Discuss Zimbardos contributions to research into conformity

Zimbardo conducted the Stanford prison experiment which was, arguably, one of the most renowned pieces of research in the field of conformity. Zimbardo allocated the role of either prisoner or prison guard to a group of male student volunteers before placing them in a mock prison. The behaviour of the participants was observed. From these observations, it was concluded that the "prison guards" conformed to their role by displaying excessive force and brutality towards the "prisoners".A limitation of this research was that, upon examination of the transcripts, it was found that only a third of the "prison guards" displayed the brutal behaviour that was reported by Zimbardo. This is a limitation because it draws the internal validity of the reported findings into question, as the "prison guards" did not all display brutal behaviour despite being in the same environment. This means that the participants may not have been conforming to the situation, but rather the behaviour was a result of a third variable such as the temperament or personality type of the participants. As a result, Zimbardo may have been too eager to draw conclusions that fit with his theories, and in doing so may have discounted results that did not follow his ideas.