PSY 510 Topic 3 DQ2

PSY 510 Topic 3 DQ2

Give an example of how using deception in research can and should be used. Describe why the use of deception can be considered acceptable while some of the classic research methods are not. Provide examples when applicable.

Answer:

In 1971, the psychologist Philip Zimbardo tried to show that prison guards and convicts would tend to slip into predefined roles, behaving in a way that they thought was required, rather than using their own judgment and morals.

Zimbardo was trying to show what happened when all of the individuality and dignity was stripped away from a human, and their life was completely controlled.

He wanted show the dehumanization and loosening of social and moral values that can happen to guards immersed in such a situation.

To conduct the Stanford Prison Experiment, Zimbardo constructed a mock correctional facility in the basement of Stanford University.

Adverts were placed in local newspapers offering $15 per day for participants in this program. Of the 75 responses, the 24 male subjects judged to be most mentally and emotionally stable were selected. Mainly middle class and white, they were divided into two groups randomly, of 12 prisoners and 12 guards.

The group selected to be the guards were outfitted in ‘military-style’ intimidating uniforms. They were also equipped with wooden batons and mirrored shades, to prevent eye-contact and make the guards appear less human.

In an initiation meeting, Zimbardo, who acted as the warden for the duration of the experiment, informed the guards that the only rule was that no physical punishment was allowed. Other than that, the guards were to run the prison as they saw fit, and would be divided into regular working shifts and patterns.

Prisoners, by contrast, were dressed in cheap smocks and were allowed no underwear. They were to be addressed by, and answer to, identity numbers only. They also had a small chain around one ankle to remind them that they were inmates in a correctional facility. Conditions were tough, with only basic sleeping mattresses and plain food being supplied.

The prisoners were instructed to wait at home “to be called” for the start of the experiment; their homes were raided without any warning, arrested by the real local police department and charged with armed robbery.

The Palo Alto Police had agreed to help with the experiment. As if they were real-life suspects, the prisoners were read their rights and had their mug shots and fingerprints taken. After being stripped, searched and de-loused, they were taken into the cells that would be their homes for the next two weeks.

Zimbardo, acting as a prison warden, would be able to observe and make notes about what happened during the course of the study.

https://explorable.com/stanford-prison-experiment.html

Researchers conducting the research on the subjects mainly humans cannot be dehumanized.Although some research done on the subjects may; seen risky or inhumane other it does not violate the subject. Deception is allowed if positive proven results are deemed from the research although it may seem or be a bad,wrong, or even unjustifiable researchers may feel like a little white lie will not hurt, and deception is ok in some projects of research. Researchers feel like as long as the results are acurate in their studies achieve in the goals that they are looking for in the study are accomplished. It has been said the less the subject knows the better off the subject will be. Some examples would be not fully letting the subject know what the entirety of the study,like the above case if the subject knew that they would be getting treated the way they were during the study more likely than not they would not participate in the study.Another example would be the Tuskegee experiments in which researchers and scientists knowingly injected the subjects with the syphilis disease even though it was wrong,unethical, and inhumane the study later resulted in finding cures for other diseases.This study was very unacceptable both ethically and morally but some deception is considered ok and no specific rules or restrictions were applied basically meaning deception was acceptable.