Zimbardo's Stanford Prison Experiment

Zimbardo's SPE was an investigation into...

• Obedience

• Normative Social Influence

• Conformity to Social Roles

• Conformity to an unambiguous task

Social roles are examples of dispositional factors. True or false?

• True

• False

Answer explanation

They are situational!

Participants were...

• a volunteer sample

• a random sample

• an opportunity sample

• a systematic sample

Participants had to be assessed beforehand to ensure...

• That they had a high IQ

• That they hadn't been in prison before

• That they were mentally healthy

• That they understood exactly what was going to happen during the experiment

The sample included...

• 30 male and female students

• 21 male and female students

• 123 male students

• 21 male students

Participants were randomly allocated to the role of either prison guard or prisoner. True or false?

• True

• False

Prisoners were first deceived when...

• They were put in solitary confinement

• They were stripped and deloused

• They were arrested by police at their homes

• They were made to do menial tasks

Their first experience of degradation was...

• They were arrested at their homes

• When they were stripped and deloused

• They were forced to clean toilets with bare hands

• They were forced to do push ups

Guards wore sunglasses to...

• Prevent eye contact with prisoners

• Keep the sun out of their eyes

• Remove their individuality

• Protect their identity

Prisoners were assigned a number and given a bald cap to remove their identity. True or false?

• True

• False