Psychology has a long and colorful history that includes a number of unethical experiments. These studies have shocked the world with their disregard for human life and their questionable research methods.

Despite the ethical guidelines put in place to prevent these kinds of experiments from happening again, these studies serve as a reminder of the dangers of psychological research that is not guided by ethical principles. Here are the top 10 unethical psychological studies that shocked the world.

The Milgram Experiment

The Milgram experiment is one of the most famous psychological studies ever conducted.

The study took place in the early 1960s, and it aimed to measure the willingness of participants to obey an authority figure who instructed them to perform actions that conflicted with their personal moral code.

The experiment was conducted by Stanley Milgram, who recruited participants to perform a task that involved giving electric shocks to a person in the next room who was pretending to be in pain.

The shocks were not real, but the participants did not know this. Despite the apparent suffering of the person in the next room, most participants continued to administer the electric shocks when instructed to do so by the authority figure conducting the study.

The Milgram experiment has been widely criticized for its lack of ethical considerations.

Critics argue that the participants were subjected to psychological harm and that the study raises serious questions about the use of deception in psychological research.

The Stanford Prison Experiment

The Stanford Prison Experiment, conducted in 1971, aimed to investigate the psychological effects of power and authority on human behavior.

The study randomly assigned volunteer students to be either guards or prisoners in a simulated prison environment.

The study quickly spiraled out of control, and the participants began to exhibit disturbing behavior. The guards became increasingly abusive, and the prisoners began to show signs of psychological distress.

The study was eventually abandoned when the psychological effects on the participants became too severe to ignore.

The Stanford Prison Experiment has been widely criticized for its lack of ethical considerations. Critics argue that the study was unnecessarily harmful to its participants and that it violated their basic human rights.

The Monster Study

The Monster Study was a psychological experiment conducted in the 1930s that aimed to investigate the causes of stuttering in children. The study included 22 orphaned children who were divided into two groups.

One group was subjected to negative feedback and criticism when they stuttered, while the other group received positive feedback and praise.

The results of the study showed that the children who received negative feedback became worse at speaking, while the other group showed improvement.

The Monster Study has been widely criticized for its unethical treatment of the participants. Critics argue that the study caused psychological harm to the children and that it violated their basic human rights.

The Little Albert Experiment

The Little Albert experiment was a study conducted in the 1920s that aimed to investigate whether it was possible to condition a child to be afraid of a neutral object. The study involved a young boy named Albert, who was shown a white rat.

The researchers then made a loud noise every time the rat appeared, causing the child to become afraid of the rat.

The study has been widely criticized for its lack of ethical considerations. Critics argue that the study caused psychological harm to the child and that it violated his basic human rights.

The Harlow Monkey Experiments

The Harlow Monkey Experiments were a series of studies conducted in the 1950s and 1960s that aimed to investigate the effects of maternal separation and social isolation on infant monkeys.

The study included separating infant monkeys from their mothers and placing them in isolation or with a surrogate mother made of either cloth or wire.

The results of the study showed that the infant monkeys who were placed with the cloth surrogate mothers spent more time engaged in social behavior than the monkeys placed with the wire surrogate mothers.

Critics argue that the study was unnecessarily cruel to the infant monkeys and that it violated their basic animal rights.

The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment

The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment was a study conducted in the 1930s that aimed to investigate the effects of untreated syphilis in African American men.

The study recruited hundreds of men who had syphilis and promised to provide them with free medical care.

However, the study did not provide the men with the medical care they needed, and many of them went untreated for years.

The study was eventually exposed in the 1970s, and it sparked widespread outrage and criticism for its unethical treatment of its participants.

The Rosenhan Experiment

The Rosenhan Experiment was a study conducted in the 1970s that aimed to investigate the reliability of psychiatric diagnosis.

The study involved the recruitment of eight participants who were instructed to pretend to have symptoms of mental illness and seek admission to psychiatric hospitals.

All eight participants were admitted to the psychiatric hospitals and were diagnosed with mental illness. The study sparked widespread criticism for its lack of ethical considerations and for the psychological harm it caused to the participants.

The Milgram Obedience Study Variation

The Milgram Obedience Study Variation is a variation of the original Milgram experiment that was conducted in the 1970s.

The study was designed to investigate whether individuals would be more likely to obey an authority figure who was physically present than one who was only present over the phone.

The results of the study showed that participants were more likely to obey the authority figure who was present in the room with them.

Critics argue that the study was unnecessarily harmful to its participants and that it violated their basic human rights.

The Asch Conformity Experiment

The Asch Conformity Experiment was a study conducted in the 1950s that aimed to investigate the effects of group pressure on individual decision-making.

The study involved participants who were asked to make judgments about the length of lines on a screen.

The participants were then subjected to group pressure to conform to the incorrect judgments of the other participants.

The study has been widely criticized for its lack of ethical considerations and for the psychological harm it caused to the participants.

The Hardesty Experiments

The Hardesty Experiments were a series of studies conducted in the 1940s that aimed to investigate the effects of high altitude on human physiology.

The study involved strapping participants into a pressure chamber and increasing the altitude to simulate conditions at high altitude.

The results of the studies showed that the participants experienced a number of physiological symptoms, including dizziness, nausea, and loss of consciousness.

Critics argue that the studies were unnecessarily harmful to the participants and that they violated their basic human rights.