2.4.1 Ethics Flashcards
Why do we need to consider ethics in psychology research?
We study living beings with feelings and emotions you could cause them harm
Living beings are sentient beings, what does this mean?
They have feelings and emotions you could cause them harm
Where did modern psychologists concern for protection of participants come from?
Human experiments uncovered from Nuremberg trials following world war 2
In Britain who produce ethical guidelines for conducting research?
British psychological society
Why is it important bps guidelines are updated regularly?
Societies ethics and moral views change
What does confidentiality involve?
Any data participants provide should be kept private unless they give full consent to make it public
What does deception involve?
Lying, misleading or withholding information from participants
Should participants ever be deceived?
Not without strong scientific justification
Why are some participants deceived in research?
Studies would not achieve valid results due to demand characteristics of participants knew everything
participants should not experience what?
harm - physical, psychological
in what way might participants experience psychological harm?
stress, anxiety and humiliation
participants should leave psychological studies in…
…the same condition they arrived
the risk of harm should be….
…no more than what can reasonably expected in everyday life
there should not be a risk to the participant’s…
privacy, values, beliefs, relationships or status
what can observations be an invasion of?
privacy
what are researchers obliged to obtain?
participants full informed consent
what does full informed consent involve the participants knowing?
the aim of the research and their right to withdraw
when is consent an especially big issue?
when working with vulnerable individuals
who are vulnerable individuals?
those unable to give knowledgeable consent themselves, e.g.
children
those with disabilities
brain damage
give an example of a study with ethical issues:
being sane in insane places
blue eyes/brown eyes
bobo doll experiment
Stanford experiment
what was the aim of the being sane in insane places study?
to test the hypothesis that psychiatrists can not reliably tell the difference between sane and insane people
what sort of experiment was being sane in insane places?
field
what was the variables in the being insane places study?
IV - made up symptoms
DV - psychiatrists admission and diagnosis of patients
what did the procedure of the being sane in insane places involve?
sane people trying to gain admission to psychiatric wards claiming they were hearing voices
after admitted they stopped symptoms and attempted to get out by convincing staff they were sane
what did patients have to carry out whilst being in the psychiatric ward in the being sane in insane places study?
observation of behaviour of staff toward patients
what were some ethical issues of the being sane in insane places study?
deception - false names
right to withdraw - had to get out on their own
confidentiality - occupations published
what did the blue eyes brown eyes study show?
impact racism has on education
what did the blue eyes brown eyes study involve?
blue eyed children given best place in classroom - extra break time, food, front seats
brown eyed children forced to sit at the back, punished
Elliot told the kids blue eyes were associated with intelligence
what happened at the end of the first day of the blue eyes brown eyes study?
blue eyed kids viciously put down brown eyed kids, the usually successful brown eyed children struggled
what did Elliot do on the second day of the blue eyes brown eyes study? what did the children do at the end?
reversed the exercise
children hugged and cried they learnt what racism felt like
what were ethical issues of the blue eyes brown eyes study?
no consent - not informed of purpose
children unable to give consent
no right to withdraw
psychological harm - insecurity about eye colour
who were the participants in the bobo doll experiment?
36 boys, 36 girls, aged 3-6
how were the children in the bobo doll experiment matched?
observations and rating children’s levels of aggression
matched to group with similar aggression levels
what did the procedure of the bobo doll experiment involve?
aggressive role model shown to 24 kids (attacked the bobo doll) , non aggressive (played quietly ignoring doll) shown to 24, and no model to 24
after children where shown the model what happened next in the bobo doll experiment?
children put in room with toys for mild aggression arousal as they began to play - told the toys were for other kids
child put in room with aggressive and non aggressive toys
what happened to the children who observed the aggressive model (bobo doll)?
they played more aggressively with the toys
what was an ethical issue of the bobo doll experiment?
protection from harm - long term implications e.g. future aggressive behaviour
what was the aim of the Stanford prison experiment?
to see how readily people would conform to roles of guard and prisoner
what did Zimbardo want to find out about in the Stanford prison experiment?
if brutality among guards was due to personalities or the prison environment
what was the methodology of the Stanford prison experiment? (location, participants, sampling)
converted basement into prison
advertised for students to play prisons and guards
24 male participants paid $15 per day
random allocation to role of guard and prisoner
what did the procedure of the Stanford prison experiment involve?
guards worked in sets of 3 dressed realistically, prisoners treated like real criminals, guards had to do whatever was needed to maintain order
what were the guards doing within hours of the Stanford prison experiment beginning?
harassing prisoners, behaving brutally, prisoners dehumanised
what were ethical issues of the Stanford prison experiment?
right to withdraw - payment may make them feel obliged to remain in the study
harm - prisoners harassed and dehumanised
