Wk 2 Disc
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HUB 642
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Philosophy
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Jan 9, 2024
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Uploaded by CaptainStork546
Week 2 Discussion
- Was the Stanford Prison Experiment really unethical?
- At what point is the knowledge gained from an experiment worth the pain, physical or mental,
of the subject? Take a position on this subject.
By definition, being ethical means acting/behaving in accordance with the rules or standards
for right conduct or practice – legal, medical, etc.
Ethical guidelines are usually in place to
ensure research participants or those in therapy do not face any negative consequences from their
participation.
Also, in accordance with the text human life is sacred and it must not be
demeaned, even unintentionally, and to do so would be considered unethical ("Ethical," n.d.;
Zimbardo, 2008).
In the case of the Stanford Prison Experiment (SPE), from my perspective, they have done so
many things that would violate present ethical standards: not properly disclosing the procedures
and actions to be conducted to the volunteers, improper training, researchers’ failure to notice
and stop the experiment the moment they noticed the prisoners were having mental breakdowns
and the guards being abusive, conflict of interest on Dr. Zimbardo’s part for playing the role of
superintendent while spearheading the research, to name a few (Zimbardo, 2008).
All of these
were contributors to the volunteers' mental, emotional, and physical stress and trauma.
Bartels
and Griggs (2019) also challenge the scientific validity of said experiment due to its lack of
replicability as well as not having published the results of SPE in any peer-reviewed psychology
journals, to which Dr. Zimbardo replied that because the Office of the Navy Research funded it,
therefore, it’s only appropriate to publish it in that Naval Research Reviews.
Another criticism is
his reason for conducting this experiment is due to his strong push for prison reform (301-302).
Ethicality aside, if it were not for the past scientists’/researchers’ pioneering in medical,
psychological, technological, etc. studies and experiments, we would not have the knowledge
that we now have, even though many suffered, and many got hurt.
However, it is also because of
all those “sacrifices” that stricter policies and regulations regarding conducting
research/experimentation are now in place.
Taking the SPE results into account, the supposed
success of that experiment does not offset the stress and trauma that the volunteers suffered
afterward.
References:
Bartels, J. M., & Griggs, R. A. (2019). Using new revelations about the Stanford prison
experiment to address APA undergraduate psychology major learning outcomes. Scholarship of
Teaching and Learning in Psychology, 5(4), 298-304. https://doi.org/10.1037/stl0000163
Ethical. (n.d.). www.dictionary.com. https://www.dictionary.com/browse/ethical
Zimbardo, P. (2008). The Lucifer effect: Understanding how good people turn evil (2nd ed.).
Random House Trade Paperbacks.
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