7.) Was it ethical to do these experiments? If yes, which ones and why? If not, why not?
I do not think that it was ethical to do any of these experiments because it basically exploited these people and their well-being. Even though these people signed up to do this experiment, the treatment of them was extremely unethical and could have even been damaging. The only way this could have been ethical in my mind was if it was run by actual people in the profession of prisons with real experiments. If the situation had been them living in the cell with exact treatment of a normal prison and proper trained employees, I could see this as an ethical experiment. The …show more content…
These experiments had put people in real life situations, which could lead to prolonged negative effects to one’s mental state. By the end of both these studies, the subjects had been scarred from these experiences. With Milgram’s experiments, even though the learner was fixed, having subjects administer these shocks can cause serious psychological distress. While psychological distress was also shown in the prison experiment by the guards taking away these people’s identity to such an extent, that their lives were based around what the guards commanded them to do. In my opinion, I think that these experiments should have never been conducted for many reasons. Like I mentioned last paragraph, data like this can be obtained in actual real-life situations and could even yield much better results. Both of these experiments caused suffering and negative effects to their subject’s minds and there is no place for that in society. I think that any experiment that is anything like either of these two should be illegal, as the subjects had been forced to put up with so much …show more content…
There is no reason to inflict any one of those negative acts on someone for the purposes of research, as there could always be another ethical way to collect the data. This type of research should never be performed one of the reasons because no one could predict the outcome of what these subjects may do when pushed to the limit. A study done by a psychologist or anyone at all should always be ethical and conducted in a professional manner. Ethical research respects the subject and could overall lead to making an impact from the data recorded. For research to be considered ethical it needs to conduct itself in ways of privacy, respect, professionalism, and transparency. Without those factors, people would be able to exploit others in studies unethically when the results may not even make a difference in