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Ethics Of Social Research: Prior To Regulation 45 CFR 46

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Amanda Ward Professor Kelly Mason-Davis SOC 101: Sociology October 3, 2015 Ethics of Social Research Prior to Regulation 45 CFR 46, which was written to offer basic protections to human subjects involved in both biomedical and behavioral research conducted or supported by HHS ("Human Subjects Research (45 CFR 46)." hhs.gov), Stanley Milgram, a Yale University psychologist, performed an experiment. Milgram intended to measure how far his subjects would go in potentially harming another human being at the instruction of an authority-type figure. Experiments like Milgram’s quickly came under scrutiny for their unethical practices, and eventually regulations were put into place. The importance of these ethical standards should not be undervalued …show more content…

The actor playing the student was never actually being shocked, but he could be heard screaming and begging the teacher to stop ("Milgram Experiment." YouTube.com). Several subjects appeared to be under extreme emotional distress at the prospect of continuing the experiment and potentially causing a complete stranger harm. Some even expressed their desire to stop or to leave, and even though the authority-type figure never specifically told them they could not, the subjects clearly felt they were under an obligation to continue at the direction of the authoritative figure. Their thought process had already been impaired to a point where they felt that their rights and choices had been stripped from them. In this way, Milgram has not only deceived his subjects, but he has also inflicted both psychological and emotional …show more content…

Deception was completely necessary in his particular study because he needed his subjects to believe that they were causing harm in order to test his hypothesis. It is human nature to alter our behavior depending on where we are and who we are around. Our actions and the way we speak around our bosses, for example, would not likely match that of when we are around our friends. It is highly probable that the subject of a study is going to carefully choose how they behave in certain situations when they know they are being observed, therefore the informed consent rule can sometimes become a hindrance for the researcher who is looking for raw and uncompromised data. Experiments like Milgram’s are incredibly valuable in offering an honest depiction of how humans behave when put in certain situations without the knowledge that they are under

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