Ethics in Conditioning Research 201

Ethics in Conditioning Research

Stephanie Hendrix, Stephanie Adamowicz, Renee Lemieux
Psychology/635
October 12, 2015
Professor Susan Leonard

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Ethic in Conditioning Research
Pavlov's experimentation on conditioning conveyed a lot of knowledge and
understanding into a process that was once secretive. Through Pavlov's experiments with his
dogs, and understanding about unconditioned responses through the unconditioned stimulus was
brought to light. Pavlov showed that the dogs who do not learn to salivate in the presence of food
could learn to salivate at something neutral, like the sound of a bell.
However, the sound of a bell brought a wealth of information about learning and
conditioning, to which Pavlov wanted to branch over and apply to humans. Pavlov set up
experiments with children in which he would present the children with food. One child strapped
to a chair and force-fed cookies while another implanted surgically with a device to collect his
saliva. The experiments if done today would violate ethical standards. This paper is going to
review the experiment done on children, cover what violation of ethical standards would have
occurred, and provide an alternative method to avoid the ethical violation.
Overview of Experiment
Pavlov's idea of conditioned reflex came from his experiment with his dogs in which
some dogs did not learn. Pavlov observed that children did not salivate whenever they saw food.
However, this was extremely difficult for him to understand because the reflex of the hard wire
implanted into the child. Pavlov provided the child with a bowl of food and then measured the
child's salivary secretions (McLeod, 2007).

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From this point forward Pavlov discovered that an object or event in which a child
learned to associate food would trigger the same response. Pavlov later learned that children and
associated food with his lab assistant who consisted of learned behavior (McLeod, 2007).
Moreover, this was measured by the children at the beginning of the experiment not knowing the
lab assistant would bring food, and at one point they began associating the assistant with food
after repetition. With this being said, their behavior changed which is a result of learning.
Ethical Violation
Pavlov's experiment on conditioning children was a way to show that not just dogs could
have conditioned reflexes. During these experiments some children had been operated on to
place a device in their cheek to collect their saliva as they ate. In another experiment a child was
strapped into a contraption that restricted his movement that only allowed him to move his
mouth. These experiments have the same ethical issue that today would prohibit these
experiments which is principle E of the ethical code of psychologists (2014). This states that any
psychiatrist or psychologist conducting research should respect the person's dignity and privacy
(Ethical principles of psychologist and code of conduct, 2014). Pavlov's experiment did not
comply with is principle in either experiment, because the children were faced with undignified
testing procedures. The fact that one child had a contraption surgically implanted on the side of
his face was completely degrading. While the other child was forced to eat cookies while
strapped onto a table and while another machine squeezed his hand. This would not be tolerated
in research today as a result of the code of conduct that the American Psychological Association.

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Alternative Approach
When dealing with ethical concerns, one must think of the person's dignity and privacy.
In this case not respecting the dignity and privacy of the participant is a violation in which one
must find an alternative way to meet the ethical code of conduct by today's standards. It may
have been best if Pavlov just stuck with experiments on animals rather than human subjects at
the time. Pavlov did his best when it came down to the ethical concerns and approaches of
dealing with his experiments.
In today's world, however, there are ethical ways in which could become an alternative
approach to Pavlov's experiment. One alternative could have been that Pavlov uses other means
of understanding classical conditioning through the use of models, rats, mice, or other easily
available organisms rather than continuing to the use of humans. Another alternative is the
approach of not altering through surgical or physical means the participant or organism to which
would cause physical altercations, thus allowing him to examine perhaps and research without
the need for surgery or force.
Pavlov seemed to use ethical standards that would meet current standards in the wellbeing and aspect of pain and suffering of the animals. In present-day research, attention is
brought to mind alternative methods on animal research. Thus, Russell et al. (1959) describes
when possible, living animals are replaced by the nonsentient material such as tissue cultures and
computer models. Also, mammals are replaced by animals of less well-developed nervous
systems; whole animals by decerebrate ones, or by isolated organ systems (Kopaladze, 2000).

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Pavlovs experiments on dogs brought to light more understanding on conditioning, and
in this case it was conditioning dogs to salivate at the sound of a bell. When he tested this on
children, there were ethical violations that would have had this study stopped before it started
because of the American Psychological Association (APA) Code of Ethics. This code of ethics
was created to protect the researcher and the participants. A main principle of the ethics code is
to do no harm to the participants. Harm can be psychological, emotional, physical, etc. and what
he did to the children could be in violation of this even if he didnt realize it could be harmful. Of
course, past studies like Pavlovs are a reason for the Code of Ethics. Now if there is a possible
ethics violation, the researcher can do things to fix the ethical issue. There are alternatives to
studies that researchers can take to ensure the participants are safe from harm. There also needs
to be informed consent with any study, especially dealing with young children. Yes, Pavlov
taught us how conditioning work and that animals and humans can be conditioned.
Unfortunately, his study with children would not make it today because of the ethical violations
but could be fixed with alternative approaches to the study.

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References
Ethical principles of psychologists and code of conduct. (2014). Retrieved from
http://www.apa.org/ethics/code/index.aspx#
Kopaladze, R. A. (2000). Ivan P. Pavlov's view on vivisection. Integrative Physiological
and Behavioral Science, 35(4), 266. Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com/docview/201312993?accountid=35812
McLeod, S. A. (2007). Pavlov's Dogs. Retrieved from
http://www.simplypsychology.org/pavlov.html
m.simplypsychology.org
Revaz.A.kopaladze