Ethics are a set of values that determine the spectrum of right and wrong when it comes to human morality. Ethics are important because they allow researchers to develop an experiment that will be both safe and effective for all participants (Cozby & Bates, 2018). With that being said, the simple acknowledgement of right and wrong is not enough to follow through with a study. In the past, before any guidelines were set in place, several groundbreaking experiments took place, but they were all deemed unethical; which led to the creation of Institutional Review Boards (IRB). IRBs review the research conducted at local institutions, and it is the responsibility of the IRB to decline any unethical research request that is reviewed (Cozby & Bates, 2018). The purpose of this paper is to introduce several of the unethical studies that led to the creation of the IRB. We will examine the Milgram Study, the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, the case of Genie Wiley, and MY PICK.
Between the years of 1963 and 1965 Stanley Milgram conducted an experiment to explore the relationship between obedience and authority. Milgram gathered participants by running an ad in the newspaper, but he advertised his study with a focus in memory and learning, rather than obedience and authority. Upon arrival to Milgram’s lab a volunteer would be greeted by a scientist dressed in a lab coat and by who seemed to be another volunteer in the study, but who was really an accomplice of Milgram’s. The scientist explained that the purpose of the study was to explore the effects of punishment on learning. Mr. Wallace (the accomplice) and the volunteer would draw a slip of paper to determine who would be in the place of the teacher, and who would be in the place of the learner. Of course, the drawing was rigged so that Mr. Wallace would always be the learner, and the volunteer would always be the teacher.
The next step in the experiment was to separate Mr. Wallace and the volunteer, attach electrodes to Mr. Wallace, and give instructions to the volunteer. As the volunteer understood it at this point in the experiment they were to deliver shocks to the “other volunteer” for each wrong answer given, and after each mistake the voltage was to be increased by 15 volts all the way to 450 volts. There are several reasons why this experiment is considered to be unethical. While no one in the experiment was truly physically harmed, the volunteer was unaware of any kind of reality throughout the experiment. For instance, Mr. Wallace was staged to appear as another random volunteer rather than an accomplice, the true purpose of the study was not disclosed to volunteers, their position in the experiment was rigged, and volunteers believed that they were administering potentially deadly shocks to someone.
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One final aspect of the Milgram Study that contributes to the unethical standpoint is the inadequate debriefing that was reported by volunteers. Milgram had described giving all volunteers an in depth explanation of the reality of the experiment, but several volunteers reported not knowing the truth until after the findings of the study had been mailed out (Cozby & Bates, 2018). It is studies like this one that has led to IRBs, but the Milgram Study is just the beginning of unethicality.
References
- American Psychological Association – Ethical Principles
- Ethics & Compliance Initiative
- National Center for Biotechnology Information – Ethical Considerations in Research
- Ethics Unwrapped – University of Texas at Austin
- National Academy of Engineering – Online Ethics Center for Engineering and Science
