Psychology will gain a poor reputation if it harms participants,
and fewer people will be willing to volunteer.
Milgram’s study of obedience because
it caused participants mental distress.
This is because people believed that
they were hurting and consequently killed someone.
Participants can be debriefed after the experiment.
Milgram ‘de-hoaxed’ participants,
assuring them that they had brought no harm to anyone and there was no need to feel guilty.
This reduced psychological harm
but allowed Milgram to use deception
to reduce demand characteristics during the study.