Once the animals were capable of self-injecting, they were left to their own devices with a large supply of each drug. . Harry Harlow is the comparative psychologist behind The Pit of Despair, an unethical experiment that used monkeys to learn about clinical depression. Psychologists rely on these values during times of difficulty, assuming they will contribute to prudent judgment. The guidelines in the TCPS 2 are based on the three core principles already discussed: respect for persons . Thousands of homosexuals were imprisoned at the Voortrekkerhoogte military hospital near Pretoria. The rows of Table 3.1 represent four general moral principles that apply to scientific research: weighing risks against benefits, acting responsibly and with integrity, seeking justice, and respecting people's rights and dignity. In one experiment, test subjects were put in a room with an actor who then pretended to have a seizure. And 1.7 percent of scientists admitted to having faked their data. Instead of jumping over the low barrier to escape, the dogs made no efforts to escape the box. Thats very clear-cut. Much falls into the murkier realm of questionable research practices. A new study finds that in one field, psychology, these practices are surprisingly common. Questionable Research Practices Surprisingly Common, Methods: Dont Be Too Creative With Your Measures! For more information, please see our Community Guidelines. In his famous and controversial experiment, he set up a mock prison in the basement of the psychology department at Stanford University. Psychologists want to contribute to human welfare and the vast majority of them do. 126 0 obj <> endobj This Course. Cruz assumed she would not be personally involved in the legal process, and she and Immel never discussed it. Although achieving excellence is by no means easy, especially given the varied ethical perspectives that exist (Tjeltveit, 1999, 2006), careful ethical reflection can foster better working relationships with students, colleagues and clients, all of whom can assist us in identifying issues and challenge what may be departures from sound practice (e.g., Gottlieb, 1997; Handelsman, 2001; Koocher & KeithSpiegel, 2008; Norcross, 2000; Pope & Vasquez, 2007). pl,gL]I Not surprisingly, every dog quickly learned that if he jumped to the other side of the box, he could avoid the pain of a shock. Table 3.1presents a framework for thinking through the ethical issues involved in psychological research. When she rejected his initial overtures, she reported, his advances increased, and he began making inappropriate, highly sexualized remarks in private. Some attempted to escape, and broke limbs in the process. The vast majority of us would say that we absolutely would never do such a thing, but one controversial psychology experiment challenged this basic assumption. The maximum shock level was simply labeled with an ominous "XXX.". Ethics in Psychological Research is a brief, practical guide for student researchers and their mentors to answer ethical questions and navigate issues of institutional policies and academic freedom. 9Bh,=)n3[8hTp[#Z,%rioK9wF(v9GkS5g5b This article is based on Avoiding the Road to Ethical Disaster: Overcoming Vulnerabilities and Developing Resilience, from the APA journal Psychotherapy Theory, Research, Practice, Training (Vol. Within just a few days, the infant monkeys would begin huddling in the corner of the chamber, remaining motionless. Instead, they simply lay down, whined and whimpered. Yet not all trainees in professional preparation programs have the opportunity to acquire these skills. Plagiarism is the use of someone else's ideas without giving proper acknowledgment. The cookie stores information anonymously and assigns a randomly generated number to recognize unique visitors. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience. How did these "ethically questionable" [] The post PSY-510 Situations may arise in which psychologists lose sight of the fact that professional values are not always dependable and should not be applied equally in all situations. Kendra Cherry, MS, is an author and educational consultant focused on helping students learn about psychology. In 1961, three months after Nazi Adolf Eichmann went on trial for war crimes, Yale University psychologist Stanley Milgram wondered how it was possible that Eichmann and his million accomplices in the Holocaust were just following orders. To figure out if such a thing were possible, Milgram set up an experiment meant to measure an individuals willingness to obey an authority figure. She developed a desire to help others at a young age and saw becoming a psychologist as the way to achieve her goal of helping others and making a difference. Cruz found herself confused, frightened, overwhelmed and completely unappreciated and misunderstood. F.jc//n?/LS*}7sw+t!v?yi8U ~onsn$wxQ0[WZl D|nYyS+ef} u_mv'#l'#`adC9{=7)O&B0bRJ>Gck2$wJIslCM?Wcf(%ewlv New ways of understanding may be neglected, as psychologists continue to rely on what they once learned, even if its outdated. Our innovative products and services for learners, authors and customers are based on world-class research and are relevant, exciting and inspiring. Zimbardo then decided to call off the experiment. Kendra Cherry, MS, is an author and educational consultant focused on helping students learn about psychology. The other surrogate mother was made of wire and cloth, offering some degree of comfort to the infant monkeys. Shortly after entering independent practice, Cruz was consulted by Angie Immel, who presented with moderately severe symptoms of acute anxiety and depression she claimed were the result of sexual harassment by her boss, Alex Morse. 142 0 obj <>/Filter/FlateDecode/ID[<39A7C57C18D1B24D8435F23E83E20906><0FB9282E172ACF47AFAD8DD9560ADD23>]/Index[126 41]/Info 125 0 R/Length 90/Prev 452369/Root 127 0 R/Size 167/Type/XRef/W[1 3 1]>>stream Over the years, Dr. Money continued to report that the reassignment had been nothing but successful, though he apparently failed to consult David. Each experiment involved subjecting unknowing Americans to things like mind-altering drugs, sensory deprivation, verbal and sexual abuse, extreme isolation, hypnosis, and other forms of torture. Students should be made aware of the fluid nature of ethical vulnerabilities and resilience, the importance of prevention, and the role of the DOVE factors during their course work and practicum training; they should be encouraged to address them on a regular basis with peers, supervisors and consultants. Little is taught about personal values in ethics education, much less how they may create resilience or vulnerabilities for us. With the rise of concern about ethics of human research, scientists found that social and behavioral research methods and theories could be used to explore and resolve problems in research ethics. The interest in developing guidelines for Santa Barbara, CA: Greenwood, an imprint of ABC-CLIO, LLC; 2016. Such increased self-awareness may prevent problems from developing and thus reduce the risk of ethical infractions. Do you believe that some of these techniques were useful despite their ethical shortcomings? QRPs impede scientific progress by generating false conclusions. Twenty-four male students were randomly assigned the role of either guard or prisoner, and then set up according to their role in a specifically designed model prison located in the basement of the psychology building on Stanfords campus. By drawing on the science of prevention (Coie et al., 1993), we can bolster psychologists protective factors and minimize risks of ethical missteps. Frightening an infant and purposely conditioning the child to be afraid is clearly unethical. Similarly, Pope, Tabachnick and KeithSpiegel (1987) found that 80 percent of their psychologist-respondents thought that working when too distressed to be effective is unethical, yet 53 percent reported doing so. He then exposed each participant to various stimuli in order to photograph their reactions. &AdZ$d@$X~ ]&-`Lg`{` VD Cruz informed Immel that this recording of events was unnecessary, but Immel persisted, and Cruz deferred to her clients wishes. In the past, researchers in psychology used some "ethically questionable" research techniques. In the end, children in the second group who spoke normally before the experiment developed speech problems that they reportedly retained for the rest of their lives. Some mixed various drugs, and were dead within a few weeks. Over the next decade, Operation Midnight Climax provided the government with extensive knowledge on topics such as mind-altering drugs, surveillance technology, and even sexual blackmail. By drawing on the science of prevention, psychologists can develop Please login with your APS account to comment. The eld of research on research ethics was beyond the imagination of almost everyone. To earn CE credit, after you read this article, purchase theonline test. Do you believe Not surprisingly, the isolated monkeys also ended up being incapable of taking care of their offspring, neglecting and abusing their young. Because the prison guards had started abusing their authority and were treating the prisoners cruelly. Each time the actor would answer a question incorrectly, the test subject would push a button that administered an electric shock to the actor. To that end, we offer the following recommendations: Ongoing awareness. Do you believe that some of these techniques were useful despite their ethical shortcomings? As the story goes, the boy and his mother moved away before Watson and Rayner were able to decondition the child, so many people have wondered if there might be a man out there with a mysterious fear of furry white objects. YSC cookie is set by Youtube and is used to track the views of embedded videos on Youtube pages. In the 1950s, the Central Intelligence Agency sponsored a mind-control research project it dubbed Operation Midnight Climax. Rather, we propose them as a beginning of the discussion. Next, the dogs were strapped into a harness where the shocks were unavoidable. This page has been archived and is no longer being updated regularly. Alan C. Tjeltveit, PhD, is a professor of psychology at Muhlenberg College. In one well known and especially unethical experiment, Watson used a nine-month old orphan known as Little Albert. The researchers attempted to make a realisticsituation, even "arresting" the prisoners and bringing them into the mock prison. Zimbardo later suggested that "although we ended the study a week earlier than planned, we did not end it soon enough. One day, she received a telephone call from Blanca Knox, Immels attorney, who informed her that she would be calling Cruz to testify as an expert witness in a sexual harassment case against Morse and his company. regarding ten of the most ethically questionable experiments ever conducted in the name of psychology. We suggest that psychologists at all developmental stages from student to seasoned professional are wise to examine and better understand their personal feelings and values and how they can lead to ethical problems. This position allowed her to develop expertise in treatment approaches for women with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). By clicking Accept, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. From 1953 to 1973, the United States government conducted a series of unethical experiments meant to figure out the best ways to manipulate the mental states of citizens, and then to develop chemical materials capable of employment in clandestine operations. Collectively, the experiments were called Project MKUltra and were officially sponsored by the CIA. New York: Basic Books. This controversial experiment is the only one on our list that was not conducted by an actual psychologist. In Pavlov's case, he found that dogs salivated whenever they were given food. In part, as a result of her decision, the client and his family were hurt and ultimately terminated treatment. Dr. John Money, a psychologist studying the idea that gender is learned, convinced the Reimer family that their son was now more likely to reach a successful sexual maturation if he were sexually reassigned as female. While some people merely had an issue with deceiving such young children, others had an issue with the fact that she was exposing white children to inferior treatment. Throughout the course of the history of psychology as a science, a number of different ethical guidelines have been developed and employed in a variety of ways. Each of these dimensions can foster ethical behavior and personal resilience. First studied by Russian psychologist Ivan Pavlov, classical conditioning involves using a neutral stimulus to elicit a conditioned response. The purpose of the Stanford Prison Experiment was to study the causes of conflict between prisoners and those who guard them. Her ignorance may have been due to deficiencies in her training, but it may also have been due in part to her value of helping the disadvantaged. YouTube sets this cookie to store the video preferences of the user using embedded YouTube video. Strengths need to be nurtured as well so that they can be drawn on when facing difficult clinical, personal or ethical challenges. The weight of their failure culminated in one test subject, Antonio LaMadrid, jumping from the roof of a nine-story building to his death. Such methods include, but are not limited to deception, coercion, and potentially inducing psychological harm. Explain. Not all scientific misconduct is flat-out fraud. In 1969, a research facility began an unethical experiment that would study the effects of drug addiction using animals. They also failed to protect those participating during the times in which they were studied. One amongst the many that stuck to me was the Zimbardo prison experiment. Given the opportunity to help, and the sincere desire to do so, we may wish to help a student for whom we feel sympathy by giving a grade he or she did not deserve and fail to see the exception as harmful to academic honesty and fairness. In the experiment, two participants (one of which was secretly an actor) were separated in two rooms where they could only hear each other. Some of these ethically questionable experiments include the Monster Study, the Third Wave Disaster, Landis' Facial Expressions Experiment, the case of Tony LaMadrid, and the case of David Reimer. To accept or reject certain categories of cookies specifically please click the Cookie Settings link. Installed by Google Analytics, _gid cookie stores information on how visitors use a website, while also creating an analytics report of the website's performance. The Pros and Cons of a Career in Forensic Psychology. Explain. Rather, misbehavior may more often be a function of personal feelings and intuitions that obscure good judgment. Bandura had a percentage of his young test subjects watch an adult violently abuse Bobo both physically and verbally, then left each child alone in a room with the doll. In this experiment, a large group of monkeys and rats were trained to inject themselves with an assortment of drugs, including morphine, alcohol, codeine, cocaine, and amphetamines. Leslie K. John. Immel said she complained to the human resources department, but nothing had been done because, according to her, Morse was best friends with and the golfing partner of the human resources director. The four are: 1. Fortunately for those unwitting test subjects, Operation Midnight Climax was shut down in 1965. Johnson and Tudor never published the results of their study out of fear they would be compared to the human experimenters among the Nazis. These processes interfere with sound decision-making because they are not primarily intellectual but emotional (Kahneman, 2003). In recent years, a growing number of scientific careers have been brought down by scientists' failure to satisfactorily confront ethical challenges. She had a strong desire to help others based on her values and personal experience, and the opportunity to do so through her education and training. When the prisoners began to ignore orders, the guards began to utilize tactics that included humiliation and solitary confinement to punish and control the prisoners. APS regularly opens certain online articles for discussion on our website. Upon successful completion of the test (a score of 75 percent or higher), you can print your CE certificate immediately. Sperry L.Mental Health and Mental Disorders: an Encyclopedia of Conditions, Treatments, and Well-Being. (1987) came to that conclusion in a study that looked at psychologists responses to a hypothetical scenario: A psychologist learns that a male colleague is sexually involved with a client, despite a previous confrontation about such behavior. This cookie, set by YouTube, registers a unique ID to store data on what videos from YouTube the user has seen. In the past, many known psychologists used ethically questionable research techniques to studyhuman behavior. Bernard et al. Psychologists are people. Though many students in Elliotts class later regarded the classroom experiment as life changing, Elliott received public backlash over her teaching methods. Question: In the past, researchers in psychology used some "ethically questionable" research techniques. Students completed a standard preregistration form during the planning stages of their research projects as well as surveys about their knowledge of preregistration. Do you believe that some of these techniques were useful despite their ethical shortcomings? By Stanley Milgram. Avoiding Questionable Measurement Practices, Experimental Methods Are Not Neutral Tools, Methods: A Little Help to Self-CorrectionEnhancing Science After Replications. When opportunities are exploited and power and trust abused, it may not be because offenders failed to understand intellectually that they had done something wrong. Dr. Bender chose her patients through an interview process which included applying a small bit of pressure to a childs head as they sat in front of a large group. How did these "ethically questionable" techniques lend to the creation of the code of ethics? doi:10.1037/amp0000401, Fridlund AJ, Beck HP, Goldie WD, Irons G.Little Albert: A neurologically impaired child. This cookie, set by Cloudflare, is used to support Cloudflare Bot Management. Thanks to ethical codes and institutional review boards, most of these experiments could never be performed today. Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet. Not surprisingly, the monkeys became extremely crazed. Psychologists need to be open to turning to psychotherapy, structured supervision or consultation with colleagues, whether formal or informal. How far is too far, if the result means a better understanding of the human mind and behavior? Hist Psychol. In the present narrative review, the probiotic effects of vaginal Lactobacillus spp. She explained to the client and his parents why it would be inadvisable for her to attend based on her professional value that it was important to maintain fairly rigid boundaries for treatment to be successful. Government funding for such research began to be offered. Doing so may also negatively affect the student and others if the higher grade leads them to assume that the student possesses knowledge or skills that he or she lacks. But this time, though each dog could have simply jumped the barrier to safety, none of them did. Subjects who were in the room alone with the actor, however, were willing to step up much more quickly. Young monkeys were placed in the isolation chambers for as long as 10 weeks. Unfortunately, many dimensions of Cruzs resilience became vulnerabilities. Maslach was appalled at what was going on and voiced her distress. 41, No. Some researchers have suggested that the boy at the center of the study was actually a child named Douglas Meritte. This may not sound dramatic, and its not as bad as making up data, but it gives a skewed sense of the research; if scientists only report the results that support their hypotheses, they may leave out an important part of the picture. Verywell Mind content is rigorously reviewed by a team of qualified and experienced fact checkers. We contend that psychologists generally share certain core values that in part also define them as individuals (Handelsman, Gottlieb, & Knapp, 2005). Although many of the test subjects expressed a desire to stop the experiment at the first signs of screams, nearly every single one continued to push the button when they were told they would not personally be held responsible for any consequences. Any child who moved with the pressure, asserted Dr. Bender, was showing early signs of schizophrenia. Such research suggests that knowledge per se represents only a portion of what is required for sound ethical practice. In 1939, 22 orphans living in Davenport, Iowa became the test subjects of Wendell Johnson and Mary Tudor, two researchers from the University of Iowa. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. It may be especially important to reevaluate ones vulnerabilities and resilience more frequently and intensively during times of stress, such as divorce, illness or major loss. There have been some very widely publicized cases of outright fraud, says Leslie K. John of Harvard Business School.