Unethical Research On Inmates

The participants that were used in this experiment were healthy male college students. The participants were divided into prisoner and guard roles. The participants were paid for the 2-week long experiment. The participants were randomly chosen as a prisoner or guard. The prisoners “were told that they would be confined and under surveillance through out the experiment, and their civil rights would be suspended”.

However, there may also be risks in the research which would require careful planning so that no inmate would be offended resulting in officer retaliation from this research. This planning mandates that the steps that are identified as a probable risk (known observation) would be mitigated to reduce that risk. Observing correctional officers use force as it happens could create potential risks that include: the researchers could be put in harm’s way by the onset or during the confrontation of either the correctional officer or the inmate ("Hudson v. McMillian,"

This experiment was put through to show how prisoners act within a prison environment while being isolated within the cell and being forbidden from contact with people outside the jail. The prisoners were arrested in their homes and taken to the police station. The normal procedures for a convicted criminal were given, and the prisoners were then transferred to the basement of the psychology department. The basement was designed to replicate an average prison. Standard rules such as forbidden prisoner to guard eye contact were given. Guards were not allowed to address the prisoners by anything besides their uniform number. Although just an experiment, the subjects were quickly adapting to their roles. Prison guards began to harass the inmates, and the inmates began to verbally abuse each other to extreme levels. Guards also started using major brutality. Due to the drastic escalation of the physical and verbal abuse, the experiment was terminated early (McLeod). This suggests that when isolated, people can start to act more cruel than they would in

Research ranged from bubble baths to mild altering drugs being tested for the Army. Throughout the article, Greta De Jong emphasizes how brutal the prisons were, almost forcing research upon their inmates; sometimes labeled to the extent of torture. She also talks about how recently there have been attempts to scientists to revive medical research programs in U.S. jails, but with ensured ethical treatment.

More than 90 percent of new drugs fail to make it into the public's hands. That 90 percent is also proven too toxic to even get past actual patient testing. Distinguished medical professionals find out if new medicines are toxic through various testings of which include human testing. Most of these test subjects include medical students as well as prisoners. Medical experiments have been conducted in prisoners for years. Not all of these tests however were properly practiced. Attached to these experiments are either great rewards for the medical community or unlawful controversy. The World Medical Association in 1961 failed to propose that prisoners should not be used as the subject of experiments. This was mostly because the experiments performed were unlawful and

In the experiment, people were picked randomly and one as a teacher and one as the student. They were told to take a quiz and give electric shocks of increasing intensity as punishment if the student can’t answer. During the experiment, many people were concerned as someone can be heard shouting but only a few people who decided to stop and stick to their morals. But the others kept on going because they were just following orders from a superior (Milgram 77). "The Stanford Prison Experiment” by Philip Zimbardo, is about an experiment that was made to understand the roles people play in prison situations. For the experiment, Zimbardo converted a basement of the Stanford University psychology building into a mock prison. The participants were told to act as prisoners and guards. It was planned to be a two-week experiment but was forced to shut down in 6 days, all because of people quickly getting into their roles and started acting like the real prisoners and guards (Zimbardo 104). To compare both experiments, although they differed vastly in design and methodology, the point of both experiments was to observe how far an individual would go in inflicting increasing pain on a victim. Also how people obey under authoritative circumstances, when given power or different roles, however the writers differ in the seriousness of the fight for individuality and the use of reality.

The experimental study that I chose to write about is the Stanford Prison Experiment, which was run by Phillip Zimbardo. More than seventy applicants answered an ad looking for volunteers to participate in a study that tested the physiological effects of prison life. The volunteers were all given interviews and personality tests. The study was left with twenty-four male college students. For the experiment, eighteen volunteers took part, with the other volunteers being on call. The volunteers were then divided into two groups, guards and prisoners, randomly assigned by coin flips. The experiment began on August 14th, 1971 in the basement of Stanford’s psychology building. To create the prison cells for the prisoners, the doors were taken

The article on the Stanford Prison Experiment titled, A Study of Prisoners and Guards in a Simulated Prison and written by the Office of Naval Research, provides us with the overall information that deals with this controversial psychological study. The study was conducted by

Philip (2009) to try and see what was being said about prison treatment was true, this was called the Stanford prison experiment. This experiment only lasted 6 days due to the circumstances versus 6 weeks. Zimbardo had to find out whether the prisons were brutal due to the guards or due to the environment. It was clear that the role of the guards was the issue and not the environment. This was discovered when a sample was chosen from the population. Each induvial was set up to be a guard or a prisoner at random. In this study researchers got see the unfortunate power of social situations. Once prisoner and guard roles were assigned each group were told that they were being watched by the researcher and his colleagues, the guards were to not hit the prisoners, and debriefed about the experiment. Although all this was told the guards took situations into their own hands and the power took over. The guards began simply viewing them as prisoners and the prisoners began to fear the guards. It is important to note the researcher did not intervene but continued to observe when the hitting was taking place. This is particularly important because not only are the guards fitting the rod but the researcher is at fault for the fundamental attribution error but viewing the situation for what it

Compared to the Milgram Experiment, one could easily argue that the prisoners suffered from far more anxiety and trauma that the “teachers” who instituted electrical shocks. However, as one might hate as much to admit, but the results of the Stanford Prison Experiment outweigh the risks. Not only did it bring to light many natural tendencies and moral issues of human beings, but also that it was this experiment, along with the Milgram Experiment, the revolutionized the ethical guidelines of human experimentation. While these two experiments may be considered among the darkest experiments in the history of psychology, it is important to acknowledge what they have also brought to

In the documentary Quiet Rage, the story of Zimbardo’s prison experiment is retold. In the documentary, Zimbardo develops a hypothesis that the abusive behaviors in prison is either caused by pre-existing personality traits of the inmates and guards, or the prison environment itself is the cause. He tested his hypothesis by carefully selecting 24 physically healthy, and mentally stable, male college students to participate in a “mock prison” experiment. The basement of Stanford’s psychology department was used to recreate a prison environment, complete with cells, a prison yard, Warden and Superintendent’s offices, and solitary confinement. Half of the test subjects were randomly selected to be prisoner, and the other half to be guards. They were to be placed in the environment, and their roles, for two weeks, and to be carefully observed by Zimbardo who also acted as the prison superintendent. Zimbardo planned to observe the affects the prison environment had the subjects. Due to the extremely abusive characteristics guards developed, and the swift decline of

The United States is the world leader in both positive and negative arenas. As a nation, we are leading the world in the number of incarcerated individuals. While the ethnic composition of each state will vary, documentation shows that “African Americans are incarcerated in state prisons at a rate that is 5.1 % the imprisonment of whites.” (Nellis, 1) Consequently, most sentences are issued at the state level and not the federal level. In our attempt to be tough on crime and rid our nation of her drug problem and criminal action, we have created a new more pressing issue, an unethical system of law and society.

The experimentors proposed that these reactions were caused by a loss of personal identity, dependency, emasculation and acceptance sadistic treatment from the guards and the unpredictable and arbitrary control of the prison system.

Public opinion towards the prison system is very similar to its perception of the entire Corrections System which is dissatisfaction in its toughness and standards and lack of accountability. These opinions have become social norms largely in part due to the media and the lack of knowledge by average citizens on the mission, laws and procedures that govern the prison system and corrections. Many citizens utilize the tough on crime mentality and see prisons as the only viable means to control delinquency. When it comes to those imprisoned, many believe prisoners should be forgotten, locked up with the keys thrown away. “Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are

Ethics are a critical aspect of behavioral health, both in practice and in research. According to the ACA Code of Ethics, professionals must "engage in a carefully considered ethical decision-making process" (2014, p. 3). Sadly, looking back through the history of research in the field of psychology, many experiments have been conducted that were unethical in nature. This paper will examine two notable research projects, the Stanford Prison Experiment and the Robber's Cave Study, and identify specific ethics violations of each according to the American Counseling Association (ACA) and American Psychological Association (APA).