Zambardo Induction and Result

Purpose of the Study• Study aimed to answer the question: – “Are the state of prisons due to the dispositional or internal

attribution of the people in charge of running them (guards)? Or is it the situational or external attributions of the conditions of the prison to blame (physical, social settings or psychological)?”

• In other words, are prisons the result of sadistic people becoming guards & low-life prisoners trying to escape OR people (guards/prisoners) playing their roles as socially expected in the given situation?

Induction Procedure ‘Prisoners’ were arrested by the Palo Alto police department at

their homes (they were unaware of this) Ps were officially charged with suspected burglary or

armed robbery, read their rights, handcuffed and taken to police station, fingerprinted and placed in holding cell

Blindfolded and driven to the mock prison They were stripped, deloused (with deodorant), made to stand alone and naked in a cell yard, then given a uniform, mug shot taken, placed in a cell, and ordered to stay quiet Prisoners were referred to by number

only, never names

Induction Procedure• Each day, prisoners were supposed to have

– 3 meals– 3 supervised potty visits– 2 hours of reading/letter writing

• Also given work assignments • Lineups to go over their ID & rules 3 times a day

Results/Findings• Overall, the study showed that

the behavior of the ‘normal’ students was affected by the role they had been assigned

• Ps started to believe in their assigned positions• Supports situational over dispositional hypothesis• Both roles show a marked tendency toward increased

negative emotions

Results/Findings• The experiment had to be stopped after 6 days – Mostly b/c of the unforeseen reactions of the participants

• Five prisoners had to be released earlier – Showed signs of extreme emotional depression

• Though guards & prisoners were free to engage in any form of interaction, the nature of their encounters tended to be negative, hostile, insulting, and dehumanizing (more on this later)

• The prison was internalized by Ps

Results/FindingsWhen the study ended…

most prisoners were happymost guards seemed to be distressed

‘upset’ about giving up their control & power which they exercised

Zimbardo calls this ‘pathology of power’blamed the guards’ behavior on the power that they wielded

over the prisoners &that they were not responsible for their actions

Results/FindingsGuards reported for work on time and often voluntarily stayed later All guards admitted to enjoying the role of extreme power and control exercised over the prisoners

Sometimes when out of recording range, prisoner harassment was even worse

Majority of talk regarded the prisoners and prison (situation) rarely sharing

personal information.

DiscussionZimbardo believes that the study demonstrated the

powerful effect that roles can have on one’s behavior Two new concepts generated from study

‘Pathology of Power’ (as discussed)‘Pathological Prisoner Syndrome’- helps to explain the social

deterioration of prisoners with the notion that some will rebel at first while

many will soon turn against the troublemakers and will conform to the helpless prisoner persona

DiscussionPathological Prisoner Syndrome based on:

Loss of personal identity (stripped of name, belongings, sense of self, living with unknown people, & became ‘de-individualized’ to themselves and the guards)

Arbitrary control (guards changed the rules while playing the game & sense of learned helplessness displayed)

Dependency & Emasculation (prisoners made to be completely dependent on guards for everything [even potty break], smocks w/o undies allowed, in debriefing prisoners even suggested that they were ‘made’ prisoners b/c they were smaller than the guards but there was no height diff)

Evaluation & Ethical Considerations• Major critique is ethics of study

– though H, B, & Z received permission from 2 Stanford review boards AND the Naval Research board

• The only deception was the unknown arrest of the prisoners (it also violated the contract they signed)

• Right to withdraw- no specific RTW was offered to Ps (though Zimbardo’s email said it was)

• Harm & Debriefing- Extensive group and individual debriefing sessions were held and all

Ps returned post-experimental questionnaires after several weeks, then several months later, then at yearly intervals

Evaluation & Ethical Considerations• Strengths of the Study– 1. Qual data collection- observations (overt & covert),

questionnaires, interviews, video evidence, etc.– 2. Managed to maintain methodological control – 3. Random assignment of guard or prisoner– 4. Ecological validity in how prisoners

were ‘arrested’ – 5. Experimental realism

Evaluation & Ethical ConsiderationsWeaknesses of the study

1. Non-representative sample 2. Ecological validity- simulated prison not realistic, lacked

‘prison life’ (beatings, threats, homosexuality, racism, etc), 2 week sentence not given out in real lifeBut it was real enough… qual data showed that prisoners spoke 90%

about prison conditions & guards did similar, prisoners refer to their # instead of name and some even asked for a lawyer and/or priest to help them

3. Zimbardo said the distress shown by Ps was outweighed by the benefits gained in

understanding human behavior & how we can improve it in given situations

Influence of the Study• Along with Milgram study, was one of the main reasons that

new ethical guidelines were established– Researchers must now comply with standards established by

the Ethics Code of the APA & the Belmont Report• Often used as basis for ‘power of authority’ and cognitive

dissonance studies• Another “win” for situational attributes rather than

dispositional ones

Extra Stuff Zimbardo ended the study on the 6th day at the request of

Christina Maslach- a grad student who was the ONLY one to question the morality of the simulation

She was certainly able to convince him- after all, she was DATING & later MARRIED him!

Extra Stuff

• After prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib in 2004, Zimbardo joined the defense team

• “The torture of detainees by U.S. soldiers at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq was the tragic result of perceived anonymity, the absence of a sense of personal responsibility and tacit approval by military commanders, factors that have been shown in experiments to make good people do evil.”

• Defense didn’t matter- soldiers still lost

Review questions• 1. Zimbardo concluded that the ‘prisoners’ in the study showed signs of what he termed

‘pathological prisoner syndrome.’ Identify and explain each of these factors, including how the guards created these amongst the prisoners. [9 (3 points each factor)]

• 2. Discuss two strengths study. [4]• (b) Discuss two weaknesses of the study. [4]• 3. Describe two ethical weaknesses of the study. [4] 4. Summarize the induction process of the prisoners in the Zimbardo prison simulation.

[4] 5. Some ‘guards’ of HBZ were said to have taken their roles ‘too far’ during the

simulation. (a) Identify two instances of the guards ‘abusing their role’ when interacting with the

prisoners. [2] (b) Describe how some prisoners reacted to this ‘abuse of power’ by the guards. [2] 6. (Article itself) One of the main findings of the HBZ study is the theory of ‘pathology of power.’ Summarize this theory. [4]