Ethical Issues Odedience/Conformity????

I have an exam tomorrow and I need to talk about ethical issues associated with obedience(milgram study) and conformity(zimbardo's prison expermient).

My brain goes blank when I need to to talk about ethics so help!

Reply 1

fabaz99

There were a lot of things unethical about this experiment. The main one being that the participants were lied to be about what they were participating in. As a researcher it was Milgram's (1963) job to invent an experiment were his hypothesis could be tested but also were participants would be informed of what they were participating in. This leads to the unethical issue that this experiment caused most of the participants extreme distress, which was an indirect result of them being lied to about the experiment. The fact they that also used the Yale campus and the Yale name of the fliers is also unethical since the article stated that Yale had no hand in the experiment, particularly as a safeguard should the experiment go wrong. This just added even more to the participants' fake sense of assuredness that the experiment was legitimate and the false sense of security they felt that their psychological well being would be looked after, which is was apparently not from the study.

And Zimbardo's study went too far as well and his girlfriend at the time had to step in a stop the study as Zimbardo became way too oblivious to the harmful effects

However they were both really helpful studys for the study of obedience and conformity respectively
Good luck for the exam!

Reply 2

jason_reed

1/ Harm to pts - Zimbardo had to stop early because got out of hand. Milgram's study effected some pts that badly they had seizures.

2/ Deception - pts didnt know the true aims of Milgrams study (thought it was about teaching).

3/ Lack of informed concent - pts didn't know true aims therefore cannot agree fully.

4/ Invasion of privacy - in Zimbardo's experiment pts 'arrested' at their home without prior knowledge.

5/ Right to withdraw - Milgram stated 'you have no choice but to continue' when pts asked to leave/stop. Zimbardo persuaded one pts to return to 'prison' after they asked to leave.

GOOD LUCK :biggrin: