The bbc prison study. Welcome to the official site for the BBC Prison Study. Home 2022-12-16
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The BBC Prison Study was a social psychology experiment that aimed to examine the effects of power, social hierarchy, and social identity on human behavior. Conducted in 2002 by researchers at the University of Oxford and funded by the British broadcaster, the BBC, the experiment involved a simulated prison environment in which a group of volunteer participants were randomly assigned roles as either prisoners or guards.
The experiment was designed to simulate a typical prison environment, with the participants living in a mock prison facility and following a set of rules and procedures that were designed to replicate those found in a real prison. The participants were given training in their roles and were closely monitored by the researchers throughout the experiment.
One of the key findings of the BBC Prison Study was the extent to which the roles of prisoner and guard had a powerful influence on the behavior of the participants. The guards, who were given a certain amount of authority and power over the prisoners, quickly began to behave in a more authoritarian and aggressive manner, while the prisoners became more submissive and compliant.
Another notable finding of the study was the way in which the prisoners and guards began to identify with their roles and the groups to which they belonged. The prisoners began to see themselves as a cohesive group and formed close bonds with one another, while the guards became more isolated and distant from the prisoners.
Overall, the BBC Prison Study was an important and influential experiment that shed light on the ways in which power, social hierarchy, and social identity can shape human behavior. It has been widely cited and discussed in the field of social psychology and has had a significant impact on our understanding of group dynamics and the psychological effects of power and authority.
Welcome to the official site for the BBC Prison Study. Home
Debating the psychology of tyranny: Fundamental issues of theory, perspective and science. The menu in the upper left hand corner of the web page has a link to "Activities" which will prove especially useful for educators. On this basis, the study can lay claim to being not only one of the largest field studies in social psychology of the last 30 years, but also one of the most influential. Third Planned intervention Once the Trade Unionists joined, the prisoners began challenging the guards and their powers. We explain the scientific implications of our findings. Participants were fully aware that they could quit at any moment, a luxury that many people do not have in reality. Beyond the banality of evil: Three dynamics of an interactionist social psychology of tyranny.
. However, Reicher and Haslam assured that this study would be conducted more ethically. The website also includes a blog about contemporary real world issues also published in The Psychologist and a range of activities i. Applications of the BBC prison study The study provided valuable insight into several different aspects of human behaviour. This is called social identification.
British Journal of Social Psychology, 45, 47—53. The BBC Prison Study explores the social and psychological consequences of putting people in groups of unequal Findings from the study were first broadcast by the BBC in 2002. This award has itself been the subject of positive follow-up articles in a range of outlets e. References to the research Details of the impact The work on the BBC-PS has had impact by i shaping educational practice and content at both secondary school and university level and by ii informing academic and public debate and understanding of issues around leadership, tyranny, oppression, and resistance. The whole study was conducted in a setup resembling a prison with no windows. When do people act as a group to challenge oppression? They began showing resistance to the system. These papers addressed the dynamics of tyranny, resistance, stress and leadership.
Each of these sections allows for more in-depth study of the issues raised by the Prison Study. Impact on Educational Practices This work has laid the foundations for a the reform of educational curricula, b the production of educational resources, and c engagement with students, teachers, and academic staff. They have changed our basic understanding of how groups and power work. The study ended early on the eighth day due to ethical reasons; since the design of the study had collapsed, researchers did not feel as if they were able to establish a new study design and hierarchy without the risk of distress, or even violence. In May 2013 it also provided the frame for an interview with Haslam in the podcast series Voices on Ant-Semitism organized by the US Holocaust Memorial Museum 9.
Participants were randomly assigned to roles of guards and prisoners, and a series of planned interventions was designed to impact on intra- and inter-group dynamics in ways predicted by social identity theory. These findings point to important links between social psychological factors group identity, group solidarity and significant clinical outcomes anxiety,. They accept their position, just as the guards have accepted their privilege. It also allowed them to develop an innovative methodology that would ultimately allow them to challenge the original theoretical conclusions that were drawn on the basis of the SPE. The psychology of tyranny.
Haslam and Reicher were awarded the British Psychology Society's Annual Award for Excellence in Teaching in September 2009. Prisoners had basic amenities in their cells and were given controlled access to a communal shower. These findings challenged Zimbardo's role-based account of tyranny and instead supported more nuanced theoretical explanations of these issues centring on the role of group dynamics — and group members' identification with social groups — in determining when and why people engage not only in tyranny and oppression but also resistance. We answer Whether you are a student, a teacher or an interested member of the public, we hope that you find the material here both interesting and useful. Clearly its audience goes way beyond UK students. Researchers Reicher and Haslam wanted to find out more about how and why humans commit atrocities. The participants were all volunteers and so this is not representative of the population.
Social Psychology Quarterly, 70, 125—147. Impact on Public Debate Shaping debate through media outlets This work has had a fundamental impact on discourse around issues such as group dynamics, tyranny, leadership, and stress within and beyond academia. The researchers took care to ensure that both groups were psychologically similar so that any differences in group behaviour could be attributed to their group itself and not their personalities. Tyranny and the tyrant. In rebuttal, the guards formed their own government with stricter rules and harder punishment.
They are given uniforms and instructions on how to run the prison. Second planned intervention Once the promotion happened and the prisoners were told there are no differences between prisoners and guards, the prisoners began to identify as a group. The "Resources" link, in the menu in the upper left hand corner of the webpage, includes hypertext links to "Scientific Publications", "Quantitative Data", and a "Glossary", that provide, respectively, a number of full-text articles about the Prison Study that have been published, the data collected during the study, and definitions of psychological terms used in the study. Beyond mere replication, however, Haslam and Reicher were interested in a exploring new theoretical ideas derived from social identity theory, b testing critically the original conclusions that were derived from the SPE, c broadening understanding and teaching relating to issues of tyranny and oppression, and d working with the BBC to promote awareness of their research and its findings. Indeed, it is possible that the study has formed the basis for more academic papers than any other single field experiment in psychology. The SPE was conducted in 1971 by a team of researchers led by psychologist Philip Zimbardo and has played a major role in shaping both psychological theory and public understanding of tyranny and oppression.
Prisoners are unhappy with their mistreatment but acknowledge that there is nothing they can do to change their situation. As well as being broadcast in 4 one-hour programmes on BBC2, the findings were also widely disseminated in other popular outlets e. Such experiments include: "The BBC prison study. In the series, they depict a split between the prisoners as not everyone wants to be a guard. If a group cannot collectively acknowledge its values and beliefs, it is more likely to accept alternatives, even if they are extreme. The official website for the BBC Prison Study, that accompanies the groundbreaking 2002 BBC Prison Study broadcast, went online in September 2008. When they were told the roles would not change and were not based on real differences, they began to question their roles and the system.
These are outlined below. This is done to see whether prisoners will work individually, and fail. However, they were told that they were not allowed to use physical violence. The Psychologist, 20, 2—8. BBC Prison Study Documentary The BBC Study 2002 was a documentary series of the experiment designed by Reicher and Haslam.
