How Far is Too Far? Exploring the ethical dilemmas of psychological research
by Vivian Wang
The ethical issues of Psychological studies
If you find psychology an interesting route or course of subject, you may have already heard of the infamous psychological experiments, namely the Zimbardo Prison Experiment, Milgram’s Obedience Experiment, or Harlow’s Monkey Experiments. But what do these three experiments have in common? They are all well-known for their first-of-a-kind reveals of innate human behavior, but just as equally known for their crossing of ethical boundaries.
How far is too far?
The Zimbardo Prison Experiment occurred in 1971, when Phillip Zimbardo, a Stanford University scientist, sought to investigate how social roles and context impacted behavior. They used 24 males to roleplay as a randomly assigned role: a prison guard or a prisoner. Originally, they hadn’t expected things to get out of hand, planning for the experiment to last for two weeks. However, things spiraled out of control when the guards began to display authoritarian rule and abusive punishment, inflicting harm on the prisoners. As a result, prisoners experienced signs of emotional distress, depression, and other negative psychological effects. Upon entering the prison, the ten prisoners had undergone a procedure which contributed to a loss of individuation – being stripped naked, relieved of personal possessions, given ID numbers and being referred to them solely, and even being fitted with a chain around one ankle. When rebellion broke out on Day 2, the guards forcibly blasted prisoners with “ a skin chilling burst of carbon dioxide from a fire extinguisher”. They took the ringleaders into solitary confinement, showing “a stark demonstration of power”. As the escalation of punishments continued to increase as days went on, including guards forcing prisoners to “do push-ups, subject[ing] them to verbal taunts, and assign[ing] menial tasks like cleaning toilets by hand”. Ultimately, the study proved to be completely unpredictable, with Zimbardo himself completely immersed within his role as the “prison superintendent” and unwilling to stop the experiment despite clearly noting the prisoners’ deteriorating mental health and concerns of extreme distress. This experiment to this day remains one of the most highly debated breaches of ethics within psychology, as prisoners were never properly informed of everything they would experience – the severe personal trauma and lack of autonomy – during the length of the experiment. Were the insights gained from the experience able to justify the psychological stress and retained PTSD experienced by the prisoners?
Each experiment, Milgram’s Obedience Experiment and Harlow’s Monkey Experiment, produced notable insights: the conditioning of fear, the obedience in authority, and comfort within development. But what was the cost? Today’s psychology ethics boards have regulations that enforce strict guidelines on how to properly protect individuals within the experiment, including those of informed consent, right to withdraw, and the minimization of harm.
So the question remains: How far is too far?
The answer, I believe, remains in the balance of discovery and protection of well-being and responsibility over patient concerns. Scientific discovery should never come as a result of human cost.