Are psychological experiments like the Jane Elliott experiment, the milgram experiment and the standford...?

Question

prison experiment justified, or should they be eliminated?(please explain your opinion)

Answer 1

Well, I think they shouldn't be, since no scientific discovery is valuable enough to warrant human suffering, but I heard a really good argument the other day for why they should be allowed. And it goes something like this:

Everyone has heard of "reality" shows. In these shows, the producers do everything they can to get people to fight each other. The producers know that no one would watch a show where everyone got along and did something really constructive together. That would be too boring.

So instead they take people from all sorts of races, ethnicities, religions, backgrounds and opinions and put them together in a situation where they will be most likely to fight.

Each of these reality shows could be called an "experiment" since a treatment is administered to consenting individuals. But instead of getting valuable data that can inform future scientific research, all these reality shows get is a desensitized audience begging for more violence.

In the Elliot, Milgram, Stanford experiments, we got valuable data that informed science for years to come. While it’s true that an awful lot of people got hurt, at least these experiments gave us data that advanced science. In reality shows, all you get is a broken arm and an audience cheering for more blood.

Answer 2

Although the outcomes of those experiments were interesting, there were ways of conducting them without crossing those ethical lines. The Stanford prison experiment was something that started out planned ethically, but as the study moved along they realized that it was becoming detrimental to the subjects involved. This is sometimes a problem throughout modern studies and experiments. Although they may begin ethically, something might happen throughout the study that requires ethical re-evaluation.

There are many standards that the American Psychological Association have provided to ensure the safety of both subjects and researchers throughout the any experiment. There are also several ways to research certain ways that do not harm, and do not infringe on these rules.

For more information on ethical standards see http://www.apa.org/ethics/code2002.html

Answer 3

I think they do have ethical guidlines for psychologists who do research. They probably have changed and have been updated since some of those old experiments. Pretty much all research in psychology involving human, animal subjects have to meet these ethical guidelines. I don't know if youre thinking of older experiments which might have had different standard in old days.

Answer 4

current ethical guidelines prevent these experiments from being repeated