The 3 most cruel (and disturbing) psychological experiments in history

Ethics constitutes a point of high importance for scientific research. Particularly, the field of psychology is especially prone to generating moral dilemmas. The development of research and the application of interventions on the behavior of people can be especially complex, since it is not always easy to respect the margins of the ethics.

Although today all research must pass the filter of highly demanding and rigorous ethical committees, this has not always been the case. The truth is that, just a few decades ago, researchers could freely design numerous studies that, although they have allowed to obtain interesting conclusions, they have used methodologies that today would be strongly punished for their lack of ethics. Fortunately, awareness has grown dramatically in recent years and it has been determined that the end does not always justify the means.

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Psychology and Ethics: Friends or Foes?

When we talk about ethics, we are referring to a set of rules that determine what is correct and what is not.

. The purpose of these rules is to ensure that no intentional harm is inflicted on the participants of the research and that, therefore, their mental health is not at risk due to the study of which they form part.

In order that all psychology researchers are well advised about the insurmountable limits they have to respect, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) has developed a comprehensive guide that sets out how to proceed in the face of certain ethical dilemmas or morals. The APA tries, as a worldwide reference body, to establish minimum standards that ensure the rights and dignity of all persons who voluntarily agree to take part in investigations psychological.

Although the advances that are achieved through research are of great value and allow improving the lives of the population, it is not an achievement that can be achieved at any cost. There is no use moving forward and knowing more about our behavior if it is at the cost of harming people. For all this, it is essential to comply with basic ethical standards when doing science.

As we have been saying, psychology has a dark history in its beginnings as a scientific discipline, since it does not these ethical margins have always existed and actions have been carried out that today would be labeled as despicable and inhuman. Because knowing the history is a good first step to avoid repeating the mistakes made, in this article we are going to collect the most cruel psychological experiments that have been carried out until the date.

What have been the most disturbing psychological experiments?

Psychology in its beginnings has not been characterized, precisely, for being a rigorously ethical discipline. The lack of clear standards and ignorance, together with the desire to know more, have left the development of the investigations, many of them being considered authentic atrocities from the perspective current. We are going to review the best known ones.

1. Harlow's monkeys

Harlow's experiment is among the best known in psychology, for his contributions to the field of attachment and bonding. For Harlow, it was interesting to know how a group of Rhesus Macaques formed their attachment bond based on different scenarios to which they were exposed. The researcher opted for this species because its way of learning is very similar to that of human beings.

Particularly, Harlow selected some macaques whom he separated from their mothers, in order to compare their development and adaptation in relation to those who remained attached to them.. What Harlow did with the macaques he separated was put them in a cage where there were two artificial monkeys. One made of wire, which had a milk bottle, and another made of terry cloth, which did not offer food.

What the researcher observed was that, although the macaques went to the wire room to drink their milk, they immediately returned to the plush one to get warmth. In the absence of a mother of flesh and blood, the macaques ended up establishing an affective bond with an inert object such as plush fabric. The texture gave them the feeling of protection, care and affection that had been taken away from them.

Also, sometimes threatening stimuli were introduced into the cages, before which the macaque quickly clung to the cloth monkey to take refuge. The macaques were also removed from the cages where they had grown to be reintroduced later, at the time of the that the macaques were running back to their plush mother, indicating that a bond had indeed been established affective.

The essential conclusion that was derived from the study is that the macaques prioritized the need to care for food, which is why they spent much more time with the plush monkey than the wire monkey.

Harlow decided to go further and also chose to place some of his macaques in an empty cage, without even artificial mothers. These monkeys lacked any affective bond and when presented with a threatening stimulus only were capable of cornered in a corner disconsolate, because they had no attachment figure and protection. As we see, although this experiment is recognized as a classic of psychology, is not exempt from cruelty to animals.

2. Little albert

If in the previous case we were talking about animal abuse, in this case it is a cruel act towards a child. This experiment was carried out in order to obtain an empirical demonstration of the classical conditioning procedure. It was developed by John B. Watson, who was supported by his collaborator Rosalie Rayner. The study was carried out at Johns Hopkins University

To achieve the objective, an eleven-month-old child with adequate health was selected. First, the previous existence of fear of the objects that were to be presented as stimuli in the experiment was examined. The boy showed no initial fear of furry animals, although he did show loud sounds. Essentially, the experiment consisted of presenting Albert with a white rat (which he initially did not fear), along with a loud noise.

After repeating several trials with this dynamic, Albert began to cry at the mere presence of the rat. That is, the association between both stimuli had occurred, so that the rat became a conditioned stimulus. Furthermore, fear was generalized to many other stimuli following the same procedure. This experiment made it possible to empirically confirm the classical conditioning procedure in humans. However, the way to achieve this was at the cost of the suffering of a baby, so it must be recognized as one of the least ethical studies carried out to date.

3. Milgram and extreme obedience

Yale University psychologist Stanley Milgram set out to conduct an experiment to know to what extent people were able to comply with rules and orders even if they cause harm to the rest. The event that motivated this study was the death sentence of the Nazi Adolf Eichmann for his involvement in the Nazi genocide as the ideologue of the systematic plan to exterminate the Jewish population during the Third Reich.

During the trial to which he was subjected, Eichmann defended himself claiming that he "was only following orders", assuring that the Nazi Government had taken advantage of his obedience. Milgram considered the possibility that Eichmann's words had part of the truth, thus being able to explain his involvement in heinous crimes against humanity.

To carry out the experiment, Milgram began by posting posters at bus stops, where he offered to volunteers who would like four dollars to participate in a supposed study on learning and memory. The researcher accepted people between 20 and 50 years old with the most diverse profiles.

The structure of the experiment required three figures: the researcher, a "teacher" and a "student or apprentice.". Although a lottery was drawn up to see what role each volunteer (teacher or apprentice) should play, this was manipulated, so that the volunteer was always the teacher and the apprentice a actor.

During the rehearsal, the teacher is separated from his student by a glass wall. The student is also tied to an electric chair. The researcher tells the teacher that his job is to punish his student with electric shocks every time he makes a mistake in the answer. It is clarified that the discharges can be very painful, although they do not cause irreparable damage.

What Milgram observed was that more than half of the teachers applied the maximum shock to their apprentice despite his pleas.. Although teachers might feel puzzled, distressed, or uncomfortable, none stopped administering the shock. The role of the researcher was to insist that the teacher continue when in doubt ("Please continue", "The experiment requires you to continue", "You must continue" ...). Thus, the pressures of the researcher were increasing more and more. Although some considered the usefulness of the experiment or rejected the money, none stopped.

What Milgram concluded is that a very large percentage of people simply do what they are told to do, without rethink the action in itself and without weight on their conscience, as long as they perceive that the order received comes from an authority legitimate. This experiment was a milestone for psychology, although for obvious reasons its ethics were questioned and it has been harshly criticized for it.