The Ethics of Psychology

Psychology experiments are aimed at investigating and delving into the inner mind and understanding the way we think. These are a crucial part of learning how people interact with each other, the way we influence one another, and the way we view and perceive our everyday surroundings. But what happens when these experiments go too far? When the focus on scientific knowledge overshadows the well being of the participants?

There are numerous examples of studies, mainly conducted before the advent of ethical standards and guidelines that have subjected the participants to undue amounts of stress or without consent that were clearly unethical. One example was a study by John Watson in 1920 involving a participant nicknamed Little Albert. Watson chose Albert to participate in a study to determine if fear could be conditioned and expand upon the idea of classical conditioning. Albert was subsequently presented with a white rabbit, a white rat, a monkey, a mask with hair, a mask without hair, cotton wool, burning newspaper and various other stimuli. Albert was placed in a room and given a white rat to play with. He did not show any initial fear of the rat, but afterwards Watson began to strike a steel bar every time Albert touched the rat after that. When Albert was later presented with the rat or other objects that reminded him of the rat, he began to cry. Watson had successfully cultivated a fear of the rat, white objects such as the rabbit, and furry objects such as cotton wool. Watson never desensitized Albert though or tried to dissipate the newly formed fear that Albert had developed.

The “Little Albert” study has become one of psychology’s more important studies involving conditioning, but its ethics are extremely questionable. Little Albert did not consent or assent to participate in the study, his legal guardians were not fully informed of the experiment, and lastly he was intentionally scared over and over again. Experiments like this are not permissible in today’s society, and new ethical guidelines help protect participants in experiments by providing review boards to ensure that the benefits outweigh the risks and that the subject has given consent to the experiments, however, unethical studies such as the Little Albert study continue to influence psychology today.

Websites Relevant to my post:

http://www.psychology.sbc.edu/Little%20Albert.htm