Question

In the study by Darley and Latené on the Bystander Intervention experimemt would this research be able to done today? According to APA codes what would have to change? How did this experiment help develop ethical codes in psychological research?

Answer 1

The experiment on Bystander Intervention by Darley and Latene used deception to study the helping behavior in emergency situations. The researchers staged emergency situation as they produced recorded sounds of someone calling for help, manipulated the situational factors as the presence of others witnessing an emergency situation, and then finding out the effect of these factors on the bystanders willingness to help. This experiment was based on deception, because if the participants in LL)

were told of the real aim of the experiment in the beginning, the participants would not have exhibited their real reaction to the emergency situation and the results would have been different, as they would have altered their natural reaction to the situation.

According to the the APA codes deception must not be used unless there is no other non deceptive feasible option, and that the study is justified by its scientific, educational, or applied value. Thus, inorder to do an experiment like this, it is important to convince the research board of the importance of the experiment for the field and an assurance that this type of experiment would not cause any emotional or physical distress to the participants.

This experiment has helped to develop ethical codes that preserves the wellness of the participants, these ethics makes sure that no deception is used against the participants, and that they are not in any physical or emotional pain due to the experiment.