3-2 Practice Activity Research Ethics and Design

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Psychology

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Dec 6, 2023

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3-2 Practice Activity: Research Ethics and Design 1. Describe ethical and design issues in the Stanford Prison Experiment and what practices researchers could have followed to prevent a situation like this. Use references to support your recommendation(s). The first issue that I see in the Stanford prison experiment is that Zimbardo played the role of the prison Superintendent and was given no training as to how to do his job. The guards made up whatever rules they wanted to maintain control of their prisoners which in real life does not happen which, therefore, does not give the actual effects of becoming a prison Superintendent. By Zimbardo making himself an authority figure, this affected how the prisoners acted because he wasn't a real Superintendent. While the point of this test was to see how people responded to authority, I don’t think bribing with special foods, etc was the best approach to this and he also had nothing to compare his results to. To prevent a situation like this rules and regulations should have been put in place prior to this experiment for students who depicted the jail guards. With doing this, this would have made out for a more accurate and better experiment. “Many of the normal, healthy mock prisoners suffered such intense emotional stress reactions that they had to be released in a matter of days; most of the other prisoners acted like zombies totally obeying the demeaning orders of the guards; the distress of the prisoners was caused by their sense of powerlessness induced by the guards who began acting in cruel, dehumanizing and even sadistic ways.” ("Demonstrating the power of social situations via a simulated prison experiment," 2004).
2. Describe ethical and design issues in the John/Joan research study and what practices researchers could have followed to prevent a situation like this. Use references to support your recommendation(s). The issue with John/Joan’s research study is that gender identity is not learned. No matter what you feel the need to change your gender for later in life, does not mean that biologically, your gender is different, at the end of the day. The other issue is the person (parent(s)) who made this decision to have this surgery done on an infant. A life altering decision like this should not have been legal until the child is old enough to make that decision on his own. It has been proven that people who get this surgery are at risk for many different health issues and a couple of them are heart related, depression, anxiety, etc. A change like this is something that can never be reversed and for this, it should not be up to another person to make this decision for someone, it should be illegal. Nobody knows what a child wants because they don’t understand the context of it, especially an infant who cant defend themselves what so ever. The suicidal thoughts and death may have never occurred if the surgery was not done. A couple of perfect examples for this issue: “This 2011 study demonstrated that persons after sex reassignment, have considerably higher risks for mortality, suicidal behavior, and psychiatric morbidity than the general population.” “Dr. Renee Richards, a former professional tennis player, has written that her transition failed to meet even her own expectations. She wrote,
I wish that there could have been an alternative way, but there wasn't in 1975. If there was a drug that I could have taken that would have reduced the pressure, I would have been better off staying the way I was—a totally intact person. I know deep down that I'm a second-class woman. I get a lot of inquiries from would-be transsexuals, but I don't want anyone to hold me out as an example to follow. Today there are better choices, including medication, for dealing with the compulsion to cross-dress and the depression that comes from gender confusion. As far as being fulfilled as a woman, I'm not as fulfilled as I dreamed of being. I get a lot of letters from people who are considering having this operation … and I discourage them all.” 3. Describe ethical and design issues in the Behavioral Study of Obedience research study and what practices researchers could have followed to prevent a situation like this. Use references to support your recommendation(s). This experiment was physically and emotionally harmful And I don't believe this is a way this experiment should have been done. Using an electrical shock as punishment for getting a word wrong is not only traumatic but abusive too. The students faking their screams, stomping, banging, and other sounds of pain each time a “shock” was given was also stressful, physically, and emotionally traumatic and abusive for the teacher. I think this experiment was plain wrong and it should have been done with a different research method such as, not being able to opt out of the quiz because they didn’t get the paired words correct, for example.
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References: Demonstrating the power of social situations via a simulated prison experiment . (2004, June 8). https://www.apa.org. https://www.apa.org/topics/forensics-law-public- safety/prison#:~:text=The%20major%20results%20of%20the,guards%3B %20the%20distress%20of%20the P Fitzgibbons R. (2015). Transsexual attractions and sexual reassignment surgery: Risks and potential risks. The Linacre quarterly , 82 (4), 337–350. https://doi.org/10.1080/00243639.2015.1125574