Outline two limitations of Zimbardo's study into conformity to social roles. [4 marks]

  1. This study suffers from a lack of ethical consideration - Zimbardo's participants failed to leave the study in the same way they entered. Furthermore, they were exposed to intense mental harm, shown as one participant had to be removed from thes tudy. 

  2. This study also suffers from a lack of ecological validity - despite Zimbardo going to lengths to making his study accurate to real life, but many aspects of real prison life were missed, for example the fear of longer sentences, lack of renumeration and the guilt of committing a crime. 

EK
Answered by Emile K. Psychology tutor

13413 Views

See similar Psychology A Level tutors

Related Psychology A Level answers

All answers ▸

Evaluate the Strange Situation as a method for investigating types of attachment.


What is the working memory model?


Describe 3 factors which influence the effectiveness of minority influence (6)


Give two criticisms of Bowlby's 44 thieves study


We're here to help

contact us iconContact ustelephone icon+44 (0) 203 773 6020
Facebook logoInstagram logoLinkedIn logo

MyTutor is part of the IXL family of brands:

© 2026 by IXL Learning