Question

1.

We are all may be here for a different reason - some of us need the general education requirement, some are fulfilling a program requirement, and some may find the material interesting! Either way, I'm sure that we all come into this class with a preconceived view about the field of psychology.

So...what do you think?  Are psychologists just those bearded, white-haired old timers who nod at your every word while judging everything you say!? Do you have a preconceived notion of what this field is all about? Here are a few questions to get you discussing your thoughts about the field.

A. What comes to mind when thinking about the field of psychology?

B. What names come to mind when thinking of the field?

C. What do you think psychologists do? After you state what you think they do, find out what they really do (either cite our text or look online at apa.org). In other words, do your expectations match reality? Also, include an area that surprised you in your reading - what made you say: "wow, I didn't know they did this!"

2.

As our text describes, the history of psychology is full of great discoveries and advances. Our history is also marred with a number of unethical approaches to observing and assessing human behavior. For this discussion post I would like you to choose one study (for example you could choose; Henrietta Lacks or the Tuskegee experiment) that demonstrated an unethical approach to studying the mind and behavior and or human body.   

Be sure to:

(A). What happened in the study - give details of the timeline, the population studied, and what was done.  

(B). Name at least 2 ways in which this study was unethical and what underlining ethical principle(s) were violated.  

(C). In what ways could this study have been completed ethically? In other words, could anything have been changed to study the same objectives in an ethical way?

(D). What's your take on this study? How did you react when reading about it? What do you think lead the researchers to conduct such a study?

Answer 1

1.

A. What comes to mind when thinking about the field of psychology?

The field of psychology helps people with their mental wellbeing by facilitating counselling sessions on emotions, personality, behaviours etc. They are just like the physicians who helps us to be in good physical health but they look after our mental and social wellbeing.

B. What names come to mind when thinking of the field?

Sigmund Freud, B.F.Skinner, Erik Erikson, Jean Piaget, Abraham Maslow

C. What do you think psychologists do?

Psychologists are everywhere helping people in all spheres, from medical to government organisations. They work in medical field, with the police department, in educational institutions, NGOs, government organisation, society, industries etc. So their contribution is in all the fields.

2.

(A). What happened in the study - give details of the timeline, the population studied, and what was done.  

I went through the Stanford Prison Experiment. Dr. Philip D. Zimbardo a professor of Stanford University wanted to conduct a research on the power struggle between inmates and prison officers. 24 white middle class males were chosen as participants and the study was planned for 7-14 days. Twelve participants acted as prison guards and twelve acted as inmates. As the experiments proceeded the people who acted as guards started to act like the real ones and started to torture the inmates. Some people were not able to tolerate the pain and torture and complained but Zimbardo instructed the guards to continue their cruel acts. The study was objected by one of Zimbardo’s students Christina Maslach, who later became his girlfriend on moral grounds. So, the research was discontinued in 6 days. Zimbardo says that both the inmates and the guards internalized their roles.

(B). Name at least 2 ways in which this study was unethical and what underlining ethical principle(s) were violated.  

The study allowed the physical and mental abuse of the subjects and according to research ethics, they shouldn’t be harmed.

They were not informed before the experiments that the torture would increase every day and this violates the informed consent under which informing everything about the research such as time, location, process and results are really mandatory.

(C). In what ways could this study have been completed ethically? In other words, could anything have been changed to study the same objectives in an ethical way?

The subjects would have been informed about the entire research process.

The subjects would not have been abused in any manner.

The researcher would have allowed people to move out when they were not able to bear the situation any further.

The researcher would have studied it in a real time prison environment.

(D). What's your take on this study? How did you react when reading about it? What do you think lead the researchers to conduct such a study?

I didn’t like the way the research was done and the way the researcher himself was acting very cruel. The surprising element is that the researcher stopped when his girlfriend asked him to stop.

I was worried about people who were used as inmates. I was also worried what if they hurt themselves because of this unbearable condition.

The researcher was interested to prove his hypothesis which he believed would help the prison department. It was also funded by the U.S. office of Naval Research.