Section 12.2
What did the Standford prison experiment demonstrate?
the power of social roles, norms, and scripts in affecting human behavior. -The guards and prisoners enacted their social roles by engaging in behaviors appropriate to the roles: The guards gave orders and the prisoners followed orders. Social norms require guards to be authoritarian and prisoners to be submissive. When prisoners rebelled, they violated these social norms, which led to upheaval
Social psychology
the study of how people affect one another's thoughts, feelings, and behaviors
Learning Objectives
-Describe social roles and how they influence behavior -Explain what social norms are and how they influence behavior -Define script -Describe the findings of Zimbardo's Stanford prison experiment
Social role
-a pattern of behavior that is expected of a person in a given setting or group or -defined by a culture's shared knowledge of what is expected behavior of an individual in a specific role -Ex: You may be, at the same time, a student, a parent, an aspiring teacher, a son or daughter, a spouse, and a lifeguard.
Cultural differences in scripts
For example, at a restaurant in the United States, if we want the server's attention, we try to make eye contact. In Brazil, you would make the sound "psst" to get the server's attention. -To an American, saying "psst" to a server might seem rude, yet to a Brazilian, trying to make eye contact might not seem an effective strategy. -Scripts are important sources of information to guide behavior in given situations.
How do these social roles influence your behavior?
Social roles are defined by culturally shared knowledge. That is, nearly everyone in a given culture knows what behavior is expected of a person in a given role. -EX: How do you behave when you are engaging in the role of son or daughter and attending a family function? Now imagine how you behave when you are engaged in the role of employee at your workplace. -These are examples of how our social roles influence and often dictate our behavior to the extent that identity and personality can vary with context (that is, in different social groups)
Social norm
a group's expectation of what is appropriate and acceptable behavior for its members—how they are supposed to behave and think -EX: How are we expected to act? What are we expected to talk about? What are we expected to wear?
Script
a person's knowledge about the sequence of events expected in a specific setting -EX: How do you act on the first day of school, when you walk into an elevator, or are at a restaurant?
Zimbardo's Stanford prison experiment
demonstrated the power of social roles, social norms, and scripts. -A mock prison was constructed in the basement of the psychology building at Stanford. Participants assigned to play the role of prisoners were "arrested" at their homes by Palo Alto police officers, booked at a police station, and subsequently taken to the mock prison. The experiment was scheduled to run for several weeks. To the surprise of the researchers, both the "prisoners" and "guards" assumed their roles with zeal. In fact, on day 2, some of the prisoners revolted, and the guards quelled the rebellion by threatening the prisoners with night sticks. In a relatively short time, the guards came to harass the prisoners in an increasingly sadistic manner, through a complete lack ofprivacy, lack of basic comforts such as mattresses to sleep on, and through degrading chores and late-night counts. -The prisoners, in turn, began to show signs of severe anxiety and hopelessness—they began tolerating the guards' abuse. Even the Stanford professor who designed the study and was the head researcher, Philip Zimbardo, found himself acting as if the prison was real and his role, as prison supervisor, was real as well. After only six days, the experiment had to be ended due to the participants' deteriorating behavior.
