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Social Psychology as a Science 427

It is also clear that his efforts achieved a high degree of success: Sev-
eral weeks after the experiment, 84 percent of the participants re-
ported that they were glad to have taken part in the study; 15 percent
reported neutral feelings; and only 1 percent stated that they were
sorry they had participated. (We should view these findings with
caution, however. The discussion of cognitive dissonance in Chapter
5 has taught us that people sometimes justify their behavior by
changing their previously held attitudes.) More convincing evidence
comes from a follow-up study: One year after the experimental pro-
gram was completed, a university psychiatrist interviewed a random
sample of the participants and found no evidence of injurious effects;
rather, the typical response was that their participation was instruc-
tive and enriching. 18

Our Debt to Participants In this chapter, I have discussed the
advantages of the experimental method and have shown how com-
plex and challenging it is to design a laboratory experiment in so-
cial psychology. In addition, I have shared some of the excitement I
feel in overcoming difficulties and discussed ways of ensuring the
well-being, as well as the learning, of the participants in our exper-
iments. The knowledge, information, and insights into human so-
cial behavior described in the first eight chapters of this book are
based on the techniques and procedures discussed in this chapter.
They are also based on the cooperation of tens of thousands of in-
dividuals who have allowed us to study their behavior in laborato-
ries all over the world. We owe them a lot. Ultimately, our
understanding of human beings in all their complexity rests on our
ingenuity in developing techniques for studying behavior that are
well controlled and influential without violating the essential dig-
nity of those individuals who contribute to our understanding by
serving as experimental participants.

What If Our Discoveries Are Misused?

There is one additional ethical consideration: the moral responsibil-
ity of the scientist for what he or she discovers. Throughout this
book, I have been dealing with some powerful antecedents of per-
suasion. This was particularly true in Chapter 5, where I discussed