Ethics regarding Zimbardo and Milgram Flashcards
Discuss ethical issues in Milgrams research
-In Milgram’s study on obedience, the design of the study compromised the participants’ right to withdraw.
- Before the study, participants were told they could leave at any time.
-However, the prompts from the experimenter, e.g. “You must continue,” compromised this right.
-Participants were also deceived during the study: they were told the aim of the study was to investigate memory and punishment, not obedience.
-Participants were also led to believe they were administering real electric shocks.
-This could lead to psychological harm and questions informed consent.
Discuss ethical issues in Zimbardo research
-Similarly, Zimbardo compromised his participants’ right to withdraw.
-When participants requested to leave, they were not immediately released and were put through a ‘parole procedure’.
- This potentially prolonged harm and removed their right to withdraw at any point.
-The process also caused participants significant psychological harm.
-Zimbardo himself acknowledged the study should
have been stopped earlier due to the emotional distress of many participants.
-Zimbardo also acted as both prison-superintendent and chief researcher- this produced a conflict of interest, allowing Zimbardo to lose sight of the psychological harm experienced by participants.
A03 - Cost Benefit Analysis
-One argument regarding ethics is the cost-benefit analysis.
- If the ethical implications are outweighed by the benefits of the study’s results, the study is seen as ethically valid.
-For example, both Zimbardo and Milgram provided valuable evidence towards understanding obedience and social roles within society.
-Milgram’s results suggest why individuals follow immoral orders from authority figures, often against their own judgement.
- This has wider applications, such as the trials of Nazi soldiers who claimed they were following orders from superiors, and should therefore be devoid of responsibility for their actions.
-Thus, one may argue that the ethical issues involved in these studies are necessary to develop our understanding of complex human behaviour, potentially helping to avoid further widescale immoral events.
A03 - They both debriefed
-Both Zimbardo and Milgram took action to mitigate the negative effects from their studies on
participants.
- Zimbardo carried out debriefing sessions for several years after the study and concluded that there were no lasting negative effects on participants.
- Milgram also reintroduced participants to the confederate after his experiment, showing them that no actual harm had been caused.
-Therefore, procedures such as debriefing and retroactive consent offer participants reassurance and
the opportunity to ask questions about their experience. –This allows psychologists to study
uncomfortable human behaviour whilst protecting participants.
A03 - Ethical issues are unavoidable
-Ethical issues may be unavoidable in social research. ——-Much research requires deception in order to
avoid demand characteristics from participants.
-For example, if participants were aware of Milgram’s
aim, they would have likely guessed the electric shocks weren’t real.
-This would have affected the behaviour of the participants, thus decreasing the internal validity of the study.
- In Zimbardo’s study, participants were told the aim, questioning whether the behaviour is due to strong demand characteristics, particularly as Zimbardo briefed guards on how to behave.
- Therefore, a certain level of ethical issues may be unavoidable in order to maintain high internal validity and reliable results.
-However, researchers should always aim to reduce these and follow guidelines from ethical boards
regarding informed consent and debriefing participants.
