The primary ethical hazard of research with human subjects derives from researchers' use of participants for purposes that are not participants' own. While ethical standards in biomedical research, such as clinical drug trials, require that the foreseeable benefits to participants outweigh the risks, psychosocial researchers have neglected to consider the ethically relevant benefits of research interactions. This paper examines how assumptions about risk/benefit ratios have shaped qualitative social science research and institutional review practices. Drawing on two ethically important moments from research interviews, the author argues that ignoring the potential good of the research encounter obscures the complex reality of research interactions, impedes thoughtful ethical decision-making in the interview situation, and precludes a comprehensive ethical accounting of psychosocial research.