Unit 731

This week in class we discussed the psychology research ethics and went over a few unethical experiments. The basic ethics of psychology are consent, deception, debriefing, withdrawal, confidentiality, and protection. Without all or at least one of these, the experiment is pretty unethical. I found the experiments we learned about in class very disturbing but very interesting so I decided to go out and find unethical experiment of my own to research. There was this website I found that actually showed the top ten unethical experiments, however, we went over all of them in class so I looked at the top ten evil human experiments. This is what I found…

During the second Sino-Japanese War and World War II, there was this chemical and biological warfare and development unit called Unit 731. Unit 731 was created by the Imperial Japanese Army and was responsible for some of Japan’s worst war crimes. The commander, Shiro Ishii preformed most of the horrific experiments on Chinese and Russian prisoners. The basics of Unit 731 was to do tests on the prisoners to see how they could deal with the same issue if it came up later with their soldiers. This was, in a way, a created case study. Shiro Ishii would take the limbs of the prisoners, amputate, and sew them back on in a different spot on their bodies. Another test he put the prisoners through was freezing parts of their bodies and then thawing them in hopes of creating gangrene so they know the result if it is left untreated. They used prisoners to see how a grenades and flamethrowers would affect a person if thrown at them. The last major test was to study the effects of untreated diseases like syphilis, gonorrhea, plague, and others. After injecting, sometimes they would cut open the victim while he was awake to see what the diseases did to the inside of the human body.

Obviously all of the tests done and the whole unit in general was highly unethical and unnecessary. Unfortunately, Shiro Ishii was never convicted for the horrible experiments he inflicted on the prisoners, but he died at the age of 67 from throat cancer.

More about Unit 731

Shiro Ishii

Bodies disposed after Until 731

Vivisection of a pregnant girl after
being raped

Vivisection of a man infected with plague.

Vivisection is to preform operations on live people or animals. 

There's a First Blog for Everything

I just want to start with saying that I am very excited to learn about psychology, the first reading assigned was very interesting to me and I can’t wait to learn more! I’m expecting AP Psychology to be very difficult on the workload and pace, but I know it will be very interesting at the same time. I’m really excited to learn about what goes on inside of our brains to cause us to act and feel certain ways. I am someone who sits back and watches the reactions of people around me. It is interesting to see how people change what they are saying or how they are reacting to fit with what other people are saying and how other people are reacting. I’m expecting this class to be more difficult than my other classes this semester but I am ready for the challenge!

The prologue introduced where psychology started, and all of people along the way that helped the subject grow into what it is today. It also explained the three main levels of psychology. I learned that each level alone is helpful, but not enough. To fully understand, you must know all three. There are many different subfields of psychology, which makes it a perfect job choice for many people.

Chapter one focused on how psychologists think and the questions they ask when testing the theory. Psychologists use the scientific method to test their theories. First they have their idea that turns into a hypothesis, which requires experimentation and results, providing a conclusion. The best way to conduct an experiment is with a double-blind procedure, when neither the researchers nor participants know who is getting treatment and who isn’t. If the researchers know who is getting treatment, they may see effects that aren’t occurring because they are so excited and want so badly for this new drug to work.

There was a question at the beginning of the chapter about first-born children and if they are more likely to be successful. I always wondered this because I have a younger brother and just in school, I seem to be the more successful one. I found an interview with Dr. Kevin Leman the author of First Born Advantage where he tells about how the order in which children are born affects their outcome in life. Enjoy!