Ethical considerations Flashcards
What is ethical considerations about?
Whether research should always follow the ethical guidelines (consent, right to withdraw, protection from harm, etc.) or if it is sometimes ok to break these guidelines to collect findings which are more valid or useful
How does Milgram relate to ethical considerations?
psychological harm caused to participants who believed they were inflicting shocks, participants were deceived about the purpose of the task BUT were given a thorough debrief to ensure they were not harmed
How does Levine relate to relate to ethical considerations?
participants were deceived into believing that the confederate really had a hurt leg or was blind
How does Loftus and Palmer relate to relate to ethical considerations?
used smokescreen questions to disguise the aim of the experiment but did protect participants from harm by using staged car crashes rather than real ones
What are the strengths of psychological research being ethical?
Psychologists are likely to get other participants for future research if they believe they will be protected and treated in a respectful way
It avoids participants leaving the study in a worse state than they started (protects their wellbeing)
Makes it possible to replicate the research again to check the results are consistent (as permission would be given by university ethics boards)
What are the weaknesses of psychological research being ethical?
If research has to be ethical, it can limit the type of research that can be carried out/how much we can learn about behaviour
It can lead to invalid results if participants know the aims of the research and show demand characteristics
Can lead to biased samples if participants are allowed to withdraw from research
