In the Milgram study, which ethical concern was highlighted regarding participant welfare?

The highlighted ethical concern regarding participant welfare in the Milgram study pertains to the physical and psychological harm that participants experienced during the experiment. This study was designed to investigate obedience to authority, where participants were instructed to administer increasingly severe electric shocks to another individual, which, unbeknownst to them, was not actually happening.

Many participants exhibited extreme stress, anxiety, and emotional turmoil as they were torn between following the authority figure's instructions and their moral beliefs against harming another person. This raises significant ethical questions about the extent to which researchers can subject participants to discomfort, stress, or potential lasting psychological effects in the name of scientific inquiry.

Although informed consent and the ability to withdraw from the study were addressed to some degree, the actual emotional and psychological toll experienced by participants underscores a critical ethical concern about their welfare during the research process. The effectiveness of debriefing is also a relevant point, but it cannot negate the immediate impact of the manipulation experienced during the study itself.