Contemporary debates Flashcards
1
Q
Why might neuroscience be considered to be ethical?
A
- Treat Criminal Behaviour
- Understand conciousness
- Enhance neurological function
- improve marketing techniques
2
Q
Why might Neuroscience be considered ethical: Understand conciousness
A
Understand Conciousness; For centuries have tried to determine what conciousness is. Neuroscientists Francis Crick and Christof Koch (1998) think they have a solution.
They propose that the claustrum, a thin sheet of neurons found in the centre of the brain, is the seat of conciousness. They believe the claustrum acts like the conductor of an orchestra, combining information from distinct brain regions
-Koubeissi et al. 2014 learned from electrically stimulting an electrode near the claustrum the women didn’t respond and didn’t respond to visual or auditory commands, she had no recollection of it having happened.
- This knowledge could help us to make decisions about patients in a vegetative state. The decision to end their life could be based on the knowledge of whether they remain concious or not.
HOWEVER
- Just because a patient is in a persistent vegetative state, does that mean we have the moral right to withdraw care?
3
Q
Why might Neuroscience be considered ethical; Treat Criminal Behaviour
A
- Part of the role of any criminal justice system is to rehabilitate offenders in order to prevent further criminal behaviour. One possible solution lies in Neuroscience. Some people believe that criminal behaviour stems from abnormal levels of certain neurotransmitters. If this is true then drugs could be used to ‘treat’ criminals.
HOWEVER - what is ignored here is the social context of crime offenders. Some neuroscientists question whether it is acceptable to include mandatory neurological interventions for prisoners. Martha Farah (2004) argues that if if courts use neurological interventions that is an infringement on individual freedom, it is perhaps unethical to force medication upon a criminal.
4
Q
Why might Neuroscience be considered unethical; Enhancing neurological function
A
- Neuroscience could be used to improve the abilities of normal individuals such as improved performance on complex academic tasks.
- Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (TDCS) involves passing a small electric current across specific regions in the brain.
- Cohen Kadosh et al. 2012 found that TDCS leads to improvements in problem solving and mathematical, language, memory and attention capabilities. This could be used for exam preparation.
HOWEVER: - Cohen kadosh et al warn of the ethical limitations to TDCS technology.
- There are no training or licensing rules for practitioners. This could lead to poorly qualified clinicians at best administering ineffective treatments or at worst causing brain damage to patients.
- although cheap, TDCS apparatus would not be available to everyone, it wouldn’t be fair to allow some students to benefit from this treatment.
- there could furthermore be unknown implications when performed on the developing brain
- Should neurological enhancing drugs be treating like sport enhancing drugs.
5
Q
The ethics of neuroscience: Improving marketing techniques
A
- a recent application of neuroscience has been in the world of advertising and marketing - neuromarketing when interviewed by market researchers we may not give our true opinions because we want to appear in a ‘good light’.
- The Social Desirability can be avoided using eye tracking equipment which provides objective evidence of what really catches a persons eyes when shopping or watching advertisements. EEG also be used to analyses neurological responses.
HOWEVER: - this appliance is to marketing techniques is not new, furthermore the use of loyalty and analysing the online browsing records of individuals have helped make product marketing much more effective.
- Wilson et al. 2008 warned of the commercial integration of neuromarketing research allowing advertisers to deliver individualised messages where our free will is potentially manipulated by brands, thus our ability to make informed decisions would be removed.
6
Q
The ethics of neuroscience: conclusion
A
The advances of neuroscience have given us insight into the understanding of consciousness, it has enabled us to understand and treat criminal behaviour, when applied correctly, these advances can enhance society, it is not the necessarily at fault of the neuroscientists that the data they have produced can be used in unanticipated ways, that is withheld within the entities that are able to use the workings of neuroscience to exploit people and create unjust societal predicaments whether that be on a commercial scale or within the confines of choosing whether somebody lives or dies without their consent.
-The implications of certain advances in neuroscience is not unethical in itself, it’s the way the data and findings produced are manipulated and enacted within society that has the capability to be menacing, and thus regulations must be enacted to prevent the possibility of this happening.
7
Q
Contemporary debates: The mother should be the primary caregiver: FEEDING
A
- The NHS recommends that, if possible, infants are breastfed for at least the first six months of their lives.
- Breastfeeding, they report offers the healthiest start for the infants because it protects the infant from numerous infections and diseases.
- The NHS also claims that it can build a wall of strong physical and emotional bond between mother baby, important in subsequent emotional development
- This feeding argument obviously means that the infants mother is the individual who is going to need to be available to feed the infant, possibly every two hours. This argument alone means that it is practical, and essential to the infants survival, that the mother be the primary care giver.
HOWEVER: - in the 1950s behaviourists promoted the view that infants were classically conditioned to associate their mother with a sense of pleasure; food (unconditioned stimulus) creates pleasure (unconditioned response); mother is associated with feeding and hence becomes a conditioned stimulus producing a conditioned response
- a number of studies suggest however that food does not equal love. Schaffer and emerson (1964) found that infants had stronger attachments to those who had stronger interactions with them.
8
Q
Contemporary Debates: The mother as the primary caregiver; FREUDS VIEWS ON THE IMPORTANCE OF THE MOTHER
A
- Sigmund Freud believed that mother - infant dyad was of the greatest importance in the initial oral stage of psychosexual development.
- Infants depend upon their mother to satsify the needs of their libido. Overindulgence or frustration leads to emotional problems later in life, such as neediness, or pessimism
- In 1938 Freud wrote that the infants relationship ith the mother was ‘unique without parallel, laid down unilaterally for a whole lifetime as the first and strongest love object’
- In this Freud is claiming that a mother’s love acts as a prototype for every relationship the infant will go on to have in their lifetime.
HOWEVER:
It is important to consider the historical context of Freud’s ideas. At the time he was writing, women didn’t even have the right to vote. His ideas may simply reflect the norms and values that were held in society in the early half of the 20th century - Freud did not recognise the importance of the role of the father.
- For example in 1930, Freud claimed ‘i cannot think of any need in childhood as strong as the need for a fathers protection.
9
Q
The mother should be the primary caregiver of an infant: Deprivation damage
A
- Bowlby’s classic evidence demomstrated that early and prolonged seperation between a child and its mother can have lasting emotional effects.
- Most especially, that such a separation is likely to lead to an affectionless character, someone who lacks the ability to feel normal affection, shame or sense of responsibility
- Bowlby was influenced by evolutionary theory which proposed the attachment to one caregiver has special importance for survival. He called this one special emotional bond monotropy (leaning towards one person)
HOWEVER: - although Bowlby used the term maternal in the maternal deprivation hypothesis, he did not mean this was exclusively the childs mother
- Bowlby himself presented research that some children how no ill effects from early separation (bowlby et al 1956)
10
Q
The mother as the primary caregiver of a child: Mothers not fathers
A
- It is possible that women are best as primary care givers because most men are just not psychologically equipped to form this kind of intense emotional relationship.
- This may be due to biological or social factors.
- in terms of biology the female hormone oestrogen underlies caring behaviour so that women, generally are more oriented towards emotional relationship than men.
- There is evidence that men are indeed less sensitive to infant cues than mothers (e.g Heermann et al 1994)
HOWEVER: - Frodi et al (1978) showed videotapes of infants crying and found no differences in the biological responses of men and women
- There is plenty of evidence to suggest that men are quite capable of forming close attachments with their children, as is the case in single (male) parent families. The view that men are not emotional is outdated.
- Gettler et al (2011) suggest that a fathers testosterone level drops in order to help a man respond more sensitively to his childrens needs.
11
Q
Using conditioning techniques to control the behaviour of children: at home
A
- Supernanny Jo Frost used the ‘naughty step’ to correct inappropriate behaviour. When a child is naughty, their mother may shout.
- This kind of attention even though it is unpleasant, is positively reinforcing. The way to deal with this is to resist any kind of reinforcement.
- ‘supernanny team’ techniques such as the naughty step work best when parents make a fuss of wat theirr child does right i.e. giving positive reinforcement at appropriate times.
HOWEVER: - Techniques such as the naughty step have been frequently criticised by childcare experts.
- For example, Morris (2014) claims that the naughty step can have long term emotional effects.
- Children do not have the same ability as adults to reflect on their own behaviour and verbalise the feelings from things like the naughty step experience.
- Without empathy and help with their feelings, the naughty step may ultimately have a negative effect on development.
12
Q
Using conditioning techniques to control the behaviour of children: in school
A
- Education has been a major user of Operant Conditioning techniques to control the behaviour of children.
- Gold stars, merits and even house points are positive reinforcers, the aim of which is obviously to reward good behaviour and performance.
- Praise is also reinforcing.
- McAllister et al 1969 looked at innappropriate talking in high school english classes and found that the increased use of ‘teacher praise’ and ‘teacher disapproval’ led to a decrease in ‘innapropriate talking’. In a control condition there was no decrease.
HOWEVER: - Some educational approaches, such as Montessori education, believe that the rewards and punishments advocated by conditioning techniques are actually harmful to a child’s development and that they interfere with a child’s internal drive to learn.
- Lepper et al (1973) conducted research that supports this criticism.
- Nursery children were asked to draw some nice pictures.
- When children were promised a reward they spent half as much time drawing as children who were not promised a reward , suggesting their own motivation had been destroyed by the expectation of extrinsic rewards.
13
Q
Using conditioning techniques to control the behaviour of children: PEERS
A
- A child’s peers are children who are similar in age and development.
- we may start off being influenced by our parents, but when we move to nursery and later to school, the influence of our peer group starts to grow.
- In order to reduce the negative sanctions of a peer group (such as exclusion and criticism) and increase positive sanctions (such as praise and acceptance), children imitate the behaviours and actions of their peers. We are conditioned by our peers
HOWEVER: - Peer group influences may not be desirable ones.
- for example, Bricker et al (2006) found that children as young as 10 were more likely to try smoking if they found members of their peer group smoked.
- This demonstrates that a child’s need for positive reinforcement from their peer group is not always a healthy option.
14
Q
Using conditioning techniques to control the behaviour of children: Vulnerable groups of children
A
- Psychologists use conditioning techniques with various psychological and medical conditions.
- e.g. Lovaas (1987) developed Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) to increase the frequency and quality of social interactions for children with autistic spectrum disorder.
- target behaviours might include language difficulties or problems with self care. One on one therapy shapes the behaviour of the child; initially the child is rewarded for most behaviours but over time the rewards are reduced and are only issued if the behaviour is close to the ideal target behaviour.
HOWEVER: - Critics of the Lovaas method believe that the technique has many problems.
- First, the treatment is mainly supported by Lovaas 1987 research and this contained many methological flaws including not randomly allocating children to be part of the control or experimental group.
- Any conclusions drawn may be invalid.
- Second, Lovaas indicates the treatment is intensive, approximately 40 hours per week. Apart from being costly Anderson et al (1987) found that the average of 20 hours was enough contact to allow for a significant improvement.
- As conditioning techniques only treat symptoms, some believe the undesirable behaviour my re-emerge once the reinforcement has been removed.
15
Q
The reliability of eyewitness testimony (including children): Post event information
A
- In loftus and Palmer’s classic (1974) research, the information suggested after the event became incorporated into the original memory.
- Loftus and Zanni (1975) also demonstrated the effects of such Post event information.
- They found that 7% of those asked ‘did you see a broken headlight?’ reported seeing one, whereas 17% of those asked ‘Did you see the broken headlight?’ reported seeing a headlight.
- The post event information was the word ‘a’ or ‘the’. This research clearly demonstrates that even subtle changes in the wording used in questions can influence the recollection of the participant.
- This suggests that whenever a witness is questioned, either by the police, lawyers, friends, etc. their recollection of the actual event may be distorted
HOWEVER: - not all research suggests that post event information is misleading.
- Loftus (1976) proved that key details may be more resistant to distortion from post event information than previously suggested.
