Social Psychology - Theory Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Social Psychology - Theory - Essay ExampleA group gives each of its members an identity element and a role. Group identity gives an individual improved self-esteem, confidence level and sense of belonging. The individual is also socially and culturally influenced by the group.This study was conducted in 1971 by Philip Zimbardo of Stanford University, California, along with a group of interrogationers. It was a dramatic simulation of prison life conducted to study the manner of good people when placed in an evil setting, to learn if man would prevail over evil or vice versa, etc. (Zimbardo). The independent variable in the study was the conditions the participants were assigned, the dependent variable being their consequent behavior (Haney, Banks and Zimbardo). The study was stopped halfway through due to the grim effects seen in the participants where the guards had become sadistic and the prisoners extremely depressed.The experiment was funded by the US navy blue with a view to study the causes of conflict between the guards and prisoners in the naval prisons. Up until then, there was a belief that the guards entered their jobs with a guard mentality and were essentially sadistic and insensitive whereas the prisoners were aggressive people with no respect for law. The study, however, disproved this dispositional hypothesis. though the participants knew that they were part of a study, from the moment the prisoners were caught and arrested unawares from their homes and from the moment the guards were initiated into their roles a day in the beginning the prisoners were brought in, the participants fell so perfectly into their roles and they were affected by them so much that they seemed to believe in their assigned roles or positions. The participants were not preconditioned on their plant of interactions and were free to interact in any way. Yet, their encounters tended to be negative, hostile, insulting and dehumanizing (Haney, Banks and Zimbardo). The n egative emotions showed that the participants, both the prisoners and the guards, had internalized the situation or that they had started to believe in the situation. Though physical rage was strictly not allowed, forms of less direct aggressive behavior were noted.Another instance where the participants internalization was evidenced was when five of the prisoners had to be released due to extreme depression. Though the prisoners were fully aware that they were only playing a role and could quit the study if they so wished, only two of the rest were ready to forfeit their allowance in consideration of parole. When the study was terminated earlier than planned, the prisoners were delighted while the guards were disappointed. This was because the guards had grown to enjoy the power that they now held. Even the prison officials, meaning the research team, had started behaving in a manner they thought was befitting the roles they played. The styles of responding to and coping with the new situation differed from individual to individual. While a some prisoners had to be released, a few endured the atmosphere. While some guards were tough but fair, some went far beyond their roles to engage in creative cruelty and harassment (Haney, Banks and Zimbardo). The preliminary personality tests through with(p) on the participants had not predicted this manner of a behavior