Ethics: Human Experimentation
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- Category: Politics: Moral Issues
- Date Submitted: 11/21/2010 05:59 PM
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Ethics: Human Experimentation
Psychological research through human experimentation has unraveled profound breakthrough in understanding the human mind. Today we understand mental disorders in much greater depth than even ten years ago because of naturalistic observation, case studies and even post mortem examinations. In light of our advanced learning, it is still necessary to ask when does the quest for deeper understanding of human behavior go too far. What is ethical or unethical when carrying out experiments on living human beings?
This article examines the morality of an experiment carried out by psychologist in France. Audience members were asked to press a button to send electrical shocks to game show contestants in the event of incorrectly answered questions. The reasoning behind the show was to examine and study “people’s obedience to authority”. This experiment is very similar to the experiment conducted by Stanley Milgram in the 60’s and even then it was considered controversial because although no harm was done to the “victim” some felt that the knowledge of knowing the victim was not harmed but that they would participate in something like this has the possibility of being traumatic to parties involved. I believe that the trauma experienced by participants is only due to guilt. I think there is a lot of remorse that comes after the fact of knowing that not only were you a participant, but you were willing to inflict pain upon an innocent person. This leads researchers to question or weigh the harm to participants versus the benefits gained from the scientific experiment. According to Kevin Masters, a psychologist at Syracuse University, “The basic idea that we would do things that we would not expect to do, simply when put into the right situation or right authority figure, I think is a pretty darn important thing for us to know about” ( Palca 2010). I think the importance lies not only just within the duty people feel towards authority, but...
Psychological research through human experimentation has unraveled profound breakthrough in understanding the human mind. Today we understand mental disorders in much greater depth than even ten years ago because of naturalistic observation, case studies and even post mortem examinations. In light of our advanced learning, it is still necessary to ask when does the quest for deeper understanding of human behavior go too far. What is ethical or unethical when carrying out experiments on living human beings?
This article examines the morality of an experiment carried out by psychologist in France. Audience members were asked to press a button to send electrical shocks to game show contestants in the event of incorrectly answered questions. The reasoning behind the show was to examine and study “people’s obedience to authority”. This experiment is very similar to the experiment conducted by Stanley Milgram in the 60’s and even then it was considered controversial because although no harm was done to the “victim” some felt that the knowledge of knowing the victim was not harmed but that they would participate in something like this has the possibility of being traumatic to parties involved. I believe that the trauma experienced by participants is only due to guilt. I think there is a lot of remorse that comes after the fact of knowing that not only were you a participant, but you were willing to inflict pain upon an innocent person. This leads researchers to question or weigh the harm to participants versus the benefits gained from the scientific experiment. According to Kevin Masters, a psychologist at Syracuse University, “The basic idea that we would do things that we would not expect to do, simply when put into the right situation or right authority figure, I think is a pretty darn important thing for us to know about” ( Palca 2010). I think the importance lies not only just within the duty people feel towards authority, but...