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The Ethics Of The Psychology Field

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Unit 6 Assignment As a professional in the psychology field one must attend to both the privileges and responsibilities of the profession. Society agrees to accept the knowledge of the professional based on specific training. It is the responsibility of the professional to do no harm, to regulate and to ensure self-respect and well-being of individuals they serve and the community. Historically there were many types of psychological researchs that occurred that would not be allowed under today’s standards. In the past there were standards however, they were not always so strict, which is how some unethical psychological researchs transpired back then. Today, the American Psychological Association has ethical guidelines or “code of ethics” regarding psychological researchs that every professional must adhere to. One influential research in the psychology field that violates today’s ethical guidelines is, Milgram’s Obedience Study. Milgram was inspired by war crimes and wanted to understand what makes a person obey so blindly. Milgram stated “Obedience is the psychological mechanism that links individual action to political purpose” (Milgram, 1963). In order to learn more, Milgram devised a clever operation to test obedience in humans. He gathered 40 males with various backgrounds and told them the research was on the effects of punishment on memory (Youngpeter, 2008). Each participant was assigned the role of the teacher while an actor played the learner who was

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