9.3
The Stanford Prison Experiment
Q1: What role did social roles play in how participants behaved during the Stanford Prison Experiment?
Social roles—patterns of behavior expected in given settings—powerfully shaped participant conduct. Guards and prisoners enacted behaviors appropriate to their assigned roles: guards gave orders while prisoners followed them. By dressing participants to fit their roles, including guards' nightsticks and mirrored glasses, researchers activated role-based expectations that guided behavior throughout the study.
Q2: How did social norms influence the guards' increasingly harsh behavior?
Social norms—group expectations for appropriate behavior—required guards to be authoritarian and prisoners to be submissive. Zimbardo and the Warden explicitly encouraged toughness as a shared attribute of conforming to the in-group. When prisoners violated these norms by rebelling on day two, guards escalated their cruelty to reinforce the expected power dynamic and maintain group conformity.
Q3: What is a script, and how did scripts guide behavior in the mock prison?
A script is knowledge about the sequence of events expected in specific settings. In the mock prison, guards and prisoners followed scripts derived from cultural knowledge of prison environments. Guards degraded prisoners through push-ups and privacy removal, while prisoners rebelled by throwing pillows and trashing cells—all scripted behaviors reflecting familiar prison dynamics.
Q4: Why were participants randomly assigned to guard or prisoner roles?
Random assignment ensured that differences in behavior resulted from role assignment and situational factors, not pre-existing personality differences. Since participants were randomly divided into guards and prisoners, any behavioral changes could be attributed to the social roles and environment rather than individual traits, strengthening the study's validity.
Q5: How did identifying with leadership and group goals affect participant behavior?
Participants who identified with leaders like Zimbardo and the Warden and embraced the collective goal of exposing prison toxicity became immersed in their roles. This identification intensified conformity to role expectations. Some prisoners became so absorbed they exhibited mental breakdown symptoms, while guards performed toughness to align with promoted group values and leadership direction.
Q6: What happened when prisoners violated the established social norms?
When prisoners blockaded their cell door on day two, they violated social norms requiring submissiveness. This rebellion prompted guards to escalate harassment dramatically, using threats and increasingly sadistic tactics to restore the expected power hierarchy. The violation of norms triggered upheaval and demonstrated how strongly situational expectations govern behavior.
Q7: Why did the Stanford Prison Experiment end after only six days?
The experiment was terminated early due to participants' deteriorating behavior and psychological distress. Prisoners exhibited severe anxiety and hopelessness while tolerating guards' abuse, and guards engaged in increasingly sadistic cruelty. The intensity of role immersion and situational pressure became so extreme that continuing posed ethical risks to participant wellbeing.