Comments on: More forbidden experiments

Question: More forbidden experiments

Nonce — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 13:06:51 -0800

Point me to the great forbidden experiments of our (or any) time!

I have read about various psychological experiments that were conducted in the past but now are considered unethical and will likely never be repeated. Examples of what I'm talking about include the Stanford Prison Experiment and the Milgram Experiment.

I also can vaguely recall an experiment involving two rival children's summer camps, or perhaps two competing teams of children in one camp, that reminded me of the Stanford Prison Experiment.

These experiments fascinate me! Are there any more like them?

I prefer psychological studies rather than medical (unless there is a strong psychological component, such as an emphasis on the placebo effect), and the study has to revolve around volunteers who gave at least a semblance of informed consent (no Nazi science, please! and no need to point me towards THE forbidden experiment). Lots of bonus points if you can link directly to the full paper.

By: Marisa Stole the Precious Thing

Marisa Stole the Precious Thing — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 13:14:33 -0800

The Little Albert experiment was pretty messed up.

A very recent experiment that brought East Germany alive for one classroom.

Here's ten more to choose from.

By: piedmont

piedmont — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 13:48:44 -0800

Isn't the Tuskegee Study the most infamous, at least within this country?

By: zamboni

zamboni — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 14:07:13 -0800

I also can vaguely recall an experiment involving two rival children's summer camps, or perhaps two competing teams of children in one camp, that reminded me of the Stanford Prison Experiment.

The Robbers' Cave Experiment?

By: Mike1024

Mike1024 — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 14:28:30 -0800

I was recently reading a book about eyewitnesses in court cases; one of the factors affecting crime victims is stress, but there is very little research on this because obviously someone who has given informed consent knows any danger is contrived.

However, the book did reference some trials done by the army where (for example) they informed soldiers during a training exercise that due to a communication error live artillery fire was approaching their position; and the soldier's radio to call it off was broken and had to be repaired. More by looking here - try the google books link for Ethical Issues in Behavioral Research. Needless to say, if you read that entire book it would probably give you lots of similar examples.

By: kpmcguire

kpmcguire — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 14:38:17 -0800

There's Jane Elliot's classroom "exercise." Not scientific, but still very interesting.

By: Nattie

Nattie — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 15:50:22 -0800

There's a great book about such experiments: Elephants on Acid: And Other Bizarre Experiments

It's quite interesting and funny.

By: amtho

amtho — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 15:51:46 -0800

Here's a Metafilter thread on language-deprivation experiments on children. Maybe a little older than you'd want, but meets the lack-of-ethics requirement. I remember learning about one of these as a child.

By: pinksoftsoap

pinksoftsoap — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 15:52:19 -0800

Scroll down to Child sexual response experiments performed by Alfred Kinsey. There's a documentary called The Children of Table 34 which address this issue.

By: a robot made out of meat

a robot made out of meat — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 16:20:27 -0800

I'll look for a citation, but there was a great medical study where they allowed heroin addicted prisoners access to as much of some narcotic as they wished (under medical supervision) with the idea of observing their use patterns. Try getting that by an IRB.

By: LobsterMitten

LobsterMitten — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 20:56:35 -0800

How Children Behave when Locked in a Refrigerator (real research from 1958, when they were trying to decide how to design escape mechanisms inside fridges to keep kids from getting locked in)

By: kalimac

kalimac — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 03:50:07 -0800

It's not a formal experiment, but I'm fascinated by the story of Poto and Cabengo.

By: Lady Li

Lady Li — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 10:02:16 -0800

The Minnesota Starvation Experiment was a study of the effects of calorie reduction on healthy subjects. It was done to assess the impact of famine, and the subjects were conscientious objectors from the war who participated in the study instead of military service.

I suspect it would be difficult to get authorization to repeat.