Historical studies criticised for poor ethics

Question 1

Study carried out in the 1960s where healthy children with learning difficulties were inoculated with hepatitis and then with gamma globulin to assess its potential as a treatment

Answer 1

Willowbrook School Study

Question 2

Study where chronically ill patients who did not have cancer were unknowingly injected with cancerous liver cells in the belief that their bodies would reject their cells

Answer 2

Jewish Chronic Disease Hospital

Question 3

Study carried out in the 1960s where a sociologist studied men who visited public toilets to have sex by falsely befriending them

Answer 3

The Tearooms Study

Question 4

Large-scale study of African American men who had syphilis over 40 years - controversial as the men were not informed of their disease which led to further spread and deaths, and because they were not treated even after treatment was available

Answer 4

Tuskegee Syphilis Study

Question 5

Study where a simulated prison environment was created and subjects were divided into guards or inmates. No guidance was given to the subjects around how to act and the ‘guards’ became so abusive the study had to be ended early

Answer 5

Stanford Prison Experiment

Question 6

Study designed to investigate obedience in the context of Nazi war crimes. Participants were instructed to push a button which they were informed would give an electric shock to another participant. Participants showed significant distress at the situation but continued to push the button even when the voltage of the ‘shock’ would have been fatal.

Answer 6

Milgrams’ Study

Question 7

Lead researcher in the Stanford Prison Experiment

Answer 7

Zimbardo