO CONFORMITY TO
SOCIAL ROLES…
Zimbardo believed that the guard’s drift into sadistic behaviour was an
automatic consequence of them embracing their roles, this stopped them
from seeing that their behaviour was wrong
Reicher & Haslam believe that behaviour is dependent on the norms and
values associated with their specific social identity.

27. IMPLICATIONS OF RESEARCH INTO CONFORMITY TO
SOCIAL ROLES…
• Conformity to social roles is not automatic…
• There was little conformity in the BBC study
• There were some ‘nice’ guards in Zimbardo’s experiment

28. EVALUATION OF RESEARCH INTO CONFORMITY TO
SOCIAL ROLES
•  Demand characteristics?
•  Ethics?
•  Internal Validity?
•  Real – world application

29. ABU GHRAIB
• Prison in Iraq, famous for the amount
of human rights violations against
detainees were committed

30. ZIMBARDO
• Zimbardo is a situationist
• He believes the individual should not be held accountable
for their actions when in settings which elicit authoritative
roles

31. EXAM PREP