Question

How does or does not milgram study reflect ethics in research? How was it or was it not ethical at that time? Give clear examples from the text and research. Do you feel that a study like this should have been allowed? Why/why not

Answer 1

• Milgram wanted to study the response of the instruction or following instructions. It went wrong because of the instructions. The experiment was counted as unethical because of responses, the responses went brutal. The horrible conclusion came from the experiment.
• Experiment- Milgram wanted to study whether people follow the instructions of authority figures or not and what is the level of this obeying. So he selected the male participants for the study. He made pairs of teacher and student. The learners were confederate of Milgram. The participants were teacher and the learners were students. The learners strapped to the chair with electrodes. They were given to a list to memorize. The teachers were told to give the electric shock after every wrong recall and to increase the intensity of shock every wrong recall. However there were no real electrical shock given by the participants the learners were acting that they are shocked.
• Conclusion- The ordinary people were likely to follow the instruction to the extent of death of the innocent people. They were following the instructions of authority person because they felt that they are morally right or the order is legal based.   
• Ethical issues- The participants were unaware of the situation that the learners were confederate of Milgram and the shock was not real. The situation was very intense for the participant it could harm them psychologically. The participants were not free to withdraw from the situation at anytime.
• The experiment was very intense, it could harm the participants so this is unethical. There should be right of withdrawal from the situation to the participants. The participant should never be in any dangerous situation while the experiment.