In the realm of the scientific study of psychology and of human behavior in general, there are numerous cases and experiments that may be deemed to have such lasting effect in the landscape of academia to be called landmarks. A few of these we have discussed in class, such as Asch’s conformity experiment, Milgram’s remix experiment, the auto-kinetic phenomenon, and Jane Elliott’s eye color experiment, may be said to be staples in field of social psychology. However, one other, equally-important experiment may be seen in Philip Zimbardo’s Stanford prison experiment. The case, conducted on students that were asked to pretend to be guards and prisoners, immediately turned sour, as the members of the experiment had adapted to their roles so well that some suffered psychological torture and abuse at the hands of their fellow students (BBC, 2002).
At the heart of the experiment is the operation of social influence among the participants. Social influence, according to Baron and Branscombe, are the many ways in which people produce change in others – in their behavior, attitudes, or beliefs (2012). Conformity plays a large part in this case. The guards and the prisoners became two respective groups that facilitated social and group cohesion. As a result, the members of each group tended to decide and act alike. Even if there were some dissenters among each group, his or her voice or perspective would have most likely been “drowned out” by the desire to conform. Solomon Asch’s experiments prove this, as cohesiveness – the degree of attraction felt by an individual toward some group, group size, and type of social norm operating in a particular situation – appears in any group structure. Most likely, the participants experienced a pressure to conform not only to their roles, but also to each other. A powerful dissenting voice would have had a significant effect in the overall outcome of the experiment.
Works Cited
Baron, R. A., Branscombe, N. R., & Byrne, D. (2009). Social psychology (13th ed.). New York: Pearson.
BBC (2002) The Stanford Prison Experiment. Video. < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_LKzEqlPto>
