controversy 2 : ethical costs of conducting research

Question 1

(guidelines) what are the guidelines?

Answer 1

BPS code of ethics and conduct, 4 ethical principles
1. respect : respect and dignity for all participants should be shown, includes privacy and confidentiality and valid consent, deception, right to withdraw
2. competence : high standards of professional work
3. responsibility : clients, public and psychology, protect from risk of harm
4. integrity : honest and accurate, record accuracy
avoids dispute, protects against legal action
vary form country to country, Canadians take a different approach

Question 2

(guidelines) what is the PREC?

Answer 2

Psychology Research Ethics Committee
1. research can continue
2. research can continue with ethical amendments
3. research cannot take place

Question 3

(guidelines) what are the issues with guidelines?

Answer 3

1. guidelines are subjective
2. risk to participants may not be visible until study is under way
3. guidelines can limit and restrict research
4. guidelines make researchers more passive
   balancing scientific value and risks to participants is a difficult process

Question 4

(society/individuals) what is the double obligation dilemma?

Answer 4

1. the psychologists has an obligation to the participants
2. psychologist has an obligation to seek and share knowledge to better the human race
   controversies arise when there is a conflict between these groups of people

Question 5

(individuals) what are individual participants?

Answer 5

Gross 2003
the cost to participants could be trauma, confidentiality or privacy, deception, right to withdraw, fully informed consent
participants are in valuable and exploitable positions
e.g. Milgram, little Albert, Stanford prison experiment

Question 6

(individuals) what are the ethical issues of Milgram?

Answer 6

psychological damage : Milgram defended himself as he couldn’t predict such extreme results
debriefing : some participants had to wait up to a year to be debriefed

Question 7

(individuals) what are the ethical issues of W+R?

Answer 7

creating fear : they knew they were causing distress, they felt that what Albert experienced was normal
more psychological harm : risk of harm made the experience worse, thumb in mouth for comfort but they stopped this, made sure he was really scared
lasting effects : they intended to counter-condition him to remove his fear, but this wasn’t done

Question 8

(individuals) what are the ethical issues of Bowlby?

Answer 8

confidentiality and privacy : report gives first names and initials of last name and detail of their lives, unclear if participants and their families knew it would be published
valid consent : research was published 7 years after being collected, so it’s unclear if participants knew it would be published at all, harder to obtain consent 7 years later

Question 9

(society) what are benefits to society?

Answer 9

some research may not go ahead because of ethical issues, but then we don’t advance the knowledge in this area
Aronson 1992, ‘psychologists have an ethical responsibility to society as a whole’
could be argued that guidelines are too rigid and some research can be justified due to the benefit to society

Question 10

(society) why was Milgram influential?

Answer 10

showed human tendency to obey commands by an authority figure

Question 11

(society) why was W+R influential?

Answer 11

wanted to show that classical conditioning can work on humans

Question 12

(society) why was Bowlby influential?

Answer 12

showed the effects of maternal deprivation on juvenile delinquency

Question 13

(negative conc.) what is socially sensitive research?

Answer 13

a term that refers to any psychological research that has ethical implications that go beyond the research situation and affect people in the wider society

Question 14

(negative conc.) what are the areas that cause social sensitivity?

Answer 14

1. culture and ethnicity : understanding lifestyles and learn the ways they understand, believe, regard as relevant and would act upon
   sex and gender : traits associated with biological sex, sexual behaviour
   distress to participants : vulnerable, distressed or unresolved conflicts, possible harm

Question 15

(negative conc.) what is the issue with potentially negative consequences for society?

Answer 15

ethical guidelines focus on protecting the well being of participants, but research can affect society
Sieber and Stanley (1988)
Brown (1997)
Blumstein + Schwartz (1983), researched couples together for more than 10 years, 94% of men reported cheating, adds to homophobic views
Tilhonen (2015) found evidence of criminal behaviour being genetic
Mandel (1998) argues Milgram’s findings had an ‘obedience alibi’ for holocaust perpetrators

Question 16

(negative conc.) what is the justification for socially sensitive research?

Answer 16

socially sensitive research is still important to carry out as the potential benefits weigh out issues
sexual behaviour in all sexualities to create safe sex campaigns
understanding causes of crime