Currently, the American Psychology Association (APA) have become more strict with ethical rules and regulations unlike in the past where psychologist like Stanley Milligram from Yale University had an opportunity to conduct experiments which would be today considered unethical. The Milligram experiment was one held to test obedience to authority following the holocaust escapade which triggered Stanly to think of studying the extent to which subordinates will follow their master’s orders. In his experiment, he invited about forty male participants to play the teacher part. The teacher had to administer shocks to the learner for failed questions. The voltages also increased as the learner failed the questions. The experiment is unethical because it did not employ the principle of informed consent as the experimenter lied to the participants that the study was meant to improve memory (McLeod, 2007).
Apart from participants getting to know the real purpose of the research, if the Milligram experiment is to meet the APA standard and ethics of conduct, some aspect of it would have to be changed. The pressure on the teacher to administer the shocks and continue with the experiment against their will need to be changed to allow free choice and participation. The American Psychology Association states in their code of conducts for tests that individuals participating in studies have the freedom to exit at any time without any consequences for their withdrawal (Stricker, 2010).The manner in which the procedures of the experiment are explained to the participators also ought to change since they were not clear and precise because the members involved were not told that the learner was an actor and not a human being. It is unethical to hide the details of the experiment from participants in Psychology studies.
According to the American Psychology Association, among the reasons for stipulating the ethics and code of conduct for research work is to safeguard the participants in a study from harm (Stricker, 2010). While considering the milligram experiment, the benefits of obtaining the results of the test on obedience to commands outweigh the underlying harm of the research. From the analysis, we now can fathom that individuals can go beyond their conscience to the extreme of murdering others while obeying their master’s instructions as it happened during the Holocaust where the Germans killed millions of Jews. From the laboratory experiment, we can observe the effects of the experimenter’s instruction to the participators hence making the results more beneficial than the imminent harm. From the research, we can also decipher that the members consented to participate since they knew they were getting some tokens appreciation (McLeod, 2007).
The Milligram experiment despite going against the current American Psychology Association ethics and codes of conduct was useful in establishing the cause of the massive killings of the European Jews by the Germans and their allies. The experiment also demonstrated the current social psychology which speculates that the situations we find ourselves to determine our actions and not our character. It also unveiled the impact of social influence on individuals and how it has adverse and destructive effects in the society. Unfortunately, Milligram’s experiment has many weaknesses as its strengths. The study does not respect the significant ethics code such as informed consent. Stanley’s research also violets ethics of Psychology as participants are made to believe that they are administering electric shocks to real humans and as well denied the freedom to exit before the end of the research which is against the American Psychology Associat
References
Stricker, G. (2010). American Psychological Association Code of Ethics. The Corsini Encyclopedia of Psychology, 1-2.
McLeod, S. A. (2007). The milgram experiment. Simply Psychology.
