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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docx

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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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