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The Aversion Project (1960s)

Unethical Experiment Group Presentation

By Gloria, Maybel, Azaria, Kayla

Introduction

Description

The Aversion Project was a psychological experiment in the 1960s whose aim was to explore the ‘treatment’ of homosexual military personell during the apartheid era.

It was hypothesised that exposing participants to aversion therapy (IV) would cause them to become heterosexual (DV).

Methods Used in the Aversion Project

Methods

Lab experiment

Direct observation

Physiological Recording

Electrodes

Procedure

5. After surgery, participants were provided with new birth certificates to suit their new gender and told to cut ties from family and friends

What the Aversion Project Involved (Steps)

1. Suspected homosexuals from the army were aggressively ferreted and discretely sent to military psychiatric units.

2. Participants were forced to look at explicit homosexual images and then electroshocked until it was unbearable, or they were given vomit-inducing injections. This was to create a mental association of homosexuality as repulsive and painful.

3. Those who were not affected were chemically castrated and hormonally treated.

4. Those unaffected by the shock therapy undertook genital surgery for sex change; many of which went unfinished or led to death

Data

- 0 'cures'

- psychological damage

- physical damage

- high rates of suicide

Analysis

Conclusion

Findings

The therapy was unsuccessful in curing the participants; the results did not support the hypothesis. Instead, it caused severe psychological damage and caused many to become so mentally unstable that they committed suicide.

The findings of this experiment were that therapy cannot cure homosexuality; thus, homosexuality is not a disease.

Current Ethical Guidelines

World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted

Ethical Guidelines

Withdrawal- Participants must know that they can withdraw at any time of the experiment.

Confidentiality- Participants identity can be concealed

Professional Conduct- APS (Australian Psychological Society) published guidelines for conducting research which you must adhere to at all times.

Debriefing- After the experiment the psychologists must inform the participants with the results and discuss all of the procedures

Informed consent- They have to give written consent to partake in an experiment. They need to know the aim and be aware of all the procedures involved.

Voluntary Participation- Participants cannot be forced to participate.

Deception- Participants shouldn’t be deceived of the nature of the research or any procedures.

These rules are to ensure safety of the participant and to make it ethically acceptable. They are also in place so the eperiment does not ruin the reputation of psychology.

Breaching the Code of Ethics

Experiment Explanation

Breaching Ethics

Within the experiment, participants were harmed with hopes of a specific result/outcome, the outcome of changing sexualities from homosexual to heterosexual. Participants were also presented with horrifying images relating to a sepcific idea of homosexuals triggering aversive stimuli. This removes the rights of the participants of not being physically and psychologically harmed. The way the so called ‘experiment’ was conducted resulted in using the stimuli response of the pain and imagery to force a specific response rather than observing a change in behavior when one variable was either changed or removed altogether like in a more realistic and ethical experiment.

Modified Experiment

Alternatives

Instead of forcing the participants, the experimenters could have found data about a patient and matched them with another patient of the opposite sex . They would have to share similar interests and have them be together for a long period of time to passively observe if they develop feelings.

From this it is a less harmful experiment and the participants aren’t being tortured.

However, as the whole aim of the experiment was to force change in a homosexual due to their prejudiced beliefs of that homosexuality is an illness, it cannot really be modified to fit the aim becuase the aim itself is unethical.

Instead, we can modify the topic of interest of this experiment from changing sexuality to changing bad habits such as alcoholism

This could involve voluntary particpants who are regular drinkers and admit to being alcoholics to gradually reduce alcohol consumption with assistance, and observing and reporting health benefits after collecting data.

Bibliography

Bibliography

(PDF) TheAversion Project − Psychiatric abuses in the South AfricanDefence Force during the Apartheid Era n.d., ResearchGate, viewed 25 August 2022, <https://www.researchgate.net/publication/12043387_TheAversion_Project_-_Psychiatric_abuses_in_the_South_AfricanDefence_Force_during_the_Apartheid_Era>.

Edlmann, T 2015, The lingering, unspoken pain of white youth who fought for apartheid, The Conversation, viewed 28 August 2022, <https://theconversation.com/the-lingering-unspoken-pain-of-white-youth-who-fought-for-apartheid-46218>.

Kaplan, RM 2004, ‘Treatment of homosexuality during apartheid’, BMJ, vol. 329, no. 7480, pp. 1415–1416, viewed 17 August 2022, <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC535952/>.

THE AVERSION PROJECT n.d., viewed 25 August 2022, <http://www.publichealth.uct.ac.za/sites/default/files/image_tool/images/8/The%20Aversion%20Project.pdf>.

The aVersion Project, 1982 to 2001 - Digital Transgender Archive n.d., www.digitaltransgenderarchive.net, viewed 26 August 2022, <https://www.digitaltransgenderarchive.net/files/0k225b245>.

Underwood, A 2019, Electroconvulsive therapy: its dark past and hopeful future as a treatment for depression, Vox, Vox, viewed 25 August 2022, <https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/2019/5/14/18274191/electroconvulsive-therapy-depression-treatment-controversial-history>.

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