What does the Stanford prison study tell us about the relationship between social roles and behavior?
A)People who are naturally aggressive and authoritarian seek out social roles that allow them to behave in this way.
B)"Good" people will refuse to behave according to the norms of a social role if they are required to be harsh or abusive to other people.
C)When people are placed in social roles with a lot of power,their behavior often changes to fit their new role.
D)Inmates naturally take on different social roles in a prison,with some becoming aggressive and authoritarian,while others become passive and submissive.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The Stanford prison study demonstrated that when people are placed in social roles with a lot of power, their behavior often changes to fit their new role. In this study, ordinary college students were randomly assigned to be either guards or prisoners in a simulated prison environment. The guards quickly adopted authoritarian attitudes and began to behave in abusive ways towards the prisoners, even though they had no prior history of aggression. This suggests that social roles can have a significant impact on behavior, even for individuals who do not naturally have aggressive or authoritarian tendencies.

What Does the Stanford Prison Study Tell Us About the Relationship