Unethical Studies in Social Psychology- Stanley Milgram

Unethical Studies in Social Psychology- Stanley Milgram

I think that the psychological harm to the participants in the study was worth the knowledge we gained—the study aimed at finding out the concept of personal conscience and obedience to authority. Through the study, we are able to understand that most of the Nazis committed such heinous acts during the Holocaust because they were following orders from authority figures. This also enhances understanding of why ordinary people can be influenced to commit atrocities against others. If we wanted to change Milgram’s study to meet the current ethical standards, we would begin by obtaining informed consent from the participants. This would require us to take them through what the study entailed, the risks and benefits involved and their right to withdraw (Stangor, 2010). Protection of the participants from physical or psychological harm would also be important since most participants seemed distressed during the experiment. Offering monetary rewards even before the experiment began would be considered bribery and might take away the participants’ autonomy to choose to participate; therefore, we would offer these rewards after the experiment. Our assignment writing services will allow you to attend to more important tasks as our experts handle your task.

The changes that I have outlined above would have some changes in the results of the study. For instance, if the participants were given full information on the nature of the research, then we would not know how individuals behave under the influence of a figure of authority. Their behavior would be altered. Deception is considered necessary when the researcher believes that prior knowledge would alter the participants’ behavior (Stangor, 2010). Milgram believed that illusion was necessary to set the stage for revealing truths that are difficult to get at (McLeod, 2017). In this case, therefore, deception might have been justifiable.

References

McLeod, S. (2017). The Milgram Shock Experiment. Simply Psychology. Retrieved from https://www.simplypsychology.org/milgram.html

Stangor, C. (2010). Research Methods for the Behavioral Sciences. (4^th ed). Wadsworth Cengage Learning.

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Philip Zimbardo video on Youtube – The Milgram experience

Stanley Milgram, a Yale University social psychologist, experimented in 1963 that is considered to be one of the most famous unethical studies in social psychology. This experiment was a behavioural study of obedience that involved subjects “administering” electrical shocks at the behest of the experimenter to actors recruited by Milgram to participate in the study.

ACTIVITY INSTRUCTIONS

For this activity, watch the movie Experimenter (streamable via Amazon or Sundance Now) and the video above. The latter provides additional insight into why Stanley Milgram wanted to conduct the study and shows actual footage from the study when participants were administering the shocks.

Consider:

Do you think the cost (i.e., the psychological harm) to the study participants was worth the knowledge we gained? Why or why not?
If we wanted to conduct Milgram’s study today, what would we need to change to meet today’s ethical standards?
How do you think the changes you outlined in response to the question above would impact the study’s results? Be sure to explain your reasoning.
When responding to your colleagues, pretend that you are a member of an Internal Review Board (IRB) that is reviewing the “revised” Milgram study (i.e., the one that considers today’s ethical standards). You need to determine whether the “revised” study sufficiently meets the ethical standards. To do this, you should ask follow-up questions and suggest any additional changes that are needed. Be sure that your responses are rooted in the ethical standards discussed in the Module.

All discussions combined are 25% of your final course grade.