Conformity to social roles: Zimbardo's research

Stanford prison experiment:

Procedure - 

·       Zimbardo set up a mock prison in the basement of psychology department at Stanford University. They advertised for students willing to volunteer and selected those deemed 'emotionally stable'.

·       The students were randomly assigned the roles of guards or prisoners.

·       To heighten the realism of the study, prisoners were arrested at their homes by the local police and delivered to the 'prison'. They were blindfolded, *****-searched, deloused and issued a uniform and a number. (Stripped of any Individuality).

·       There was a strict divide between prisoners and guards.

·       There were 16 rules prisoners had to follow, enforced by guards who worked in shifts, three at a time. 

·       The prisoners names were never used,…