What was the outcome of Zimbardo's prison study regarding social roles?

The outcome of Zimbardo's prison study, known as the Stanford prison experiment, emphasizes that behavior heavily depends on the roles individuals are assigned. This study demonstrated how quickly and profoundly people conform to the expectations associated with their assigned roles, particularly in a simulated prison environment.

Participants who were assigned the role of guards began to exhibit authoritarian and abusive behaviors toward those assigned as prisoners, while the prisoners showed signs of extreme stress and emotional distress. The rapid shift in behavior highlights the powerful influence social roles can have on individual actions and interactions. This observation supports the idea that situational factors and designated roles can significantly shape behavior, often outweighing personal characteristics or ethical standards.

In contrast, the other possible responses do not accurately reflect the findings of the study. Social roles do impact behavior significantly, individuals do not behave consistently regardless of their roles, and the idea that people overact in roles they find uninteresting contradicts the findings that indicated individuals can dramatically embody roles that exert considerable influence over their actions and attitudes, often in unexpected ways.