APA Ethical Dilemmas

Milgram was interested on learning if people would hurt someone if given instructions to do so, Stanley Milgram recruited 40 males, ages ranging between 20 and 50 with jobs varying from unemployed to professionals. The participants drew straws to determine their positions (Learner or Teacher) although this was rigged so an actor was chosen as the learner every time and the volunteer as the teacher. As the learner got a question wrong the teacher would administer a shock, each wrong question the intensity of

Looking at the history of human research experiments necessitates investigation into the background; why is it not sufficient to simply to undertake an experiment merely to broaden scientific study and understanding? Are not the psychologists and scientists ethical and professional? The answer is quite simply, not always. While many psychologists may have started their experiments with the best of intentions, there were a number that merely seized opportunities that were in their grasp. Hence, there came the need for the Belmont Report and the American Psychological Association’s (APA) Code of Ethics in direct response to testing on human subjects.

In Derren Brown’s reenactment of psychologist Stanley Milgram’s experiment done in 1963, he solidified Milgram’s results by having the same framework as Milgram’s experiment. Milgram tested to see how much harm a person were to inflict if told to by an authoritative figure. In this particular experiment, a learning environment was set up, subjects were told that the focus was to see how negative punishment affects learning and they were told that they would be either a teacher or learner in the set up. All of the subjects in both Milgram’s and Brown’s situation were teachers and an actor, who all the subjects assumed to be another subject, as a learner. Learners were attached to a shocking mechanism ranging from 15 to a lethal 450 volts,

To discuss whether or not the two expert witnesses in the case of Commonwealth of Virginia versus Allen (Va. 2005) acted or behaved unethically, it is important to look at the guidelines and principles of their expertise to determine such. It is essential to revisit or review the APA Code of Ethics and the Specialty Guidelines for Forensic Psychologists (Professionals). From these two guidelines or documents, one can determine the proper or appropriate credentials, assessments, scope, relationships, as well as the “don’ts” covered in this discipline or respect. The documents will reveal or allow an evaluation of each expert witness’s performance or service to the client to be either ethical or unethical.

In 1963 a psychologist named Stanley Milgram conducted one of the greatest controversial experiments of all time. Milgram tested students from Yale to discover the obedience of people to an authoritative figure. The subjects, whom did not know the shocks would not hurt, had to shock a “learner” when the “learner” answered questions incorrectly. Milgram came under fire for this experiment, which many proclaimed was unethical. This experiment of Milgram’s stimulated the creation of several responsive articles. Two articles that respond to this experiment are authored by Diane Baumrind and Ian Parker. These two authors attempt to review the methods, results, and ethical issues of Milgram’s experiment.

All psychologists including those in the field of research are obliged to abide by the APA Ethics Code standards. Therefore, I agree that they should be held accountable for manipulations, falsification of data, and plagiarism to favor their studies. These actions violate the various standards of the aforementioned code: 5.01 (Avoidance of False or Deceptive Statements), 8.10 (Reporting Research Results), and 8.11 (Plagiarism). Violations of this kind should be penalized by law as the standards are enforced by law. Psychologist researchers, who discover flaws in their published studies, should take steps to amend their faults by publishing other articles, (APA, 2010).

Milgram’s experiment consisted of a teacher, learner, an authority figure/experimenter, and a false shock generator. The subject of the experiment was the teacher. In the experiment, the teacher asks the learner a question and if they get it wrong, they received an electric shock. The shocks ranged from 15 volts to 450 volts. The learner was instructed to simulate noises of pain at certain level increments and eventually to just stop responding as if they were dead. One subject named Gretchen Brandt refused to continue the experiment once the generator reached

In “The Stanford Prison Experiment” Philip G. Zimbardo discusses an experiment he conducted, which consisted of college students portraying guards and prisoners in a simulated prison. Shortly after the experiment began, it was stopped, due to the mistreatment of the prisoners and the overall psychological abuse inflicted on them by the prison guards (Zimbardo 116). In “The Perils of Obedience” Stanley Milgram writes about a controversial experiment in which he requests volunteers to assist him in shocking participants who answer incorrectly to certain questions on the opposite side of a wall. The shock that the volunteers believe they are administering could cause great harm or even be deadly to the participants. After Milgram conducts

Individuals who are lesbian, gay, or bisexual (LGB) are often discriminated against due to their sexual orientation. Hence the reason why the APA council provided guidelines for psychologist to follow when dealing with an LGB client. The guidelines includes some aspirational principles to supplement the APA ethics code, it also offers a frame work that psychologist should follow when working with LGB clients. These guidelines are intended to educate psychologist and provide recommendations about professional conduct when dealing with an LGB client. Prejudices and judgmental attitudes on the part of the psychologist sometimes contributes to the negative attitudes towards their LBG clients and reinforcing the view that their sexual orientation is problematic. Standard 3.01 on unfair discrimination based on sexual orientation is prohibited and psychologist needs to respects peoples rights and dignity as described in Principle E (Respect for People's Rights and Dignity).

In module 4 in our book it talks about codes of ethics. The APA guidelines have very similar information. one thing you have to have informed consent from your patient. Second, many people talk about using animals for experiments. Some people think it is unfair to the animals. As long as the psychologist is trained and follows the states and country laws, then they are okay to experiment on animals to find research. They try to give pain medicines and surgeries to keep the animals out of harms way and pain. They don't try to kill the animal. Third, all people that are involved in an experiment has to be voluntary, you can't make somebody be in an experiment. Fourth, psychologist try to maintain confidentiality. Fifth, they try to prevent experimental

The APA ethical guidelines help to ensure that all psychological research maintains the integrity that it does not do harm or conflicts with the majority of the human populations moral ethical codes. However, in some situations the APA ethical guidelines must be viewed as just that: guidelines. If a study has the potential to benefit humanity as a whole and does not result in the permanent or irreparable harm to a human being then some guidelines must be permitted to be stretched or even broken in the interest of human advancement and scientific progression. After all the goal and responsibility of a psychologist is to enhance our understanding of human behavior as well as to find ways to use this information to better society and humanity

Further, these experiments were conducted at a time when the psychological community did not have stringent ethical guidelines. Since then, there has been a greater emphasise on protecting human participants, culminating in the APA ethical guidelines which

Stanley Milgram’s experiment was pretty straightforward and simple. He put an advertisement in the newspaper for males to participate in his experiment and they would be paid $4.50. The study was to be conducted at Yale University. The participant was paired up with another person (one of Milgram’s confederates). The pair would then draw to see who would be the “learner” and who would be the “teacher”. It was fixed so that the participant was always the teacher and Milgram’s confederate was the learner (pretending to be a participant). The learner was taken to a separate room in which his arm were attached to electrodes that were hooked up to an electrical generator in the teacher’s room. On the generator were 30 switches that ranged from 15 volts (minor shock) to 450 volts (potentially lethal). The teacher would ask the learner questions that the learner was to answer. The teacher was instructed to give the learner a

The Milgram experiment was conducted in 1963 by Stanley Milgram in order to focus on the conflict between obedience to authority and to personal conscience. The experiment consisted of 40 males, aged between 20 and 50, and who’s jobs ranged from unskilled to professional. The roles of this experiment included a learner, teacher, and researcher. The participant was deemed the teacher and was in the same room as the researcher. The learner, who was also a paid actor, was put into the next room and strapped into an electric chair. The teacher administered a test to the learner, and for each question that was incorrect, the learner was to receive an electric shock by the teacher, increasing the level of shock each time. The shock generator ranged from

Researchers down through the years have exploit humans and animals in horrific ways to test their experiment(s). Many of these treatments were insensate and it left psychological effects on those that participated. Those who were selected did not know the extent of what he or she would have to endure for the sake of research by scientist and psychologist. As part of history, society are learning about the Nuremberg Code, Milgram's obedience study, National Research Act and Belmont report. In addition the APA has ethical guidelines regarding the treatment of human beings.