Stanford Prison Experiment

Zimbardo Prison Experiment (1971)

Procedure

- Well-adjusted, healthy male volunteers were paid $15 a day to take part in a two-week simulation.

- Volunteers randomly allocated roles of prisoners and guards. 

- Local police arrested 9 prisoners at their homes without warning. They were taken to the 'prison', stripped, deloused and given smocks to wear with their prisoner number. 

- Three guards on each shift wore khaki and sunglasses, carrying batons. 

- No physical violence was permitted.

Findings

- The guards harassed and humiliated the prisoners and conformed to their perceived roles.

- Study was cancelled after six days.

- Prisoners rebelled against guards after two days.

- Some prisoners became depressed and anxious and had to be released early.

- By day six, prisoners were completely submissive to the guards.

Conclusion

- The participants experienced Normative Social Influence.

- People will readily conform to the social roles they are expected to play.

- The roles that people play shape their attitudes and behaviour. (Internalisation)

Abnormality - Definitions

Deviation from social norms                                  Culture differences are an issue for all of these

Failure to function adequately                              Time is an issue

Deviation from ideal mental health

Evaluation

- Rosenhan did the experiment with the schizophrenics makes it obvious that it's very difficult to define abnormality and it is all relative. 

- Era dependent.

- Culture differences.

Abnormality - Psychodynamic

Behaviour is due to childhood experiences and the unconscious mind. 

Approach

Psychosexual Development 

Oral - smoking, nail biting etc - ID
Anal - creativity, OCD - ego
Phallic* - superego
Latency Period - no fixation
Genital - well-adjusted

* Oedipus complex - Males are attracted to mother so identify with the father
   Electra complex - Females are attracted to father and identify with mother. Also experience penis envy.

Structure of personality

ID - derives from pleasure, inbuilt: sexual offence, aggression, addiction etc...
Ego - balances id and superego
Superego - derives from morals picked up from parents' behaviour : anxiety, OCD, phobias etc...

If either of these overbalances, defence mechanisms take place. (e.g. repression, projection, regression, sublimation, denial)


Evaluation

+ Influential - Books/ films
                     - Started psychology
+ Research indicates that people can recollect every trauma.

- Untestable
- Retrospective data - unreliable
- Current experiences aren't taken into consideration
- Ethics - parents are to blame for abnormality

Treatments (psychoanalysis)

Free Association 

- Patients talk freely about whatever they want.
- Facing away from therapist so not being judged.
- Therapist analyses what has been said.
- Brings repressed memories into consciousness.

Dream Analysis

- Dreams represent what happens in the unconscious mind
- Mostly sexual.
- Manifest content is interpreted to latent content by the therapist.

Projective Tests

- Given stimulus material and asked what is seen.
- Thought to represent unconscious thoughts.
- Ink blots are deliberately ambiguous.


Evaluation

- Expensive
- Not suitable for schizophrenia
- Ethical issues
- Behaviourists' criticism
- Time consuming

Abnormality - Cognitive

A person's thoughts are responsible for their behaviour. Deals with the way information is processed in the brain and the impact of this behaviour. How a person perceives, anticipates and evaluates events has an effect on behaviour. 

Healthy thoughts and cognitions lead to normal behaviour whereas faulty thoughts and cognitions lead to abnormal behaviour.

Irrational Thinking - Ellis

- Assumes emotional problems can be attributed to distortions in thinking process.
- Distortions take the form of maladaptive thoughts.
- Polarised thinking: Seeing everything in black and white.
- Magnification and minimisation: person may magnify failure and minimise success.
- ABC MODEL:
A - Negative event
B - Rational belief
C - Healthy negative emotion

OR

A - Negative event
B - Irrational belief
C - Unhealthy negative emotion

The cognitive triad and errors in logic - Beck

- Negative thoughts underlie mental disorders.
- Depressed people draw illogical conclusions when evaluating themselves (overgeneralisation).
- Negative thoughts can lead to negative feelings.

Evaluation

+ Gustafan found that maladaptive thinking processes were displayed by many people with anxiety, depression and sexual disorders. 

+ Individual responsibility.

+ Emphasises important role of cognitive factors. 

- Doesn't examine the origins of disorder. 

- Cognitive processes may be a consequence rather than a cause. 

- Everyone should be self-sufficient.

- No sympathy. 

- Not clear how irrational thoughts should be measured. 

- Ignores biological factors. 

Treatments 

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

- CBT changes patterns of thoughts and behaviours that are causing the problem. 

- Increasingly more popular. 

Evaluation

+ Not threatening. 

+ Empowers clients with self-help.

+ At least as effective as drugs. 

+ Collaborative

+ Avoids in-depth probing. 

+ Less time consuming and more cost effective.

+ Brings together different factors.

- Ignores biological factors. 

- Schizophrenia not suited to CBT.

- Doesn't address underlying causes. 

- Clients become dependent on therapist. 

- Self monitoring may be too difficult 

The three forms of CBT include:

• Becks' cognitive therapy

• Ellis- rational emotive behavioural therapy

• Meichenbaum's stress inoculation therapy

Abnormality - Biological

Mental disorders are thought to be related to the physical structure and functioning of the brain. 

Approach

1) Classify disorder by identifying symptoms.
2) Identify underlying cause.
3) Prescribe a treatment/therapy.

Causes of Mental Disorder:

1) BRAIN DAMAGE
2) INFECTION
3) BIOCHEMISTRY
4) GENES

BRAIN DAMAGE

- Abnormal behaviour can occur if the brain structure has been damaged.
- Once damage has caused mental deterioration, there't not much that can be done to treat it. e.g. Alzheimer's
- Excessive use of alcohol or drugs can cause brain damage.

INFECTION

- Barr et al found a high amount of schizophrenics' mothers were ill with the flu when pregnant.
- Brown et al found that 14% of schizophrenia could be linked to exposure to the flu virus when in the womb.
- Syphilis is a cause of brain damage.

BIOCHEMISTRY

- Neurotransmitters are thought to be out of balance in the nervous system.
- Schizophrenia associated with excessive dopamine.
- Depression associated with decreased serotonin.
- Mann et al used brain scans to show this.

GENES

- Individuals may inherit predispositions to certain illnesses.
- Masterson and Davis found that relatives of schizophrenics were 18x more likely to be diagnosed with symptoms themselves.
- Genetic links investigated by testing families and twins.
- Wender et al found relatives of people with depression were 8x more likely to be diagnosed with the disorder.


Evaluation

+ No blame - the person is not responsible for their behaviour.
+ A huge amount of research proves these ideas.
+ McGuffin found 40% concordance in identical twins and 20% in fraternal twins with depression.

- Szaz - mental illness is something people fear and this can lead to the people being shunned.
- Encourages people to be passive and give responsibility to doctors, doing nothing for themselves.
- Reductionist.
- Nature vs nurture issue.

Treatments

DRUG THERAPY

- BZs
- SSRIs
- Anti-psychotics

Drugs have been effective in relieving many mental disorders but not all.

Evaluation

- Use of drugs is controversial.
- Fisher and Greenberg believe drugs have limited positive effects.
- Kirsch and Sapirstein believe beneficial effects are down to the placebo effect.
- Side effects.
- Withdrawal.
- Targets symptoms, not the disorder.
- Ethical issues.

ELECTRO-CONVULSIVE THERAPY

- Patients are attached to electrodes.
- A shock of 450 volts is administered for half a second.
- Convulsions usually last one minute.
- Two to three times a week over four weeks.

Evaluation

+ Quick form of treatment.
+ Effective short-term for depression.
+ Side effects have decreased over time.

- 60% become depressed again within one year.
- Serious side effects.
- Can lead to memory impairment.
- History of abuse.
- Ethical issues.

PSYCHOSURGERY

- Brain tissue is surgically adapted.
- Sometimes includes lobotomies.

Evaluation

+ Some procedures alleviate symptoms of severe anxiety or OCD.

- Rarely used anymore.
- Was performed on thousands of people in the 1950s for lack of a better treatment.
- Damage to the brain is irreversible.
- Unpredictable.
- People with disorders are unlikely to be able to give consent.

Abnormality - Behavioural

Abnormal behaviour is learned through experience in the same way as most other behaviour. It ignores the role of biology or any internal thoughts/feelings. It explains abnormal behaviour through conditioning. 

CLASSICAL CONDITIONING - LEARNING THROUGH ASSOCIATION

Pairing the unconditioned stimulus with the neutral stimulus, creating a conditioned response to the neutral stimulus.

This explains the development of phobias, especially seen in Watson and Raynor's (1920) : Little Albert.

Watson and Raynor: Little Albert

Procedure:
- 11 month old boy conditioned to fear white rats.
- Showed no fear initially but was then presented with the rat and a loud noise, creating a conditioned response.
- Little Albert became afraid of white animals.


OPERANT  CONDITIONING- LEARNING THROUGH REINFORCEMENT

Skinner (1974) proposed that conditioning through reward and punishment was fundamental in human development. He used pigeons and rats which would perform certain tasks for rewards.

SOCIAL  LEARNING THEORY - LEARNING THROUGH VICARIOUS REINFORCEMENT

Individuals learn through seeing others being rewarded and punished - Bandura (1960s)

e.g. People may see others being rewarded with attention for abnormal behaviour and then display the same behaviour; models etc...

Observation then imitation of role models.

Evaluation

+ Behavioural approach is convincing - classical conditioning in phobias and social learning in eating disorders.
+ Focus on behaviour - The behavioural model concentrates on the behaviour that is adaptive or maladaptive. Behaviour is what is stigmatised and labelled, not the person.
+ Focus on functioning - If the behaviour presents no problem to individual or others, there is no reason to regard it as a mental disorder.

- For many people who have a phobia, there is little evidence for early fearful encounters that lead to classical conditioning.
- Nature vs nurture - behavioural approach explains all behaviour through nurture and doesn't consider genetic contribution.
- Accused of being reductionist and simplistic.
- Heavily deterministic.
- Underlying causes not considered.

TREATMENTS

Systematic Desensitisation 

Procedure

- Reverses conditioning and replaces maladaptive response by encouraging a healthier response.
- Done in stages:
1) Relaxation - individual learns relaxation techniques.
2) Hierarchy of anxiety-provoking situations.
3) Reciprocal inhibition - 2 incompatible emotional states cannot exist at the same time.
4) Complete treatment - treatment ends when client is desensitised.
5) in vivo and in vitro - procedure can be carried out in real life (in vivo) or imagined (in vitro).

Evaluation

+ Gradual changes cause minimal distress
+ Not as unethical as flooding
+ Can be very effective in treating phobias and no evidence that it is temporary
+ Tolerating imagined stressful situations is followed by reduction in anxiety.
+ In vivo has shown more effective than in vitro.
+ Commonly used to treat phobias.

- Can still cause distress
- In vitro may not be realistic enough to desensitise
- Therapy targets learnt associations but doesn't address deeper psychological issues
- Ethical issues
- Time consuming

Aversion Therapy

Procedure

- Pairs an unwanted habit with unpleasant consequences.

Evaluation

+ Some studies support claim that nausea paired with alcohol can result in conditioned aversions
+ Provide a window of opportunity

- Doubts about this being maintained
    • Also uses more positive techniques to teach behaviours
- Ethical issues

Behavioural Modification

Procedure

- Based on operant conditioning
- Reinforces appropriate behaviour and ignores inappropriate behaviour

Evaluation

+ Rewards = effective way of changing behaviour and useful in improving antisocial behaviour

- Usually set in highly structures institutions - not generalisable to the real world
- Highly reductionist
- Based on learning principles and ignore biological factors

Social Change

- The term given to the range of strategies used by groups to improve their social status. 

- When a society as a whole adopts a new belief or way of behaving which then becomes widely accepted as the norm. 

- Social change can be POSITIVE or NEGATIVE.

POSITIVE - Ghandi, Rosa Parks, Suffragettes. 

NEGATIVE - Nazis, Palestinian militants, (debatably Nigel Farage).

Day-to-day social change

- Smoking in public places.
- Recycling.
- Social Networking.

THE SOCIAL IDENTITY THEORY (TAJFEL 1971)

- People identify themselves as belonging to particular social categories and there is an 'us' and 'them'.
- Tajfel argued that if the social identity or status of the group you belong to is unsatisfactory or is seen by others in a negative light then you attempt to increase your social status through social change.


Social Creativity - The group attempts to redefine their attributes in a way that makes them have a positive value.

Social Competition - The minority group enters into direct competition with the powerful majority and takes social action to improve the power, status and position of their own group and challenge the social conditions that disadvantage them.

THOUGHT REFORM

- Techniques used in China from the 1920s onwards to change people's political views and beliefs to accept the new communist regime.
- Revolutionary colleges in China in the 1940s had 3 day indoctrination programmes.
- Stage 1 - students would join a discussion group and hear others talking of their hatred of the old regime and hear lectures on the new ideologies.
- Stage 2 - Pressure was put on the students to show the correct view. Non-compliance resulted in humiliation.
- Stage 3 - Students had to prepare a confession statement to read out to the group embracing new ideologies.

Majority influence takes normative social influence, an instant decision and compliance. 

MINORITY INFLUENCE - Sometimes social change yields to a minority influence.

Minorities need to be:
- Consistent
- Flexible
- Non-dogmatic
In order to be successful.

People yield to minority influence due to the snowball effect, consistency, group membership and the dissociation model.

Minority change takes internalisation, a delayed decision and informational social influence. 

Moscovici (1969)

Procedure

- Participants were placed in a group of 6 made up of 2 confederates and 4 participants.
- Each member of the group was asked to state the colour of a 'blue' screen.
- Confederates gave their judgement first.
- 2 conditions - consistent and inconsistent.
- Consistent - confederates said screen was 'green' on every trial.
- Inconsistent - confederates said screen was 'green' two thirds of the trials.

Findings 

- Conformity rate of 8% in consistent condition and 1% in the inconsistent condition.

Evaluation

- Only conducted on females - low population validity.
- Lab study - lacks mundane realism.
- Not a large difference between minority and majority.

+ Lab study - High control - high internal validity.
+ Lab study - cause and effect.
+ Supports the importance of consistency in minority influence.

Social - Independent Behaviour - Obedience

Time for Discussion

 - Gamson - In study, participants has time to store information and discuss suspicions. They questioned the legitimacy and motive of the authority.

Gender

Social Heroism

- Putting oneself at risk for others.
- Resisting authority makes you a hero.
- e.g. Nelson Mandela and Michael Bernhardt.

Morals

- Rohlberg found that with imaginary moral issues, Milgram's volunteers were more defiant when they had a high level of morals.
- This was due to feeling responsible and empathetic.

Disobedient Model

- Exposing people to the actions of disobedient models. e.g. Milgram confederates.
- 10% obedience when someone else refused to deliver shocks.

Situational Factors

- Venue of the study - Milgram.
- Social support - confederates.
- Removing the buffer - having teacher and learner in the same room in Milgram.

Culture

Social - Independent Behaviour - Conformity

Prior Commitment

- Less likely to conform when publicly commits oneself to an opinion, e.g. variation of Asch.

Role of allies

- Introduce a dissident who gave social support e.g. Asch variation.

Morals

- In some situations, the psychological cost associated with abandoning a personal position is minor compared to fitting in with a group. If it involves morals, the cost is higher.

Desire for Individualisation

- Maintain a sense of individuality.
- Especially in Western cultures.

Culture

Gender

Internal LOC

Social - Why do people obey?

Situational Factors

Legitimate Authority: If someone is considered to be in a real position of power or at the top of a social hierarchy people are more likely to obey them. They may be trusted or may just have the power to punish. 

e.g. • Milgram - Obedience high at Yale University as opposed to run down office. 
       • Hofling - Degree of power and trust invested in doctors.
       • Bickman - 92% obedience rate in uniform. 

Authority figure takes responsibility: For the authority figure to be obeyed they need to take the responsibility for the subordinates actions. e.g. Milgram - experimenter says they're responsible. 

Agency Theory: The person sees themselves as the agent of others and don't feel personally responsible for their actions. e.g. Hofling. 

Graduated Commitment: Being locked into obedience in small stages. e.g. Milgram. 

Buffer: When the participant doesn't see the result of their actions. e.g. Milgram; Hiroshima. 

Personality Factors

Authoritarian Personality: People who have a tendency to obey and had a restrictive childhood that makes them hostile towards minority groups in the future. 

External Locus of Control: People who believe that their behaviour is due to external factors like luck and fate, making them more likely to obey. 

Social Influence - Obedience

Obedience is compliance to commands given by an authority figure. 

Milgram (1963)

Procedure

- 40 male volunteers paid $4.50, deceived into thinking they were giving electric shocks.
- Participants told study was about punishment and learning.
- Genuine participant always had the teacher role while a confederate played the learner.
- Learner had to remember pairs of words and say the correct word when teacher read out stimulus word.
- Shock system had 30 levers with levels of shock.
- Participant watched confederate get strapped into chair with electrodes attached to his arms.
- Confederate starts by answering correctly and then made mistakes. Shocks started at 15 volts and rose in 15-volt-intervals to 450 volts.
- If teacher hesitated, researcher encouraged him to continue.
- No shocks were actually administered.
- Experiment continued until teacher stopped or reacher the 450 volts.
- Participant debriefed.

Findings 

- All participants went to at least 300 volts.
- 65% of participants went to the end of the shocks.
- Most participants wanted to stop and were stressed but carried on when a researcher told them to.

Conclusion

- People will obey orders that go against their conscience.

Evaluation

+ Lab experiment - high control.
+ Lab experiment - replicable therefore reliable.
+ Lab experiment -  high internal validity. (Participants believed shocks were real so it set out what it was supposed to measure).

+ Same study conducted in different countries making it more generalisable e.g. Germany and Jordan.
+ Participant debriefed.
+ Volunteer sampling made it easy to find participants.
+ Influential research.

+ Participants had different occupations - more generalisable.

+ Participants were immediately and thoroughly debriefed.

+ In social influence research it is often necessary to deceive participants because they may behave differently if they know the true nature of the experiment.

+ Introduced to learner and told the shocks weren't real and got to see the learner was okay. Also told their behaviour was normal and assured them others behaved the same way. (Disobedient participants were told their behaviour was desirable).

+ Gave participants a questionnaire and 84% said they were glad to be in the experiment.

+ External psychiatrist assessed participants a year later and there was no evidence of psychological harm.

+ Cost-benefit analysis.

+ Got presumptive consent, (1% to 450v).

+ It was still possible to withdraw - 35% of participants refused to go to obey.

+ Hofling's field experiment was in a real life setting and still found a high level of obedience. 

+ Milgram disputed claims from Orne and Holland by using video evidence of participants being distressed and gave reports. Some of them also refused who j wouldn't have made sense if they thought the shocks were fake.

- Androcentric - low population validity.
- Small sample size - low population validity- not representative.

- Ethnocentric as it was only conducted on Americans. (Culture bias)
- Lab experiment - lacks mundane realism. Low in ecological validity because it's an artificial setting. (People wouldn't give shocks in real life).
- Unethical - deception (told it was about learning and punishment and there were confederates as well as thinking the shocks were real).

- Unethical - protection from harm (participants would experience extreme stress and thought they had injured or killed someone else and could have caused psychological harm).

- Unethical - confidentiality - videos.

- Unethical - Informed consent.

- Unethical - Right to withdraw made very difficult as there was pressure to continue.
- Outdated.

- Volunteer sample. 

- Orne and Holland criticised validity and claimed participants were going along with the study and didn't think the shocks were real.

--------------------------

Hofling et al (1966)

Procedure

- Experimenter phoned 22 nurses who were alone on wards in different hospitals introducing himself as a doctor who wasn't real. 

- He ordered them to administer a dosage twice the maximum allowance of a drug not on the ward list. 

Findings 

- 21 out of 22 nurses obeyed. 

- They were stopped before they could administer the drug and debriefed. 

Evaluation

+ Field experiment - more likely to show natural behaviour. 

- Couldn't get fully informed consent. 

- Participants deceived (fake doctor).

- Causes distress - protection from harm. 

- Low population validity - small sample size. 

- Low ecological validity - only in hospitals. 

-------------------------

Bickman (1974)

Procedure

- Field experiment in New York. Asked passers by to:

    • Pick up rubbish 

    • Lend money 

    • Stand on other side of sign

- Half of the time the experimenter dressed in a security uniform and street clothes the other half of the time. 

- Measured the number who obeyed. 

Findings

- 92% obeyed to lend money when in uniform. 

- 49% obeyed to lend money when in street clothes. 

Evaluation

+ Field experiment - higher ecological validity. 

+ Less likely to have demand characteristics because they don't know they're taking part. 

+ More likely to be able to establish cause and effect than natural experiment. 

- Informed consent can't always be obtained. 

- Less control than lab - low internal validity. 

- Only one uniform used. 

- Participant variables. 

Social Influence - Conformity Studies

Asch (1951)

Procedure

- 7 male students looked at two cards. The 'test card' showed one vertical line and the other card showed three differently lengthen vertical lines.
- Participants called out in turn which line was the same as the test line and the answer was obvious.
- Only one person was a genuine participant, he went second from last.
- Accomplices gave the wrong answer in 12 (critical trials) of 18 trials.
- Asch used 50 genuine participants in total.

Findings

- Participants conformed to the incorrect answer on 32% of the critical trials.
- 74% of participants conformed at least once.
- 26% of participants never conformed.
- Some participants said in interviews after, that they thought the wrong line was correct and others said they didn't want to be left out.

Conclusion

- Some people experienced Normative Social Influence and conformed to fit in.
- Some experienced Informational Social Influence and conformed because they believed the answer was right.

Evaluation

- All of participants are male students - low population validity and a very limited sample. It is not valid to generalise results to a wider population. Eg females, other ethnicities
- The time and place could have affected the findings. 1950s - more likely to conform because of the time.

- Perin and Spencer (1980) repeated the experiment in Britiain and conformity responses were a low lower.

- Laboratory experiment - demand characteristics may be present. 

- Laboratory experiment - lacks mundane realism and gives low ecological validity.

- Culture bias as they're all from America, can't generalise to other cultures.

- Low internal validity because people could lie in the interviews.

- Confederates meant that participants were being deceived.

- Emotional stress and embarrassment could case ethical issues.

+ Laboratory experiment - can establish cause and effect.

+ Laboratory experiment - replicable and reliable.

+ Laboratory experiment- a lot of control over the variables.

Variations

- Non-unanimous majority - conformity drops to 5%.
- Majority is 2 people - conformity drops to 12.8%.
- Losing a partner - conformity drops to 28%.
- Tasks made more difficult - conformity increases.
- Written down answers - conformity dropped.

-------------------------------------

Sherif (1935)

Procedure

- Asked individual participants to judge how far a stationary point of light appeared to move on a number of trials in a completely dark room. 

- Participants worked alone and in groups of three people, announcing their estimates aloud. 

Findings

- As individuals, the strength of the effect was seen differently with different people. 

- In groups, a norm emerged through convergence. 

- When procedure rearranged to make groups first, the norms emerged even more quickly. 

- Participants who then did the individual estimate continued to use the group estimate from before. 

Conclusion

When faced with an ambiguous situation, people looked to each other for guidance - Informational Social Influence. 

-----------------------------------

Crutchfield (1955)

Procedure

- Participants in booths out of sight of each other and all able to see stimulus cards.

- Participants sat individually in booths with a row of switches and lights in front of them.

- They pressed the switch that corresponded to their judgement when it was their turn to answer.

- They were told the lights on the display panel were the responses of other participants but were actually controlled by the experimenter. 

Findings

- Conformity levels were 30% when using Asch's line comparison tasks. 

- When the task was more difficult, conformity increased. 

Conclusion

- Participants experienced Informational Social Influence. 

-------------------------------------

Perrin & Spencer (1980)

Procedure

- Replicated Asch's procedure using British students.

- Students were from maths, engineering and chemistry. 

Findings

- Only one case of conformity in 396 trials. 

Conclusion

- Cultural changes over the 30 years had led to the reduction of conformity. 

Perrin and Spencer conducted the study again using youths on probation and probation officers as confederates and levels of conformity were similar to Asch's original study.

------------------------------------

Smith & Bond (1998)

Procedure

- Reviewed 31 studies of conformity conducted in different cultures using Asch's procedure. 

Findings 

- People in collectivist cultures showed higher levels of conformity to those in individualistic cultures.

Conclusion

- People are more likely to experience Normative Social Influence in collectivist cultures because they're more loyal to the group and concerned with the needs of others. 

-------------------------------------

Zimbardo Prison Experiment (1971)

Procedure

- Well-adjusted, healthy male volunteers were paid $15 a day to take part in a two-week simulation.

- Volunteers randomly allocated roles of prisoners and guards. 

- Local police arrested 9 prisoners at their homes without warning. They were taken to the 'prison', stripped, deloused and given smocks to wear with their prisoner number. 

- Three guards on each shift wore khaki and sunglasses, carrying batons. 

- No physical violence was permitted.

Findings

- The guards harassed and humiliated the prisoners and conformed to their perceived roles.

- Study was cancelled after six days.

- Prisoners rebelled against guards after two days.

- Some prisoners became depressed and anxious and had to be released early.

- By day six, prisoners were completely submissive to the guards.

Conclusion

- The participants experienced Normative Social Influence.

- People will readily conform to the social roles they are expected to play.

- The roles that people play shape their attitudes and behaviour. (Internalisation)

---------------------------------------

Reicher & Haslam (2006)

Procedure

- Used 15 males through volunteer sampling, all well-rounded and sound of mind. 

- Randomly divided into five guards and ten prisoners.

- Prisoners allocated to lockable cells where video and audio was recorded. 

- Daily swabs of saliva were taken to retrieve cortisol levels.

- Guards could give punishments and rewards and had much better living conditions.

- Prisoners arrived one by one and their heads were shaved and clothes taken away.

- One prisoner was promoted to guard.

Findings

- Guards failed to identify with their roles. 

- Prisoners ended up rising up and overthrowing the guards.

- Study had to be ended early because the guards had proposed a new strict regime which overstepped the ethical boundaries. 

Evaluation

+ The researchers suggested that play acting to the cameras could not explain the changes in observed behaviour throughout the study and importantly in response to the planned interventions.
+ Shows awareness of ethical guidelines.
+ Lab experiment, so in theory could be replicated, meaning a high reliability.

- Behaviour could've been down to the Hawthorne effect.

- Participant differences could have caused the effects observed.

- Small sample size and androcentric, making it low in population validity.

- Lacks mundane realism - low ecological validity.

Social Influence - Conformity

Social Psychology: The study of the impact of our surroundings, and in particular of other people on our behaviour. 

Social Influence: 
- Process by which an individual's attitudes, beliefs or behaviours are modified by the presence or actions of others. 
- Some forms of social influence are obvious and other types are more subtle/unintended. 

Conformity: A form of social influence where people adopt the behaviour, attitudes and values of other members in a majority position. (majority influence) 

---------------------------------------

Groups

Incidental group: members have little involvement. 

Membership group: members are committed to the norms of the group. 

Identity-reference group: members identify with the values, goals and motives of the group and obtain social identity from group. 

---------------------------------------

Deutsch and Gerard proposed the DUAL PROCESS MODEL which involved Informational Social Influence and Normative Social Influence

Informational Social Influence: Based on our desire to be right. We look to others whom we believe are correct to provide information on how to behave. This is strong when we move from one group to another and experience situational ambiguity. (links to Internalisation)

Normative Social Influence: Based on our desire to be liked. We conform because we think that others will approve of and accept us. (links to compliance)

- Often criticised for implying the two types of social influence are separate and independent. 

------------------------------------

Kelman proposed the 3 types of conformity:

1) Compliance - The most superficial form of conformity where people publicly conform to the views or behaviours of others but privately maintain their own views.

2) Internalisation - The deepest level of conformity where people's private views change to match those of the group.

3) Identification 

Biological - Stress Management

Stress Inoculation Therapy

This is a psychological method which prepares individuals for future stressors and increases hardiness. It has three stages:

1. Conceptualisation - Encourage individuals to analyse pervious stressful situations.

2. Skills Training and Practice - Teach individuals strategies to cope with stress.

3. Real-Life Application

Research

Saunders et al (1997)

- Meta-analysis on 37 studies representing 1837 participants.
- SIT was effective for reducing performance anxiety, reducing state anxiety and enhancing performance under stress.

Meichenbaum (1985)

- More effective than desensitisation treatment.

Langer, Janis, Wolfer (1975)

- Children undergoing surgery, some parents received SIT. Those who received it = less anxiety.


• Effective against public speaking and divorce.
• Requires time, money and commitment.
• Participants must be motivated.
• It is difficult to change lifetime habits.

-----------------------------

Hardiness Training

- To increase confidence and sense of control to deal more successfully to change. 

Stage 1: Focusing

- Therapist encourages client to focus on the physiological symptoms associated with stressful situations. This helps a clients to:

• Identify sources of stress
• Gain strategies and skills to help cope with stress

Stage 2: Reconstructing stressful situations

- The client is encouraged to think about how stressful situations, and in particular how they might have turned out for better and for worse. 

- This is a cognitive strategy designed to encourage a realistic appraisal of stressful situations - seeing that things could have been worse should help them feel more positive and optimistic. 

Stage 3: Self-improvement

- Improves the client's sense of self-efficacy. 

- Therapist suggests taking on manageable sources of stress and the experience of coping with these shows the client that they can be optimistic about dealing with them.

Research

Maddi et al (1987, 2002)

- Showed that hardiness training has been successful in improving health and performance in working adults and students. 

Evaluation

+ Targets the appraisal of source and resources available for dealing with them - so it reduces the gap between demands and coping resources. 

+ Provides client with increased sense of self-efficacy. 

- Involves time, commitment and money. 

-------------------------------------

Drugs

Benzodiazepines

- Enhance the action of Gamma Aminobutyric Acid, (GABA) which slows down neurones. 

Evaluation

- Adverse side-effects like addiction.

- Withdrawal symptoms. 

- Tolerance.

- Need fully informed consent. 

+Relatively safe in overdose. 

Main points

- Acts in brain.

- Increases action of GABA,

- Binds to sites on the GABA receptor of the neuron, allowing more chloride ions to enter. 

- Inhibits neurons so the output of the excitatory neurotransmitters is reduced and the person feels calm.

Hidalgo (2001) found that BZs were more effective than other drugs, like antidepressants, when treating social anxiety. 

Gelpin (1996) found that while BZs have short term benefits alleviating distress from trauma, they do not prevent the onset of PTSD.

Beta-Blockers

Main points

- Act in the heart.

- Reduce activity of adrenaline and noradrenaline. 

- Bind to beta-adrenergic receptors in body parts including heart and blood vessels. 

- This blocks the receptor from being stimulated which reduces heart rate, blood pressure etc.

Evaluation

+ Acts fast and have life saving potential. 

+ Do not have severe side effects. 

- Don't target source of stress.

Hedblad (2001) found that regular, slow doses of BB slowed the rate of progression of atherosclerosis. 

NICE report (2006) recommended that BB should not be used to treat high blodd pressure because other drugs are more effective. BB also carry a risk of provoking type 2 diabetes. 

Overall Evaluation

• Quick availability - prescriptions of drugs. 

• Technology always changing and improving drugs. 

Biological - Workplace Stress

There are 4 types of workplace stress:

1. Role ambiguity
2. Control
3. Environment
4. Workload

Marmot et al (1997)

Procedure:

- 7000 civil service employees working in London participated in a survey.
- Data gathered on how senior they were and how much control and support they perceived they had at work.
- 5 years later, the medical histories of the employees were reviewed.

Findings:

- The participants who were less senior and felt they had less control and support were more likely to have cardiovascular disorders.
- Control, support and seniority may be factors in whether people suffer long-term illnesses.

------------------------------

Johansson et al (1978)

Procedure:

- In a Swedish timber mill, a group of 14 workers was studied. 

- Their work was highly repetitive and demand a lot of attention and they had no control over the pace that their work was carried out. 

- Compared to a group of ten workers whose working conditions were more flexible. 

- Levels of adrenaline and noradrenaline in their urine were measured at work and then in their free time. 

- Workers provided ratings of their mood and levels of psychosomatic illness and absenteeism in the two groups was also monitored. 

Findings:

- At work, the people in the first group showed higher levels of adrenaline and noradrenaline. 

- Ratings of mood were more negative, had more psychosomatic illness and more absent from work.

- Monotony, vigilance and lack of control are associated with stress.

Biological - Life Changes & Daily Hassles

These can include minor irritants such as being late or having a bad hair day, OR more serious issues like buying a house, getting married or having children.

Social Readjustment Rating Scale - Holmes and Rahe (1967)

Aim: To construct an instrument for measuring stress.

Method:

- Examined medical records of 5000 patients.
- Compiled a list of 43 life events.
- Told 100 people that marriage had the arbitrary value of 500 and they had to assign a number to the other life events.
- Death of a spouse was judged to require twice as much readjustment as marriage.
- The amount of stress a person has experienced in a given period is measured by the total amount of life change units.

Findings:

- Most life events were less stressful than marriage, but six (death of spouse, divorce, personal injury, illness) were rated more stressful.
- People with a high LCU score were more likely to experience physical illness the following year.
- Someone scoring over 300 LCU had an 80% chance of becoming ill.

Conclusions:

- Stress could be measured objectively as an LCU score.

Evaluation:

- Life changes have a largely negative feel about them so the SRRS may be confusing 'change' with 'negativity'.
- Some life events are ambiguous.
- It may not be change that's stressful, but the unexpected change.
- Gender bias
- Vague - measurement is not valid.
- Ignores individual differences.
- Not applicable to all population.
- Not relevant to modern day.
- Ethical issues.

--------------------------------

Rahe, Mahan and Arthur (1970)

Procedure:

- Crew of three naval ships - 2684 men - assessed for LCU in preceding two years .

- Spent 6-8 months onboard ship and naval medicine staff kept record of their illnesses. 

Findings:

- Positive correlation found between life events in 6 months prior to departure and subsequent illness. 

- Few pre-departure life events = onboard illness low. 

- Results plotted against illness score. 

- Various factors affected pattern, such as the overall stress level of the crew and their age and marital status. 

Evaluation:

+ Natural experiment - reflects natural behaviour. 

+ Longitudinal - over a long period of time. 

- Androcentric.

- Longitudinal - attrition. 

- Self-reprot technique - social desirability bias. 

- Investigator bias - Rahe doing experiment - validity reduced. 

- Can't be replicated - low reliability. 

- Individual differences. 

- Doesn't prove cause and effect.

Biological - Personality Types

Friedman and Rosenman distinguished between Type A and Type B personalities in the 1950s and 60s.

Type A characteristics

- Impatient
- Competitive
- High achiever
- Alert
- Self-critical
- Cynical
- Hostile
- Feel like they don't have enough time to do everything
- Do several things at one time
- Don't like waiting

Type B characteristics

- Calm
- Relaxed
- Laid-back
- Do one thing at once
- Make time for friends and family
- Less competitive and have hobbies for leisure rather than competition

Modifying Type A behaviour

- Life is an unfinished work
- Refrain from interrupting
- Do one thing at a time
- Let others do their work
- Protect your time
- Learn to wait patiently
- Take breaks
- Practice relaxation techniques
- Smile
- Compliment people
- Take time to be alone
- Cultivate intimate relationships

Research Evidence

Rosenman (1974) 
- Interviewed 3000 men and categorised them as Type A, Type B and Type X.
- Sample followed up over 8 1/2 years.
- 257 had CHD.
- 70% of these were type A.

Rosenman concluded that there was a link between personality and stress.

-----------------------------------------

Kobasa found that people with a hardy personality are better at coping with stress. She characterised hardy people as having 'the 3 Cs':

1. Control- Hardy people see themselves as being in control of their lives, rather than external factors. 

2. Commitment- Hardy people have a strong sense of purpose.

3. Challenge- Hardy people see stressors as challenges to overcome rather than threats. 

Research:

-Kobasa supported her theory by using a correlational design using a sample of 800 male managers and executives in white-collar jobs.
-Used questionnaires to assess the 3 Cs and levels of physical exercise and social support
-They all had stressful jobs, but those with a hardy personality (high scores on questionnaires) were much less likely to get ill.
-She concluded that the hardy personality may help protect people from the negative effects of stress.

Evaluation

+ Supported by research.

+ Useful to explain how some soldiers remain healthy under war-related stress.

- Hard to measure.

- Self-report methods trigger social desirability bias.

- Based on white, middle-class men - not generalisable. 

- Suggested to simply be a low negative affectivity.

Biological Psychology - General Adaptation Syndrome

Seyle - General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS)

GAS has 3 stages. These include:

Stage 1 - Alarm

Stage 2 - Resistance (body maintains activity)

Stage 3 - Exhaustion

Evaluation

+ Pioneering work recognising stress as being a psychological concept.
+ Major implications for relationship between stress and physical illness - inspired research.

- Only suggests a single, passive response to stressors and doesn't take into account individual differences.
- In initial investigations, Seyle used non-human animals which caused generalisations.
- Can argue there is an overemphasis on physical factors.

Biological Psychology - Stress

Stress: 

Experienced when a person's perceived environmental, social and physical demands exceed their perceived ability to cope.

OR

The reaction people have to excessive pressures or other types of demand placed upon them. It arrises when they worry that they can't cope. 

The Automatic Nervous System (ANS) causes an involuntary response. It has two branches:

When an event is determined stressful, the HYPOTHALAMUS is activated. This causes two systems to activate.

HYPOTHALAMIC PITUITARY                                                  SYMPATHETIC ADRENO

ADRENAL AXIS (HPA)                                                               MEDULLARY AXIS (SAM)

                     |                                                                                                       |

Pituitary gland is activated                                                          Autonomic nervous system                                    

                                                                                                       activated. This sends messages

                    |                                                                                  through the body to prepare us.                          

Releases adrenal corticotrophic hormones                                                     

                   

ADRENAL GLANDS are activated. These are just above the kidneys.

Adrenal cortex is activated                                                          Adrenal-medulla gland is activated.

                   |                                                                                                         |

Releases corticosteroids                                                     Releases adrenaline and noradrenaline.

---------------------------------

Stress and Illness

Because corticosteroids can slow or sometime stop the working immune system, people can become susceptive to many illnesses while they're stressed. One of the main immunodeficiency diseases is AIDS.

Natural Immunity: A primitive system and is made up of the cells in the bloodstream. These non-specifically attack and ingest invading pathogens. These natural immunity cells include macrophages, phagocytes and natural killer cells.

Specific Immunity: Based on lymphocytes. A more sophisticated system than natural immunity as the cells that make it up have the ability to recognise invading pathogens and produce specific antibodies to destroy them. Specific Immunity is split into cellular and humoral immunity.

Cellular Immunity: Involves T lymphocytes which they grow in the thymus gland. These T cells attack intracellular pathogens. 

Humoral Immunity: Coordinated by another set of lymphocytes called B cells in bone marrow. The end product is the secretion of antibodies that attack and destroy extracellular pathogens.

Russek (1962)

- Russek used medical professors to test stress. 

- He proposed that GPs experience high stress and dermatologists experience low stress. 

- Heart disease was greatest amongst GPs - 11.9% of the sample. 

Williams (2000)

- Anger is related to heart disease. 

- 13000 people were tested with a 10 question anger scale. 

- None of the participants suffered heart disease at the outset (baseline).

- 6 years later, 256 people experienced a heart attack. 

- Highest score on scale - 2 times more likely to have heart disease. 

Brady (1958)

Procedure

- Pairs of monkeys were linked to an apparatus that gave electric shocks.

- Shocks were given every 20 seconds to one monkey.

- Other monkey had the power to stop some of the shocks but not others by pressing a lever.

Findings

- The executive monkeys developed ulcers while the yolked monkeys were unharmed. 

Conclusion

- The executive monkeys had to remain vigilant to prevent the shocks and this is extremely stressful which gave them ulcers. 

Evaluation

- Brady chose moneys who were most active - investigator bias. 

- Unethical - causes harm to monkeys.

- Can't generalise results to humans because results would not be representational.

Kiecolt-Glaser et al (1984)

Procedure

- First-year medical students, 49 males and 26 females.
- Gave blood samples a month before their exams as a baseline measure and again on first day of exams when exam stress was assumed to be at its peak.
- Completed questionnaires to assess psychiatric symptoms, loneliness and life events.

Findings 

- Natural killer cell activity decreased between the two samples. indicating a weakening of the immune system
- Immune responses lowest in students reporting to be lonely or experiencing other life problems.

Conclusion

- Stress is related to a lowered immune response.

Evaluation

+ Male and female participants - higher population validity.
+ Baseline measure shows the cause and effect.

- Androcentric because more males.
- First year medical students only - low population validity.
- Demand characteristics.
- Social desirability bias.
- Medical students may know more.

Marucha et al (1998)

Procedure

- Small 3.5mm wounds made on palate of 11 dental students.
- First during vacation and then 3 days before exam.
- Healing assessed using daily photographs and foaming response to hydrogen peroxide.

Findings

- Wounds healing took 3 days longer during examination period compared to vacation.

Conclusion

- Even short-lived stress can affect the immune system.

Evaluation

+ Two methods of gathering data.

- Small sample size - low population validity.
- Unethical - protection from harm.
- Can't necessarily establish cause and effect.
- Participant variables.

Cohen et al (1991)

Procedure

- Healthy volunteers injected with common cold virus.
- Volunteers in control group injected with harmless salt solution.
- Participants given stress index.

Findings

- Positive correlation between stress index and cold symptoms.
- A third injected with virus developed colds.

Evaluation

+ Control group gave comparison.
+ Volunteer sampling made it easy to get participants.
+ Baseline created.

- Stress of injection could contribute to the illness.
- Correlation can't establish cause and effect.
- Participant variables

Cognitive - Strategies for memory improvement

Mnemonic Techniques: A structured technique used to help people remember and recall information. Used when we have to recall large amounts of unfamiliar information. 

Verbal Mnemonics: Useful when the order is important. 

Acronym: Where a word or sentence is formed from the initial letters of other words. 
e.g. ROYGBIV

OR

Acrostic: A poem or sentence where the first letter in each line or word forms the item to be remembered. 

Visual Mnemonics: Use of mental techniques. 

Method of Loci: Requires the learner to associate parts of the material to be learned with different places in order. 

Keyword Method: Used to associate two pieces of information such as a foreign language. 
e.g 'vin' remember: A van full of wine. 

Spider Diagrams: Making notes in the form of a drawing with branches.