4: Ethics Flashcards
Confederate
A helper who pretends to be a real participant in a study.
Stanley Milgram
Studied obedience to authority; posed ethical issue of risks/benefits of a study.
-participants were told that they were taking part in a study on the effects of punishment on learning and were instructed to give electric shocks to another participant each time that participant responded incorrectly on a learning task
Nuremberg Code
A set of 10 ethical principles for research written in 1947 in conjunction with the Nuremberg trials of Nazi physicians accused of war crimes against prisoners in concentration camps.
Declaration of Helsinki
An ethics code that was created by the World Medical Council in 1964
- added to the Nuremberg Code: research with human participants should be based on a written protocol that is reviewed by an independent committee
Belmont Report
A set of federal guidelines written in 1978 as a response to the abuses of the Tuskegee study that recognize three important principles in research with humans: justice, respect for persons, and beneficience, and that formed the basis for federal regulations applied to research.
Respect for Persons
One of the Belmont report principles that emphasizes the need for participants to exercise autonomy and protection for those with reduced autonomy, often through informed consent.
Justice
The importance of conducting research in a way that distributes risks and benefits fairly across different groups at the societal level.
Beneficence
Underscores the importance of maximizing the benefits of research while minimizing harms to participants and society.
Federal Policy for the Protection of Human Subjects
A set of laws based on the Belmont Report that apply to research conducted, supported, or regulated by the federal government.
- institutional review board (IRB)
- distinguish research that poses three levels of risk (exempt, expedited, greater than minimal
Institutional Review Board
A committee that is responsible for reviewing research protocols for potential ethical problems necessitated for universities, hospitals, and other institutions that recieve support from the federal government.
- must consist of at least five people with varying backgrounds, including members of different professions, scientists and nonscientists, men and women, and at least one person not otherwise affiliated with the institution
Exempt research
Lowest level of risk. Exempt from regular, continuous review once approved. Research on:
-the effectiveness of normal educational activities,
- the use of standard psychological measures and surveys of a nonsensitive nature that are administered in a way that maintains confidentiality
- existing data from public sources
Expedited Research
Higher risk than exempt; research reviewed by the IRB that is not anonymous and/or may involve potentially stigmatizing information, or invasive or uncomfortable procedures, but exposes participants to risks that are no greater than minimal risk (risks encountered by healthy people in daily life or during routine physical or psychological examinations).
Greater than Minimal Risk Research
Research that poses greater than minimal risk to participants and must be reviewed by the full board of IRB members.
APA Ethics Code
Stands for the APA’s Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct. It was first published in 1953 and includes about 150 specific ethical standards that psychologists and their students are expected to follow.
