Biological Psychology Test

Question 1

What are ethics?

Answer 1

moral principles and codes of behaviour that apply to all psychologists regardless of which field they work in

Question 2

Role of the Ethics Committee

Answer 2

To ensure the well-being of their participants, the ethics committee must send a proposal of their plans to the HREC (Human Research Ethics Committee) or their university

Question 3

What will the HREC do?

Answer 3

The HREC will study the proposal and indicate any changes that must be made or additional procedures that are required before approving the study to proceed

Question 4

Ethical guidelines: protection from harm- physiological and psychological

Answer 4

All research must protect the participant’s rights to ensure that they do not suffer physical or psychological harm, e.g. (Monster Study)

Question 5

Ethical guidelines: informed consent

Answer 5

● Participants must be informed about the nature of the research, any
benefits, any risks and what they are expected to do
● Usually in written form
● For children and participants with a disability consent must be given by the guardian
● Participants need to be informed of their rights during informed consent

Question 6

Ethical guidelines- withdrawal rights

Answer 6

●Participants have the right to leave the research at any time - even after the experiment has started, with no negative consequences.
●Can also ask to have their data removed from the experiment after it has finished.
●Withdrawal rights must be explained to them before beginning the study

Question 7

Ethical guidelines- deception

Answer 7

●Deception is the provision of false or incomplete information to misleading research participants.
●Only permitted if the participants knew the real purpose behind the research they would behave differently.
●Must make sure participants don’t suffer distress
●In any experiment involving deception, debriefing
is needed at the end of the study

Question 8

Ethical guidelines- confidentiality

Answer 8

● Data must be securely stored and properly disposed of
● Participants must not be able to be identified in the reporting of the data unless they have specifically given permission. Researchers will often assign a number to each participant and refer to them by that number rather than their name
● How confidentiality is to be carried out should be described to the participants at the start of the study
● Refers to what is done with the information that is collected – storage, disposal and access.

Question 9

Ethical guidelines- privacy

Answer 9

●Privacy – the right of protection from unwanted intrusion into one’s affairs.
●This refers to the type of information that is collected – psychologists shouldn’t collect any information that is not necessary for the study

Question 10

Ethical guidelines– voluntary participation

Answer 10

●Participants can not be pressured to participate in
any way – their participation must be voluntary
●Participants have the right to refuse to be part of the study
●Can not use threats (e.g. you won’t pass this course if you do not participate) or positive incentives like money. Can’t trick them into participating

Question 11

Ethical guidelines- debriefing

Answer 11

●Occurs at the end of the study
●Participants are told the results and conclusion of the study
●If deception was involved, debriefing involves telling the participants the true purpose of the study and why deception was necessary. This includes telling them whether they took the real substance or a placebo (a fake substance that looks like the real thing)
●Participants are informed of the availability of counselling and how to obtain it if they feel they need it.

Question 12

Use of animals in research

Answer 12

●Animals are used in research today but guidelines for protecting them are much stricter than they used to be. Animals must be protected and cared for and any pain they experience must be minimised.
●An advantage of using animals in research is that their behaviour is more natural and unbiased than humans
●The limitation is that it is difficult to generalise (apply the results) to humans because animals and humans are very different

Question 13

The 3 R’s

Answer 13

The Three Rs principle was launched in the early 1960s by two English biologists, Russel and Burch in their book “The Principle of Humane Experimental Technique”. The 3 Rs stand for Replacement, Reduction and Refinement. Replacement alternatives refer to methods that avoid or replace the use of animals.

Question 14

Replacement

Answer 14

alternative approaches that do not use animals (e.g. computer models, cell and tissue culture).

Question 15

Reduction

Answer 15

involve the smallest number of animals necessary to achieve the study’s aims. Also can include sharing animal tissues with other researchers when animals have already been used

Question 16

Refinement

Answer 16

methods that alleviate or minimise potential pain and distress, and enhance animal wellbeing (e.g. use of pain relief, avoiding adverse effects, increasing competency of researchers and animal carers, and enhancement of housing conditions.

Question 17

Qualitative Research (Inquiry Questions)

Answer 17

●Qualitative research questions differ from quantitative research questions. Qualitative research questions seek to explore or describe phenomena, so they are often more general and vaguely worded.
●Instead of asking how one variable causes changes in another, we are instead trying to understand the experiences, understandings, and meanings that people have about the concepts in our research question.
(e.g. How do preschoolers in a play-based program handle transitions between activities?)

Question 18

Quantitative Research (Hypothesis)

Answer 18

Quantitative research aims to investigate how one variable directly impacts another variable. The variables are measured using data that can be numerical.
A hypothesis is a clear statement predicting how changes in the IV will affect the value of the DV
○ It is a prediction about the direct interaction between the IV and the DV and the population from which the sample is drawn (the population is the group of people the research wants to apply the results to).
○ That is, in the presence of different levels of the IV, does the DV increase or decrease or stay the same?
Example: It was hypothesised that for adult drivers in Perth, an increase in blood alcohol level will cause a decrease in reaction speed

Question 19

Directional Hypothesis

Answer 19

● A directional hypothesis states which way you think the results are going to go
● Forexampleinanexperimentalstudywemightsay “Participants who have been deprived of sleep for 24 hours will have more cold symptoms in the following week after exposure to a virus than participants who have not been sleeping deprived”
● The hypothesis compares the two groups/conditions and states which one will ….have more/less, be quicker/slower, etc.

Question 20

Non-directional hypothesis

Answer 20

● A non-directional hypothesis simply states that there will be a difference between the two groups/ conditions but doesn’t say which will be greater/smaller, quicker/slower etc.
● Using our example above we would say “There will be a difference between the number of cold symptoms experienced in the following week after exposure to a virus for those participants who have been sleep deprived for 24 hours compared with those who have not been sleep deprived for 24 hours.”