Ethics in Psychology

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    Tuskegee Syphilis Study

    Over 600 black sharecroppers were studied by the U.S. Public Health Service “To document disease in blacks, and racial differences in the clinical manifestations of syphilis.” – U.S. Public Health Service
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    Nazi Concentration Camp Experiments

    Conduction of horrendous experiments on homosexuals, jews, negros, and others born of not pure Arian lineage. Sleep deprivation, starvation, unnecessary surgeries with anesthesia, submission to physical, emotional, or psychological torture was nothing less than premeditated murder, masquerading as research.
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    Palace of Justice Nuremberg, Germany

    The creation of the Nuremberg Code, a set of ethical principles to guide future research on human participants and lead to the Nuremberg Trials, where leaders of the Nazi Experiments were brought to justice.
  • American Psychological Association

    Establishment of the APA Committee on Standards for Psychologists
  • Zimbardo Prison Experiment

    Zimbardo selected 24 male students from Stanford University to participate in a 6-day experiment. A mock prison study was conducted in the basement of the university’s psychology department and participants were assigned roles as prisoners or guards. The study revealed how reasonable people can become unreasonable, and even sadistic when backed by ideological authority.
  • National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavior Research

    Met at the Belmont Conference Center and released The Belmont Report, which clarified research in three areas. The different areas were a distinction between therapeutic practice and research, established ethical principles of respect for persons, beneficence (do no harm, maximize benefits), and justice, evidenced by a fair balance between research benefits and burdens.
  • Federal Grants and Funding

    Federal grants and funding require the completion of education on the protection of human research participants.