Describe and evaluate the procedure of Zimbardo’s study into social roles.

This is an 8 mark question with 4 marks for AO1 (describe), and 4 marks of AO3 (evaluate). It is important to note that use of the word “procedure”. This means you want to focus on the procedure of the experiment rather than the intent of it, to avoid wasting time explaining why Zimbardo chose to do certain things. For AO1 pick at least 4 points which describe Zimbardo’s experiment procedure: In Zimbardo’s study 24 US male student volunteers were randomly assigned the role of prisoner or guard. Prisoners were given prison uniform and ID number, whilst guards were given uniforms, clubs, whistles and wore reflective sunglasses. Within this study, Zimbardo took on the role of the prison superintendent The study was intended to last two weeks, but it stopped after 6 days. For AO3 pick 4 points to evaluate Zimbardo’s experiment procedure: Zimbardo’s study procedure raised significant ethical issues, such as lack of informed consent, and lack of protection from psychological harm- as volunteers consent was gained from deception, and prison volunteers experienced psychological harm despite Zimbardo not anticipating it. Moreover, Zimbardo’s role as the prison superintended affected the validity of the study procedures, as he could have influenced the experiment, and thus the validity of the findings should be questioned. The study procedure was also subject to other methodological issues, such as sample bias through an unrepresentative sample, and lack of ecological validity, which has implications for real-world generalisability. However, Zimbardo’s study procedures had good internal validity because he randomly allocation the role of prisoner and guard to the study participants.