Was the Milgram experiment unethical?
Was the Milgram experiment unethical?
Milgram experiment is one of the most famous experiments on obedience in the history of psychology. It was conducted by Stanley Milgram in the 1950s. The main aim of this experiment was to study the conflict between personal conscience and obedience to authority. Milgram was interested in knowing how far individuals can go in obeying an instruction from authority if it involves inflicting harm on others.
In the experiment, Milgram himself acted as the authority figure and assigned the confederate as the leaner and the participant as the teacher. The teacher was responsible for reading out word pairings to the learner in the adjacent room who was attached to the electrodes. Every time the learner answered incorrectly the teacher was to deliver a shock and the intensity of shock increased with every error. Many participants refused to continue or asked to stop the experiment but were encouraged to continue by the authority figure.
The Milgram experiment was unethical. It had several ethical issues.
1) Deception: The first ethical issue in the experiment was the degree of deception. The participants were not made aware that the learner was a confederate of Milgram. They were led to believe that they were administering a real shock to real people. A clear explanation regarding any possible risk was not provided to the participants before they volunteered for the study.
2) Avoid Harm: The participants were not kept safe from harm during the experiment. Participants suffered psychological distress believing that they were causing harm to fellow participants. Participants were sweating, trembling, biting their lips, and digging nails into their hands during the experiment. Three of the participants had uncontrollable seizures during the experiment.
3) Right to Withdrawal: The third ethical issue was the right to withdrawal. The participants were not allowed to withdraw from the experiment. They were urged to continue the experiment even after repeatedly asking to stop the experiment.
4) Debriefing: The last ethical issue was the lack of debriefing after the completion of the experiment. Milgram didn't completely reveal the true purpose of the experiment even after the study was done.
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