Background for the alternative assignment essay

Institutional review boards (IRBs) were an outgrowth of the Nuremberg doctors? trial, during which 20 Nazi physicians were tried and convicted for contributing to the horrendous human experiments at the Auschwitz concentration camp. Among these men?s moral justifications for their actions were that a few prisoners? deaths could save many German lives, to resist would be treasonous, and that medical ethics could be set aside by

law or war.

In August 1947, the United States Counsel for War Crimes, concerned about the ethical issues raised by the Nazis? experiments, included in its verdict a section called ?Permissible Medical Experiments,? which later became known as the Nuremberg Code. It contained 10 directives. The first, the cornerstone of the code, was informed consent. In 1964, the World Medical Association drew up the Declaration of Helsinki, a set of ethical principles for the medical community regarding human experimentation and clinical research. The Declaration of Helsinki relaxed the conditions of consent. If a subject is unable to give consent, a proxy consent may be obtained from a legal guardian. The Nuremberg Code and the Declaration of Helsinki have not been incorporated directly into American law, but they are the foundation for the regulations issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services governing federally funded research in the United States.

Particularly important to research in psychology, which differs from research in other fields, is the issue of deceit and informed consent. On the one hand, deceiving research participants is seen as inappropriate by many people, inside and especially outside the field of psychology, and it goes against the first tenet of the Nuremberg Code. On the other hand, individuals aware that they are being studied can modify many psychological processes. For instance, participants who are told that their responses will be used to determine how fast people read newspapers may try to read faster than their normal speed to impress the researchers, whereas participants told that the point is to rate their interest in newspaper topics would most likely read at their normal speed. Many of the processes now known to be taking place in the brain would not be understood if deceit had been eliminated from all psychological testing. The ethical guidelines of the American Psychological Association allow deception under certain circumstances. Determining what circumstances make it permissible is the ethical problem.

In the early 1960s, Stanley Milgram, who wanted to understand how ordinary German citizens could willingly obey orders to kill innocent citizens, used deceit to conduct one of the most controversial experiments on record. Milgram?s results were unexpected and changed how people viewed the power of authority. (They are discussed in Chapter 12, ?Social Psychology.?) Ironically, in performing the experiment that obtained these important results, Milgram violated the Nuremberg Code and deceived a group of individuals for the possible benefit to any, the same justification used by the Nuremberg defendants, although at a different level. But was the use of deceit inappropriate, as critics of his experiment charge? Today, this question could be addressed by an IRB; indeed, concern over the ethics of Milgram?s research caused the rapid increase in IRBs. Along with ensuring research participants? rights and safety, IRBs have the tricky duties of assessing a study?s scientific merit, evaluating the methods to be used, and balancing the benefits to society against the risks to the participants. However, because Milgram?s results were so unexpected, an IRB reviewing a request for his experiment might not have foreseen the benefits to be gained from the work.

The focus of the alternative assay essay should be the following.

Without deception, many topics in psychology could not be studied because participants? knowledge that they are being studied will often change how they behave. In thinking
about this dilemma in psychological research, consider the risk/benefit ratio for any research.

Is deception allowable when the research might yield a very important gain, such as a cure for a particular mental illness or a way to reduce prejudice?
Can any form of deception be thought of as mild?for example, telling
participants you are studying reading comprehension when you are really studying reading speed?or is any deception, no matter how seemingly harmless, unacceptable?
Are there circumstances in which deception should be allowed? If so,
what are they?
Format and submission requirements for the alternative assignment essay

Your essay should be 1250-1500 words (approximately 2-3 typed pages). Use 1-inch margins, double-spaced and a 12-point font.

Citations and a bibliography are not required; however, any statements of fact should include references to appropriate sources. If citations and a bibliography are used, any standard formatting style (e.g., MLA or APA) may be selected.

The essay will be reviewed for plagiarism and students are expected to follow the Mizzou Student Honor Pledge (Links to an external site.).

Grading Rubric

A maximum of 14 points may be earned and points will be assigned as follows.

Masterful/Skilled Able/Developing Way-Off
Ideas, Support and Evidence Competent and well-developed thesis that represents sound and adequate understanding of the topic. (5-6pts) Mostly intelligible ideas. Thesis is weak, unclear and/or is only indirectly supported. (2-4pts) Ideas are extremely simplistic, showing signs of confusion or misunderstanding of the prompt. (0-1pts)
Structure and Organization Competent organization and paragraph structure. Ideas are linked with smooth and effective transitions. (3-4pts) Limited attempts to organize around a thesis. Paragraphs are mostly stand-alone with weak or non-evident transitions. (1-2pts) Organization, if evident at all, is confusing and disjointed. Paragraph structure is weak and transitions are missing. (0-1pts)
Mechanics and Presentation Virtually free of punctuation, spelling and capitalization errors. Appropriate format and presentation for assignment. (3-4pts) Contains several punctuation, spelling and/or capitalization errors. Several errors in formatting or formatting is inconsistent. (1-2pts) Frequent errors in spelling, punctuation and/or capitalization. No formatting is appropriate to assignment. (0pts)