5 Unethical Experiments Done in the Name of Science

Weird Worm Podcast - Ep57 - 5 Unethical Experiments [ 7:17 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Image sources:

– Robbers Cave Experiments:
http://www.spring.org.uk/images/dive.jpg
– Monster study:
http://www.highestfive.com/wp-content/uploads/wendell-johnson-monster-study.jpg
– Little Albert :
http://www.bdrum.com/p130grp5/images/image014.jpg
– MK-Ultra :
http://www.usakpedia.com/photos/oyIQbZiEslMH4xyEB1gp.jpg
– Oklahoma City Sonic Boom test :
http://www.cmp.caltech.edu/refael/league/sonic_boom.jpg

Sources:

http://www.spring.org.uk/2007/09/war-peace-and-role-of-power-in-sherifs.php

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/08/06/health/main566882.shtml

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Albert_experiment

http://www.null-hypothesis.co.uk/science/item/cia_psychology_experiment_mkultra_lsd

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oklahoma_City_sonic_boom_tests

Nobody will mind these, right?

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Comments

Emily G.

“In order to accomplish the task of scaring a child, Watson took an eleven year old baby” — an eleven-year-old baby? Where on earth was such a thing found?
Also, “Why exactly this needed to be proofed” — isn't that “proved”?
Emily G.

Also, in your item about Oklahoma City Sonic Boom test, it should be “a city's population”, not “a cities population”.

Good article,but I suggest you get a proofreader next time.
euphoriajoca

Emily, thanks for corrections. We will definitely hire proofreader, hope soon.
vk

actually the little albert conditioning was done only on a rat, the other items such as rabbits and cotton wool were simply control items to see how albert responded to them before they tried to induce a fear response with the rat.
http://www.fashionjuicystore.com juicy couture

Probably there was much more unethical experiments in other non US countries as well. Great article…

Doc

yeah because everyone knows that the United States is a civilized country…no torture or injustice in America, no siree bob!

Jayne

there should be a space after 'article,' before the 'but'.
Jayne

Upsetting.
Jayne

There should be a space after 'article,' before 'but'. Get a life.
Bob

Actually there's a baby that doesn't age. ._.
http://abcnews.go.com/2020/Health/story?id=7880…
dex

it says eleven months baby
http://twitter.com/moderndaygeisha Madam Ori

There was no mention either of the Tuskegee Experiment where impoverished black men in AL were offered free health care, when instead they received syphilis. The scientists wanted to find out what the end results of living with syphilis looked like. Never telling these men, they went home and gave it to their lovers and wives.

I'm sure there are plenty more experiments that should have made this list as well.

As for the technical and typographical errors, it definitely hurts this site's credibility big time.
Wendalkane23

Psychology is not science.
A.B

i thought they wanted to recondition little albert but the parents wouldn't allow it…
Age 14

This is some ridiculous experiments…

DR

He didn’t decondition him I think because Little Albert moved away or something like that. And someone did figure out what happened to Little Albert– he died when he was 6 of something seemingly unrelated
Darcey

Little Albert experiment:
You don’t have to “decondition.” It occurs naturally. Once the unconditioned stimulus: loud noise and conditioned: white rat (and then anything fuzzy and white), stop occurring together, the association will fade. And it was just for the purpose of scaring him. It was to prove that behaviors can be conditioned. And it certainly would not psychologically scar the child. Do you remember every time you were frightened by a loud noise as a baby?!
This article is riddled with holes, and mainly just ludicrous.

Darcey

wasn’t* just for the purpose of scaring him
A Bipolar Guy

People are not lab rats. Phobias in humans, once formed, do NOT fade away. My daughter (now sixteen) was frightened by a rooster (just once) when she was 2. She is still so afraid of large birds that she will not go near a cage with them at a zoo or pet shop. Not even a cage with a glass window so they cannot possibly come in contact with her. Small birds are less frightening to her, so she can manage her nervousness around them.
Phobias can be cured by de-conditioning.
A Bipolar Guy

People are not lab rats. Phobias in humans, once formed, do NOT fade away. My daughter (now sixteen) was frightened by a rooster (just once) when she was 2. She is still so afraid of large birds that she will not go near a cage with them at a zoo or pet shop. Not even a cage with a glass window so they cannot possibly come in contact with her. Small birds are less frightening to her, so she can manage her nervousness around them.
Phobias can be cured by de-conditioning.

MrMac

Not really. It was a disease that he contracted, not brain trauma. Just saying,

Alicia H_1994

psychology is considered a science, if you studied it you should realise that. It’s science of the brain.
And I read that “little albert died of a heart attack when he was in his 80′s.