Outline potential ethical and design issue with Zimbardo’s prison
study
Ethical issues
Ppts weren’t protected from physical or psychological harm - they experienced
humiliation and distress.
Fully informed consent wasn’t given because the events of the experiment were
unpredictable.
No clear right to withdraw.
Ppts weren’t debriefed until years later
Design issues
All the ppts were male - gender bias, the results can’t be generalised to explain how
women would behave.
All ppts were college students – They were quite young (20s), which may have
affected their aggression levels/ how they responded to situations.
All ppts from an American college - Cultural bias, not generalisable to other
countries.
Volunteer sampling – Usually specific types/groups of people volunteer, biased
towards specific people so doesn’t include the whole target population. E.G. People
who responded to an ad about a prison experiment may be more aggressive.
Zimbardo took a dual role - He had the role of the experimenter, who could stop the
experiment, but also the role of an actual prison superintendent, who wouldn’t let
people leave.
There was no control setting – he didn’t have anything to compare his results to.
Ppts knew they were being watched - they changed their behaviour to fit their role
better.
study
Ethical issues
Ppts weren’t protected from physical or psychological harm - they experienced
humiliation and distress.
Fully informed consent wasn’t given because the events of the experiment were
unpredictable.
No clear right to withdraw.
Ppts weren’t debriefed until years later
Design issues
All the ppts were male - gender bias, the results can’t be generalised to explain how
women would behave.
All ppts were college students – They were quite young (20s), which may have
affected their aggression levels/ how they responded to situations.
All ppts from an American college - Cultural bias, not generalisable to other
countries.
Volunteer sampling – Usually specific types/groups of people volunteer, biased
towards specific people so doesn’t include the whole target population. E.G. People
who responded to an ad about a prison experiment may be more aggressive.
Zimbardo took a dual role - He had the role of the experimenter, who could stop the
experiment, but also the role of an actual prison superintendent, who wouldn’t let
people leave.
There was no control setting – he didn’t have anything to compare his results to.
Ppts knew they were being watched - they changed their behaviour to fit their role
better.
