Would you be comfortable in participating in a CIA run study that involved sleeping for up to a month at a time while being drugged and shocked? What about if your consent was never asked? These seemingly extreme and hypothetical questions became reality for dozens of people who were simply looking for professional help dealing with common mental health issues. Dr. Donald Ewen Cameron played a large part in their experiences, although it’s debatable as to whether he ever knew the CIA was involved. By delving into the ins and outs of the sleep room studies with reference to various ethical codes, one can place the blame on the CIA and Canadian government more so than Ewen Cameron and consider their actions and the repercussions that follow …show more content…
Donald Hebb was the director of psychology at McGill at the time and was given $10,000 to study sensory deprivation. His studies began by paying his own psychology students to be deprived of all senses for one day by staying in an isolated room; to find an association between sensory deprivation and the vulnerability of cognitive ability he played recordings suggesting anti-scientific ideas such as creationism that most scientifically aware students would reject. At the end of the day, the students emerged suddenly tolerant of the anti-scientific ideas that they previously objected to, these results showed a step in the right direction towards brainwashing. Unknown to Dr. Hebb, his promising results would lead the CIA to further research using sensory deprivation while keeping interrogation and psychological torture techniques in mind.
Five years after the research of Dr. Hebb’s was conducted, Dr. Ewen Cameron picked up where he left off. At the time, Dr. Ewen Cameron was the first director of the Allan Memorial Institute which had opened in 1943 with an “open door” policy allowing patients to leave whenever they wished. In 1946, he set up laboratories, which later became sensory deprivation chambers, in the stables of the Victorian mansion where the Allan Memorial was based. Dr. Ewen Cameron was a world-renowned professor and had an almost god-like status among his academic peers and patients, he also enjoyed gadgets and
In this paper we will be look at the book called “Lying on the Couch”. I will be going over what I saw as the biggest ethical issues that I read about in this book, I will also go over my thoughts on this book and the ethical problems that I saw for Dr. Lash, Carol and Marshal Streider. I will explain my personal opinion regarding self-care and my reasoning as to why it is so important to maintaining clear boundaries.
This Stanford Experiment violated a few of the Five General Principles of Ethics. The young men were offered $15 a day to participate in a study that lasted for one to two weeks that “wanted to see what they psychological effects were of becoming a prisoner or prison guard” (Zimbardo, 1999). One being “Principle A: Beneficence and Nonmaleficence” which
Menace II Society, a film about a young Black man who has lived the “hustler” lifestyle and is struggling to leave it, is a perfect example of deviance as the main character, Caine Lawson, and the characters around him violate many of society’s norms. Throughout the film, the characters swear incessantly, carry around guns and drugs as most people would carry around cell phones, commit street crimes, especially burglary and mugging, on a regular basis, and beat and kill people unscrupulously. The following quote captures just how deviant Caine and the other characters in this film were, “[Caine] went into the store just to get a beer. Came out an accessory to murder and armed robbery. It's funny like that in the hood sometimes. You never
Daniel Craig’s new James Bond in Casino Royale breathes fresh life into what had become, in my opinion, a rather tired and worn out concept - a striking achievement, considering Casino Royale was Ian Fleming’s first novel in the series, written in 1953.
Ethical guidelines are the frameworks and standards that govern psychologists in conducting a morally justified research to respect the rights of the participants. Since the researchers are responsible for the welfare of the participants, it is vital for them to act in accordance with a specific strict code of ethics and moral principles. One of the common ethical framework used in many psychological studies is IVCARD where ‘I’ stands for Informed Consent, ‘V’ equals Voluntary Participation, ‘C’ is Confidentiality, ‘A’ being Accurate Reporting, ‘R’ is Right To Withdraw and ‘D’ as Do No Harm. Although there are few disadvantages of these strict ethical guidelines, the advantages outweigh them. This is evident from two of the
Ex Machina is a film about a scientist named Nathan who has selected an employee of his, Caleb Smith, to be flown out to his estate for a week. When Caleb arrives Nathan tells him that he has been selected to be part of a Turing test. A Turing Test is when you have a human and a computer interact with each other and if the human doesn’t know that they are interacting with a computer, then the test is passed. But Nathan has already completed that part of the test so now he wants Caleb to actually see her and have a one on one conversation with her see if Caleb still feels that the robot has consciousness. So, it turns out that Nathan has created a humanoid robot with artificial intelligence and her name is Ava. Ava appears with a robotic body but
She begins recounting the notorious details, how innocent college students labeled prisoners and guards displayed psychological abuse after only six days of confinement, and makes reference to Stanley Milgram’s obedience study and Abu Ghraib, where similar maltreatment, perceived or real, was conducted on civilians by civilians. She addresses and refutes the accepted belief that the Stanford Prison Experiment proved that anyone could become a tyrant when given or instructed by a source of authority. Instead, she suggests that Zimbardo’s inquiry points toward but does not land on one exact conclusion. She explains the influence of the setting, the presentation of the roles, Zimbardo’s participation, and perhaps a sense of expectation felt, all of which can be reflected in the shocking behavior of a few guards. She argues that it should not have been so shocking. Konnikova discredits the neutrality of Zimbardo’s experiment by insisting that people who would respond to an ad for a psychological study of prison life were not “normal” people. However, with her diction and choice of evidence she displaces the study's culpability in a way that ultimately blurs and undermines her claim.
Ethical dilemmas are one of the many sensitive issues that come with doing psychological research with human participants. As seen in several famous psychology studies such as the Stanford prison experiment, Milgram experiment, and Tuskegee experiment, ethics in psychological studies are important to protect both the individuals being subjected to research and the researcher. While these specific experiments did not include children, it does bring up an important conversation regarding ethics in research. There are several guidelines put in place by the American Psychological Association to protect humans during research. However, special considerations and guidelines are put into place when working with
The ethics of the study were however called into question (Banyard, 2012). One protestors among many was Diana Baumrind (Banyard, 2012). Baumrind (1964) argued whether the ‘welfare of the participants’ was considered Banyard (2012, p.79). Baumrind (1964) further criticised the experiment for the damage it could do the public’s perception of psychology (Banyard, 2012). In Milgram’s (1963) defence, he was not ignorant of the potential harm caused to participants, (Banyard, 2012). In fact, he was
In her article, “Review of Stanley Milgram’s Experiments on Obedience”, psychologist Diana Baumrind criticizes Stanley Milgram’s experiments on obedience to authority, stating that not only were Milgram’s experiments unethical but so was the scientist himself, claiming that he did not take appropriate measures to properly ensure his subject’s wellbeing post-experiment and therefore, experiments such as these should not be repeated. Baumrind does address an important point in her review and that is the responsibility of psychologists to ensure that their subjects are treated fairly and ethically but this is overshadowed by the fact that Baumrind’s argument is one rooted in pathos with little evidence to support her claims while being
Psychological research has been growing and developing new ways of studying human behavior, collecting knowledge and expanding our understanding of our nature. For instance, studies involving human subjects presented risks for violation of ethical research guidelines, by pushing the limits of human experience (Kim, 2012). Throughout history, there have been numerous studies that elevated this concern, such as the Milgram Experiment of 1963. One of the major ethical raised was that it lacked informed consent from the participants and eventually raised the issue of protecting human subjects. This paper examines the ethical compliance in psychological research and emphasizes the importance of ethics and professionalism by analyzing different
Throughout history there are many examples of humans conducting experiments on other humans. Over the years human experimentation has greatly advanced the knowledge of human physiology and psychology, leading to better treatments for ailments both physical and mental as well as a better overall understanding of the human constitution. Despite all of the good which human experimentation has done for the human race there have been times when experimenters have taken human experimentation past the bounds of morality. This unethical human experimentation is most often caused when the experimenters are, in some way, able to justify their experiments.
Stanley Milgram conducted one of the most controversial psychological experiments of all time: the Milgram Experiment. Milgram was born in a New York hospital to parents that immigrated from Germany. The Holocaust sparked his interest for most of his young life because as he stated, he should have been born into a “German-speaking Jewish community” and “died in a gas chamber.” Milgram soon realized that the only way the “inhumane policies” of the Holocaust could occur, was if a large amount of people “obeyed orders” (Romm, 2015). This influenced the hypothesis of the experiment. How much pain would someone be willing to inflict on another just because an authority figure urged them to do so? The experiment involved a teacher who would ask questions to a concealed learner and a shock system. If the learner answered incorrectly, he would receive a shock. Milgram conducted the experiment many times over the course of 2 years, but the most well-known trial included 65% of participants who were willing to continue until they reached the fatal shock of 450 volts (Romm, 2015). The results of his experiment were so shocking that many people called Milgram’s experiment “unethical.”
Oliver Stone’s 1994 classic, Natural Born Killers, excited and traumatized its audiences while also causing controversy. The tale of white trash lovers caught up in a realm of chaos that includes a continuous murderous rampage from state to state, draws in audiences with its graphic violence and riveting pulse inducing music. Yet, the message of this film seems to be much deeper than just exposing audiences to yet another chaotic action movie filled with guns, blood and mayhem. Stone’s Natural Born Killers examines the subject of media’s investment in serial murder very thoroughly, and so it seems likely that it has the potential to offer a more rigorous interrogation of the nature of the American public’s fascination with the serial
A sense of belonging will often emerge from the connections made with people, places, groups, communities, and the larger world. The Bourne Identity is a novel, written by Robert Ludlum. The main character in this novel is Jason Bourne, a broken man, not only in the physical, but also in the emotional and psychological sense. Throughout the entire novel we see a man who is attempting to put the pieces of his life back together after suffering from a sudden onset of amnesia. There are several ways that this text relates to belonging and not belonging, all of which become increasingly obvious as the novel progresses. Through the loss of memory every aspect of an individual’s sense of belonging is completely removed, and as Bourne struggles