Social Behavior Experiments
Groups:
Stanford Prison Experiment:
Patrick, George, Joyce, Emily, Noah, Alexa, Collette, Marleigh
Milgram Obedience study:
Caitie, Sydney, Elliot, Moyo, Tara
Bystander Effect:
Carter, Maddie, Josie, Jack
Asch Line Test
Madi, Claire, Will, Roger, Miles, Sofia
Robbers Cave:
Siena, Gavin, Lauren, Anna, Alex, Willis, Isabelle, Sara
Each group should do the following:
1. Day 1: Learn about the experiment by reading the description, watching the
video(s) and reading various reactions. Plan your costumes for your
presentation on Tuesday (see #2). Create a script you can use for the
reenactment.
2. Day 2: Dress up on Tuesday as a participant/researcher in your experiment.
Re-enact the experiment as realistically as possible (no inappropriate
behavior), including costumes and “personas.”
3. Day 1/2: Come up with discussion questions so you can lead a discussion on
Tuesday on the following:
a. how the experiment relates to the main social behavior points.
b. how the experiment relates to you (the modern-day social
implications)
c. ethical questions the experiment brings up
Social Behavior Experiments
Roles:
1 experimenter
2 guards
5 prisoners
Stanford Prison Experiment
THE EXPERIMENT: http://www.experiment-resources.com/stanford-prisonexperiment.html
Official experiment website: http://www.prisonexp.org/. You should watch the
slideshow and videos to get a sense of the experiment.
Zimbardo giving a tour of where the experiment took place:
http://www.prisonexp.org/documentary.htm. Watch the movie on the page.
Very general overview:
http://www.learner.org/discoveringpsychology/19/e19expand.html
Written overview of the experiment: http://www.spring.org.uk/2007/09/our-darkhearts-stanford-prison.php
Article about the reenactment of the experiment:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/1986889.stm
Discussion questions from the Prison Experiment website that might be interesting
to bring up: http://www.prisonexp.org/discussion.htm
Lessons from the experiment: http://humantesting.suite101.com/article.cfm/lessons_from_the_stanford_prison_experiment
Main SOCIAL BEHAVIOR points (from suite101.com):
o Some situations can exert powerful influences over individuals, causing them
to behave in ways they would not, could not, predict in advance.
o Situational power is most noticeable in new settings in which the
participants cannot call on previous guidelines for their new behavior and
have no historical references to rely on.
o Situational power involves ambiguity of role boundaries, authoritative or
institutionalized permission to behave in prescribed ways or to disinhibit
traditionally disapproved ways of responding.
o Role playing -- even when acknowledged to be artificial and temporary -- can
still come to exert a profoundly realistic impact on the actors.
o Good people can be induced, seduced, initiated into behaving in evil
(irrational, stupid, self destructive, antisocial) ways by immersion in "total
situations."
Social Behavior Experiments
Milgram Obedience Experiment
Roles:
1 experimenter
4 subjects (one is shocked, the other does the shocking)
THE EXPERIMENT: http://www.experiment-resources.com/stanley-milgramexperiment.html
BBC experiment footage (three parts):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcvSNg0HZwk
Another replication of the experiment:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6GxIuljT3w
A French group replicated the experiment for a fake game show. The video and
article:
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/18/wait-wait-dont-torture-me/
A great explanation of the original research and its connections to modern life
http://reason.com/archives/2009/01/06/would-you-have-been-a-nazi
An article on how this relates to Hitler and the Nazis:
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/bozo-sapiens/201004/obedience-thelesson-eichmann
Main SOCIAL BEHAVIOR points:
o Ordinary people are deferential to authority in a laboratory setting
o People will do things that they wouldn’t normally do (hurt another person) if
they are told to do so by someone in authority
o Situation plays a bigger role than personality in terms of how a person will
act
Each group should do the following:
1. Learn about the experiment by reading the description, watching the
video(s) and reading various reactions.
2. Dress up on Tuesday as a participant/researcher in your experiment (see #3)
3. Re-enact the experiment as realistically as possible (no inappropriate
behavior), including costumes and “personas.” Create a script you can use for
the reenactment.
4. Lead a discussion on the following:
a. how the experiment relates to the main social behavior points.
b. how the experiment relates to you (the modern-day social
implications)
c. ethical questions the experiment brings up
Social Behavior Experiments
Kitty Genovese and the Bystander Effect
Roles:
Bystanders (4), 1 victim, 1 experimenter/narrator
THE EXPERIMENT: http://www.experiment-resources.com/bystander-apathyexperiment.html
Two minute video that explains what happened to Kitty Genovese:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JozmWS6xYEw&feature=related
Video that includes experiments to simulate the bystander effect:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSsPfbup0ac&feature=related
A detailed New York Times article about the case and its psychology connections
(the first and last pages of the story will be most helpful):
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/08/nyregion/kitty-40-yearslater.html?pagewanted=1
Another detailed explanation of Kitty Genovese and the connection to the bystander
effect: http://riverdaughter.wordpress.com/2009/08/02/a-fascinatingintersection-of-true-crime-psychology-and-media-misinformation/
Overview of the Bystander Effect: http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-thebystander-effect.htm
An experiment that simulated the Bystander Effect:
http://www.pineforge.com/newman4study/resources/latane1.htm
Connections beyond Kitty Genovese: http://listverse.com/2009/11/02/10notorious-cases-of-the-bystander-effect/
Main SOCIAL BEHAVIOR points:
o In ambiguous situations, people will respond to a situation based on the
influence of those around them
o In groups, people tend to feel a “diffusion of responsibility” and no one ends
up responding
Each group should do the following:
1. Learn about the experiment by reading the description, watching the
video(s) and reading various reactions.
2. Dress up on Tuesday as a participant/researcher in your experiment (see #3)
3. Re-enact the experiment as realistically as possible (no inappropriate
behavior), including costumes and “personas.” Create a script you can use for
the reenactment.
4. Lead a discussion on the following:
a. how the experiment relates to the main social behavior points.
b. how the experiment relates to you (the modern-day social
implications)
c. ethical questions the experiment brings up
Social Behavior Experiments
Asch Conformity Experiment
Roles:
1 experimenter
4 experimenter line judges
1 actual subject
THE EXPERIMENT: http://www.experiment-resources.com/asch-experiment.html
Additional write-ups:
http://www.age-of-the-sage.org/psychology/social/asch_conformity.html
http://faculty.babson.edu/krollag/org_site/soc_psych/asch_conform.html
Video of the experiment: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRh5qy09nNw
Main SOCIAL BEHAVIOR points:
o A person will change his/her opinions in order to conform to the group
o Social pressure is a strong force that can make people change what they say
they believe
o Even if only one other person disagrees with the group, an individual will be
more able to resist peer pressure
Each group should do the following:
1. Learn about the experiment by reading the description, watching the
video(s) and reading various reactions.
2. Dress up on Tuesday as a participant/researcher in your experiment (see #3)
3. Re-enact the experiment as realistically as possible (no inappropriate
behavior), including costumes and “personas.” Create a script you can use for
the reenactment.
4. Lead a discussion on the following:
a. how the experiment relates to the main social behavior points.
b. how the experiment relates to you (the modern-day social
implications)
c. ethical questions the experiment brings up
Social Behavior Experiments
Robber’s Cave Experiment
Roles:
6 team members, 3 on each side
2 experimenters
THE EXPERIMENT: http://www.experiment-resources.com/robbers-caveexperiment.html
Write-ups of the experiment:
http://www.spring.org.uk/2007/09/war-peace-and-role-of-power-in-sherifs.php
http://www.ppu.org.uk/learn/peaceed/pe_robbers_cave.html
http://psychclassics.asu.edu/Sherif/
http://www.age-of-thesage.org/psychology/social/sherif_robbers_cave_experiment.html
Blog entry about the experiment:
http://lesswrong.com/lw/lt/the_robbers_cave_experiment/
Audio from the experiment (really hard to hear, with some images of the boys):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DShYwlcLsHc
Main SOCIAL BEHAVIOR points:
o Stopping fighting between two hostile groups isn’t enough to change
behavior
o When there are limited resources, conflict, prejudice and discrimination can
result
o Once hostility has been aroused, it is difficult to reverse the prejudices that
have developed
o Group identity and hostile discrimination is easily established by
encouraging competition
Each group should do the following:
1. Learn about the experiment by reading the description, watching the
video(s) and reading various reactions.
2. Dress up on Tuesday as a participant/researcher in your experiment (see #3)
3. Re-enact the experiment as realistically as possible (no inappropriate
behavior), including costumes and “personas.” Create a script you can use for
the reenactment.
4. Lead a discussion on the following:
a. how the experiment relates to the main social behavior points.
b. how the experiment relates to you (the modern-day social
implications)
c. ethical questions the experiment brings up
Social Behavior Experiments
Roles:
1 adult “model”
2 children
Bandura Bobo Doll Experiment
THE EXPERIMENT: http://www.experiment-resources.com/bobo-dollexperiment.html
Video that shows and explains the original experiment:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdh7MngntnI
Main SOCIAL BEHAVIOR points:
o People respond to social modeling
o Children who are exposed to aggression are sometimes more likely to be
aggressive themselves
o Bring up issues/problems with this study