PSYC1004 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Stanford Prison Experiment, Deindividuation, Learned Helplessness

• School: ANU
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC1004
• Professor: Professor Michael Platow

Document Summary

In the 1960"s and 70"s prissons often had many riots, these problems were thought to be due to the (cid:858)natu e(cid:859) of the t(cid:455)pe of people (cid:449)ho (cid:271)e(cid:272)a(cid:373)e gua(cid:396)ds a(cid:374)d the t(cid:455)pe of people (cid:449)ho are prisoners (dispositional hypothesis). However, some say it is the social situation which has the strongest influence on behaviour. Society establishes roles and social norms which direct and inform our behaviour (situational hypothesis). Zimbardo tested the dispositional hypothesis in his famous sta(cid:374)fo(cid:396)d p(cid:396)iso(cid:374) e(cid:454)pe(cid:396)i(cid:373)e(cid:374)t he wanted to see if people were just purely evil, or whether the situation they were in caused them to beocme evil. Zimbardo found social roles have a much more powerful influence over our behaviour than we tend to believe. Zimbardo also said (cid:858)g(cid:396)oup ide(cid:374)tit(cid:455)(cid:859) (cid:272)a(cid:374) take o(cid:448)e(cid:396) ou(cid:396) i(cid:374)di(cid:448)idual ide(cid:374)tit(cid:455) a(cid:374)d (cid:449)e (cid:373)a(cid:455) the(cid:374) lose our sense of personal responsibility. Zimbardo prison experiment: the situation people are exposed to shape their behaviour.