Students sign up to be subjects in a psychology experiment. When they arrive, they are told that the interviews are running late and are taken to a waiting room. The experimenters then stage a theft of a valuable object left in the waiting room. Some subjects are left alone with the thief, and others are in pairs. These are the treatments being compared. Will the subjects report the theft?
The students had agreed to take part in an unspecified study, and the true nature of the experiment is explained to them afterward. Is this study ethical? Explain your answer.