Stanley Milgram Obedience

e term ‘Ethics’ refers to the basic concepts and the essential principles of decent human conduct. Humanity thrives off of ethics as it enables humans with the responsibility to try and prevent unethical behaviour that has the possibility to cause physiological and psychological harm to the participants involved. Ethics in research are a vital component of experimentation in psychology as there is a set of rules/guidelines set to try and preserve the rights and privacy of the participants. A list of nine ethical guidelines which aims to prevent unethical behaviour that could cause psychological and physiological harm to the participants. This essay aims to discuss the Stanley Milgram obedience to authority experiment and how it relates to the
The first rule that was breached was “Respect the dignity and wellbeing of participants, including their welfare, rights, beliefs, perceptions, customs and cultural heritage.” Whenever the participants asked or pleaded to leave or stop the experiment, they were enforced to continue. They were exposed to stressful situations, showing clear signs of distress in each participant, some of the signs included; sweating, stuttering and trembling etc. Milgram also said that 3 participants had full-blown seizures while participating in this experiment. This also relates to the other three principles that were also breached which includes; “Ensure that research is designed to maximise any benefits to participants and society, and to minimise risks of possible harm or discomfort – psychological, emotional, and physical – to participants,” “Respect the right of individuals not to participate, or to withdraw from the research at any time without explanation, and without reprisal,” and “Inform participants of the nature and purpose of the research, and any physical or psychological effects that may be expected if the research is likely cause the participant physical or mental stress.” The participants were clearly forced into situations that could have caused them psychologically or even physiologically damage. It was evident that they were not informed of the nature of the experiments beforehand and genuinely thought that they were harming the learner. The complete disregard of the ethical principles influenced the experiments majorly as they were trying to research the obedience to authority, by forcing the participants to go on regardless of their thoughts or feelings