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Ethics in Psychology - Help with your experiment
The following was originally written for Wicked IB (wicked-ib.winter-flower.net) by me as a joke, please don't redistribute without asking me and/or crediting me.
If you read it and find it brutal, you obviously never read about the key experiments in psychology... Like Milgram's and Zimbardo's experiments, Seligman with the poor dogs etc.
- Doing no harm:
- "You seem quite stupid anyway, what harm could it do if we replace your brain with a monkey's?"
- Consent:
- "Of course you don't have to participate... But you wouldn't really want to return at your home at night and find it burned down? Would you? Not that we are threatening you, we are just informing you of things that could happen..."
- Deception:
- "Yes, this is an experiment for testing which lollipop flavour people prefer. The surgery equipment and chains are just for decorative purposes. So are the bars in the windows."
- Freedom to withdraw:
- "You are free to leave the experiment any time you like, unless of course you are unconscious. But otherwise, you can withdraw anytime, as long as, of course, you don't mind the guy pointing the gun at you..."
- Confidentiality:
- "All information about the participant is confidential. No one will ever find out that you were here. Or what happened to you..."
- Debriefing:
- Well, of course this wasn't an experiment about counting to 10 in three seconds... You probably know that by now, after your heart stopped for the second time, while you were receiving the electrical shock, so what the hell do you need debriefing for? And since we have to ensure your well being, the emergency room is at your left. Can you walk? Easy! Oh, and thanks for helping us with the experiment! We'd like to have you again sometime. Have a nice day."
