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Zimbardo Dramaturgical Analysis Essay

359 Words2 Pages

In the research of Zimbardo’s prison experiment, lays an abundance of information regarding social structure and interaction. Philip G. Zimbardo, a psychologist and professor at Stanford University, conducted a dramaturgical analysis consisting of student volunteers within a prison simulation (zimbardo.socialpsychology.org). According to Kendall, a dramaturgical analysis is “the study of social interaction that compares everyday life to a theatrical presentation” (Kendall 145). Through this experiment, Zimbardo hypothesized that both prisoners and guards have inherent traits through their roles. The independent variables in the experiment were the ascribed roles given to the subjects. The dependent variables were the subjects’ behaviors in response to …show more content…

In the process, the guards used ridicule and profanity towards the prisoners in attempts to meet their own role expectations. Among the prisoners rose leaders, one at a time, who stood in opposition to their newly given status and outgroup. In response rebellions, the guards would single out the leaders and punish the whole group (TheAnswerto1984is). This led to a decrease of solidarity between the prisoners and an increase of anomie as well as group conformity. Similar to Zimbardo, Stanley Milgram’s research is relevant to the Stanford prison experiment. According to Kendall, his study “provides evidence that obedience to authority may be more common than most of us like to believe” and the prisoners in the experiment further support this statement. (168). Ultimately, Zimbardo’s hypothesis may be backed up seeing that the prisoners and the guards took on their new roles which either gave them authority or impotence. How each group behaved was solely derived solely on the statuses based on the statuses that were assigned to

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