What was a major ethical concern regarding Zimbardo's study?

The concern regarding the application of psychological harm to the participants is significant because Zimbardo's study, known as the Stanford prison experiment, demonstrated how quickly individuals could adopt abusive behaviors when placed in positions of power. The study involved college students who were assigned roles as guards or prisoners in a simulated prison environment, and it was meant to explore the psychological effects of perceived power.

Throughout the experiment, the 'guards' displayed increasingly aggressive and dehumanizing behavior towards the 'prisoners,' leading to severe emotional distress among the participants. The psychological harm caused to individuals in the study raised serious ethical questions about the treatment of participants in psychological research, particularly regarding the potential for long-term emotional repercussions. The lack of safeguards to protect participants from such harm exemplified a violation of ethical standards that prioritize the well-being and mental safety of research subjects.

Other concerns related to Zimbardo's study, such as participant consent or the use of deceptive methods, also carry weight but do not capture the intense and immediate psychological consequences that arose during the experiment as specifically as the issue of psychological harm. This central focus on psychological impact highlights why this aspect is recognized as a major ethical concern in research practices.