Yesterday we did experiments and it all came back to you all about how experiments work
Variables enter into experiments
The way we try to get around that is randomization
Hopefully if you go out partying with your friend last night hopefully you 2 get put in different groups
Also you can test multiple times
the more tests are done the more reliable the results are
Today we are going to talk a little about :
Ethics
Rules in Experiments:
- Informed consent I am going to inform you, “if you are part of my experiment there is a chance you are gonna test in a really hot room ( or not ) ”
- Right to withdraw if they sit in the 99 degree room and they are uncomfortable they can leave if they just ask you not to use the results, you just dont use
- Cannot force them to participate, no Coersion No saying ” if you dont participate you get an F”
- Subjects are not exploited
- Guaranteed to be anonymous and results are confidential
- Not gonna expose you to unnecessary physical or mental stress Informed consent can get around it if it is necessary for the experiment
- At the end, Need to debrief you. Have to tell you ” i was testing to see if raising the temperature would affect test scores ” at the end. Telling them too much in the beginning could influence results, but you do uave to tell them what you were doing at the end
Experiment from the past that we cant do today:
Stanley milgram was fascinated with the dangers of group behaviour Stanley milgram wanted to understand how the german people could permit the extermination of the jews How is it possible that ordinary people who are corteous and decent can do such a terrible thing ? under what conditions woulda person obey authority who commanded actions which went against conscience ?
subjects : 40 males from ages 20-50 Experiment called obedience.
The experiment was rigged, the victim was an accomplice of the experiment, he was intentionally giving wrong answers
Teacher is sat infront of shock generator Verbal designation from slight shock to XXX danger severe shock
Your job is a word pair test, if he gets it right, move on, if he gets it wrong, shock, and increase by 15v every wrong answer
“You don’t ask people what they would do given this situation you just put them in this situation”
one of the things that is important is that the other person is responsible for your actions
Milgram would probably get about the same level of obedience nowadays.
** Nobody was hurt in that experiment the shocks were fake if you watched, you saw them set the learner up infront of the teacher and the teacher was taken to another room. As soon as the teacher was seated at the switchboard, the tape machine was setup. ** The authority figure that they kept turning to, was the researcher, who was in a labcoat to give him a sense of authority
we cant redo this today its not ethical. We put the teacher under unnecessary physical or mental stress by inflicting all that pain
briefly they limited to 150 but then they just stopped doing it cause its not ethical.
They cannot say to the participants ” we wanna see how far you will go on the shock machine ” because that’s obviously gonna negatively affect the accuracy
early 70s established the ethical standards listed in the Rules header.