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Was the Milgram Experiment Ethical or Valid?

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Was the Milgram Experiment Ethical or Valid?
Was the Milgram Experiment Ethical or Valid? In 1961, Stanley Milgram, a psychologist at Yale University, conducted an experiment on a group’s obedience to authority. This experiment has encountered intense scrutiny ever since its findings were first published in 1963; many people question the ethics and validity of the experiment. Multitudes of researchers have taken it upon themselves to determine the answers to the questions (McLeod). Based on new guidelines for ethics, Stanley Milgram’s experiment on the obedience to authority was neither ethical nor valid. Controversy in the ethics of the experiment comes from the deception used and psychological harm experienced by some of the participants. Milgram believed that for the experiment to be authentic, deception was inevitable. He also sent out a questionnaire to his participants afterwards to see the effectiveness of the deception. The majority of the participants, 83.7 percent, stated they were glad they had participated while 1.3 percent would rather have not taken the experiment. Some of the participants also displayed physical signs of distress, but Milgram stated the symptoms were short term and the participants were better after they had been debriefed about the experiment (McLeod). Opponents of the ethics of Milgram’s experiment believe that the amount of stress caused by the experiment deems it unethical (Controversy: Ethics in Experiments). Many participants experienced trembling, stuttering and nervous laughter; three unfortunate people even suffered from seizures (McLeod). Other participants may have had psychological pain knowing they could have killed a person. Questioning themselves over their morals could also lead to emotional distress (Controversy: Ethics in Experiments). The deception was essential part of the experiment, but the emotional distress endured by the participant was excessive. An experiment where a person could have potentially been harmed for a long period of time should


Cited: “Controversy: Ethics in Experiments.”Obedience. Cal Poly. n.d. Web. 8 Dec. 2013. Retrieved from < http://cla.calpoly.edu/ >. McLeod, Saul. “The Milgram Experiment.”SimplyPsychology. SimplyPsychology. 2007. Web. 8 Dec. 2013. Retrieved from < http://www.simplypsychology.org/ >. Mook, Douglas. “In Defense of External Validity.” OwlNet. Rice University. Apr. 1983. Web. 8 Dec. 2013. Retrieved from < http://www.owlnet.rice.edu/ >. Orne, Martin T. and Holland, Charles H. “On the Ecological Validity of Laboratory Decisions.” n.a. Babson Faculty. n.d. Web. 8 Dec. 2013. Retrieved from . Samson, Steven Alan. “An Evaluation of Stanley Milgram’s Experiments on Obedience to Authority.” Liberty University.” Liberty University. 6 Mar. 1980. Web. 8 Dec. 2013. Retrieved from < http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/ >. “Was Milgram’s Experiment Ethical?”Psych Web. Psych Web. n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2013. Retrieved from < http://www.intropsych.com/>.
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