Ethics and Animal Ethics

Question 1

List the 4 Ethical Principles.

Answer 1

1) Integrity
2) Respect
3) Responsibility
4) Competence

Question 2

Define ‘integrity’.

Answer 2

The honesty and accuracy of the researcher in dealing with others whereby professional boundaries much be maintained.

Question 3

Define ‘respect’.

Answer 3

The researcher must be willing to explain the ethics of a study whilst carrying out research that maintains the dignity of others.

Question 4

Define ‘responsibility’.

Answer 4

A researcher should maintain professional boundaries and take care of others doing them no harm. They must also assess harm in a debrief and take steps to put an issues right.

Question 5

Define ‘competence’.

Answer 5

A researcher must no claim to be competent in studying something when they aren’t. All research should be carried out to the best of the researchers ability within the field of their study based on up-to-date information.

Question 6

List the 8 Ethical Guidelines.

Answer 6

1) Right to withdraw
2) Informed consent
3) Deception
4) Protection from harm
5) Competence
6) Confidentiality
7) Privacy
8) Debrief

Question 7

What are the 5 most important Ethical Guidelines?

Answer 7

1) Informed consent
2) Right to withdraw
3) Debrief
4) Protection from harm
5) Deception

Question 8

Why are ethical guidelines used in psychology?

Answer 8

• Topics studied have social impacts due to their mostly sensitive nature
• It protects the researcher against scrutiny
• Protects the ppts from too much harm whereby it is greater than the benefit of research to society
• Greater trust of ppts in the researcher allowing larger number of ppts

Question 9

How might ethical guidelines restrict psychology?

Answer 9

• Socially sensitive topics are often worthwhile researching due to their importance however ethical guidelines can restrict and sometimes prevent an experiment altogether
• Following guidelines loses value and application of research

Question 10

What justifies going against ethical guidelines?

Answer 10

• When the cost to the ppt is lower than the benefit to society in a cost-benefit analysis
• The cost of the ppt is characterised as greater regardless when they experience long-term harm or death

Question 11

Identify 3 advantages to adhering to ethical guidelines.

Answer 11

1) Informed consent protects the researcher from complaints
2) If ppts are pressured then valid data will not be gathered
3) Competence increases the trust ppts place in researchers allowing them to experiment with more freedom and bigger samples

Question 12

Identify 3 disadvantages to adhering to ethical guidelines.

Answer 12

1) Demand characteristics from adhering to not deceiving ppts and gaining full informed consent
2) The benefit to society may be huge but the cost to the ppts is too great to carry out the experiment
3) Following the guidelines too much may result in useless and invalid data

Question 13

Identify 3 issues with informed consent in research.

Answer 13

1) No chance to deceive with informed consent so ppts will likely show DCs which will bias results
2) Limits research opportunities in certain topics such as obedience
3) Some groups are vulnerable and may see it as an obligation (e.g. prisoners as part of their sentence)

Question 14

State 3 solutions to issues with informed consent in research.

Answer 14

1) Presumptive consent as an alternative in which others give consent on behalf of the ppts
2) Prior general consent as an alternative which is telling the ppts that they may be misinformed but not when
3) Debriefing ppts at the end if they have not yet consented allowing them to withdraw if they want

Question 15

Identify 3 issues with debriefing in research.

Answer 15

1) May reduce data gathered if people want to withdraw
2) Not always possible to carry out a debrief
3) Might not be thorough enough

Question 16

State 3 solutions to issues with debriefing in research.

Answer 16

1) Should not take place if it will cause more harm to the ppt
2) There is evidence of debriefs being thorough (e.g. Milgram 1963 who provided follow up health checks)
3) Gathering the ppts data allows the researcher to contact the ppt to ensure a full debrief is given if not available at the time

Question 17

Identify 2 issues with protection from harm in research.

Answer 17

1) Can limit research opportunities that may contribute to society
2) Prevents the study of socially sensitive topics that may benefit more than not doing it

Question 18

State 3 solutions to issues with protection from harm in research.

Answer 18

1) Gain informed consent from the ppts
2) Debrief the ppts with follow up checks on their health
3) Pilot study to assess the cost to ppts and whether they may be short or long term

Question 19

Identify 2 issues with deception in research.

Answer 19

1) Ppts may show DCs if they aren’t deceived of the aim which renders the research pointless
2) Can’t study some areas of behaviour without deception (e.g. obedience)

Question 20

State 3 solutions to issues with deception in research.

Answer 20

1) Gaining prior general consent (telling ppts they will be misinformed but not when)
2) Intentional deception should lead to revealing the true aim at the earliest point often in a debrief
3) Only use if necessary and in moderation

Question 21

Identify 2 issues with the right to withdraw in research.

Answer 21

1) Can limit data if people decide to withdraw causing lower generalisability
2) Limits research opportunities if topics are likely to cause withdrawal

Question 22

State 4 solutions to issues with the right to withdraw in research.

Answer 22

1) Gain informed consent to reduce likelihood
2) Cause no harm to ppts to make them want to withdraw
3) Pre-assess ppts to select those most likely to carry out the experiment
4) Use a larger sample than is necessary to account for the loss

Question 23

Identify the 6 steps used to evaluate the ethics of a classic study.

Answer 23

1) Guidelines followed
2) Guidelines broken
3) How does this affect the research?
4) Ways of making more ethical
5) How does this affect the research?
6) Cost-benefit analysis

Question 24

Identify 2 guidelines followed in Baddeley’s (1966) study and how they affected research.

Answer 24

1) Informed consent from the 72 volunteers from the ‘Applied Psychology Research Unit’ at Cambridge Uni - Low validity due to ppts being psychology students and so having knowledge of experiments and how they are carried out which may have led to DCs
2) Protection from harm due to nothing psychologically distressing occurring - High generalisability as less likely ppts will withdraw from the study gaining high sample

Question 25

Identify a guideline broken in Baddeley’s (1966) study and how they affected research.

Answer 25

1) Deception as there was a surprise re-test of the word lists that ppts weren’t informed about - High validity as it represents memory in real life in how information will be tested on accuracy without the person knowing

Question 26

Suggest a way to improve the ethics of Baddeley’s (1966) study and how this may affect research.

Answer 26

1) Gain prior general consent by telling ppts they will be misinformed but not when - therefore any psychological distress they may have felt during the surprise re-test will have been minimised due to the knowledge that deception was going to occur at some point

Question 27

Make a judgement on the overall justification of ethics in Baddeley’s (1966) study using cost-benefit analysis.

Answer 27

• There was no cost to ppts
• It benefited society with advice to students in that they should revise with mindmaps and revision cards that make semantic links due to LTM encoding being semantic instead of acoustic when re-reading notes as that is STM encoding
• Therefore the lack of ethical guidelines broken in the study justifies its research into memory

Question 28

Identify 2 guidelines followed in Sherif’s (1954) study and how they affected research.

Answer 28

1) Presumptive consent - from parents - high validity as the boys were unaware of study so behaviour was natural
2) Debrief - with superordinate goal removing prejudice - high credibility as it showed that prejudice can be removed

Question 29

Identify 2 guidelines broken in Sherif’s (1954) study and how they affected research.

Answer 29

1) Deception - the 22 11-year-old boys were unaware they were in a study - high validity due to their behaviour being natural from a lack of DCs
2) Protection from harm - boys got into verbal and physical fights - low generalisability as two boys withdrew in the first week

Question 30

Suggest 2 ways to improve the ethics of Sherif’s (1954) study and how this may affect research.

Answer 30

1) Reduce harm to ppts by implementing boundaries such as no physical aggression otherwise they leave the camp - Low validity as only ,mild verbal aggression won’t truly reflect the severity of prejudice in real life
2) Gain informed consent from the boys - Low validity due to their knowledge of the study and its aims and so may show DCs being purposely prejudice or nice

Question 31

Make a judgement on the overall justification of ethics in Sherif’s (1954) study using cost-benefit analysis.

Answer 31

• The cost to the 22 11-year-old boys was minimal as the verbal aggression didn’t affect them much and the physical fights were stopped as soon as they started
• The benefit to society was large due to producing a solution to prejudice of two groups working towards a superordinate goal
• Therefore the ethics of this study was justified due to little harm caused with large benefits to society

Question 32

Identify a guideline followed in Raine’s (1997) study and how they affected research.

Answer 32

1) Debriefing occurred for ppts in what the experiment would entail giving them the right to withdraw afterwards - High generalisability as it would limit the amount of people wanting to withdraw

Question 33

Identify 3 guidelines broken in Raine’s (1997) study and how they affected research.

Answer 33

1) Presumptive consent was gained for murderer’s who weren’t seen as fit to give it themselves by their lawyers instead of the murderer’s themselves - Low validity as the ppts may feel obliged to participate and so their brain activity may not reflect true life if they are not comfortable
2) Right to withdraw compromised as ppts pleading NGRI agreed to have the PET scan as part of their court case - High validity as they would have been more willing to cooperate in the hopes it would reduce their sentence meaning their brain activity would have been ore normal
3) Protection from harm as ppts pleading NGRI were told to stop taking their medication 2 weeks prior to the study - High validity as this ensured their brain activity was not being influenced by foreign chemicals

Question 34

Suggest 2 ways to improve the ethics of Raine’s (1997) study and how this may affect research.

Answer 34

1) Protection from harm using an fMRI scan instead of a PET scan due to their intrusive nature of an injection that is avoided with the measure of brain activity by blood flow - High reliability as they produce similar objective, quantitative images that can be analysed by multiple researchers and are scientific
2) Presumptive consent should be avoided as the ppts themselves will not have consented which may cause bias in the results if they are not fully willing - Low generalisability as sample size would have decreased

Question 35

Make a judgement on the overall justification of ethics in Raine’s (1997) study using cost-benefit analysis.

Answer 35

• Cost was minimal as no ppt suffered major health problems due to the lack of medication and the injection of a glucose tracker for the PET scan last a couple of seconds
• Benefit to society was large due to showing that murderers pleading NGRI have differences in their brains to non-murderers which may have caused them to act the way they did leading to reduced sentences due to lack of full accountability
• Therefore the experiment was justified due to no long-term effects on the ppts with larger benefits to society

Question 36

Identify 2 guidelines followed in Watson and Rayner’s (1920) study and how they affected research.

Answer 36

1) Right to withdraw as Albert’s mother withdrew him from the experiment before its end - Low validity as this meant that they were unable to see if the phobia could be unconditioned and so lacks credibility in suggesting it can
2) Protection from harm due to Albert being chosen as he wasn’t easily frightened - High validity as his lack of fear was conditioned out of him when in the presence of a rat showing the success of the study

Question 37

Identify 2 guidelines broken in Watson and Rayner’s (1920) study and how they affected research.

Answer 37

1) Protection from harm as they cause psychological distress to Albert when he jumped every time a loud noise was heard and crying in response to being shown a rat - High inter-rater reliability as 2 researchers were observing his behaviour and agreed on the cause
2) Debrief as they were unable to uncondition Albert’s fear due to his mom withdrawing him too early due to lack of understanding - Low predictive validity as there is no evidence for the researchers to base their prediction of a fear being unconditioned

Question 38

Suggest 2 ways to improve the ethics of Watson and Rayner’s (1920) study and how this may affect research.

Answer 38

1) Detailed informed consent due to the assumption that the first consent was not that well informed because Albert’s mother withdrew him from the study too early - High reliability as there would have been limited distractions to the full procedure of the study and no chance of variables from the environment affecting phobia
2) Debriefing could have been achievable if they contacted the mother and explained the need to uncondition the fear - High validity as it may have meant that the fear in Albert could still have been unconditioned making assumptions more credible

Question 39

Make a judgement on the overall justification of ethics in Watson and Rayner’s (1920) study using cost-benefit analysis.

Answer 39

• Cost to Albert was quite big due to the distress caused and the phobia of rats created that was then generalised to other fluffy objects
• Benefit to society was huge due to the principles of classical conditioning demonstrating that if a fear can be conditioned it must be able to be unconditioned in the same way
• Therefore the experiment is overall justified due to Albert’s phobia being distinguished a month later and treatments for phobias such as systematic desensitisation being formed

Question 40

Identify 2 guidelines followed in Rosenhan’s (1973) study and how they affected research.

Answer 40

1) Presumptive consent gained from the owners of each of the 12 institutions - High generalisability as it allowed a wide variety of institutions to be represented
2) Protection from harm of the pseudo-patients as lawyers were on hand to remove any record of them having mental disorders as well as them being taught how not to swallow the medication - High reliability as they all followed the set instructions given due to the trust that there would be no repercussions for them

Question 41

Identify 2 guidelines broken in Rosenhan’s (1973) study and how they affected research.

Answer 41

1) Deception as the staff of the institutions were unaware they were being studied - High ecological validity as they were studied in an environment natural to them so their behaviour would reflect that of real life
2) Informed consent from the staff due to their deception - High validity as their lack of knowledge would make their behaviour natural and free from DCs

Question 42

Suggest a way to improve the ethics of Rosenhan’s (1973) study and how this may affect research.

Answer 42

1) Deception removed by gaining informed consent from all staff members so that their right to withdraw is also not compromised - Low validity as if the staff new they were being assessed they would not behave naturally and show DCs of much nicer attitudes towards patients

Question 43

Make a judgement on the overall justification of ethics in Rosenhan’s (1973) study using cost-benefit analysis.

Answer 43

• Cost to real patients who didn’t receive proper amount of treatment as a result of the pseudo-patients and real patients were unable to be admitted
• Benefit is large as it highlighted the poor conditions of institutions and the poor treatment of patients by staff with the overuse of medication
• Therefore it is justified as conditions have massively improved today with revisions of the DSM and ICD in diagnosing mental disorders to avoid misdiagnosis

Question 44

Why do psychologists use animals in research?

Answer 44

To study behaviour in a controlled environment on an animal that won’t show DCs and to avoid major harm to humans.

Question 45

List the 8 Animal Ethical Guidelines.

Answer 45

1) Housing and care
2) Anesthesia and euthanasia
3) Ethics and legislation
4) Number of animals used
5) Wild animals
6) Suppliers
7) Isolation and crowding
8) Reward and deprivation

Question 46

What are the 5 most important Animal Ethical Guidelines?

Answer 46

1) Legislation
2) Housing and care
3) Pain and distress
4) Isolation and crowding
5) Number of animals

Question 47

Describe the Animal Ethic of ‘legislation’.

Answer 47

• Home Office Regulations state that researchers must have a project license by them that has specific conditions
• Failure to comply with the laws protecting animals can lead to prosecution

Question 48

Describe the Animal Ethic of ‘housing and care’.

Answer 48

• Animals should be kept in the appropriate environment to what they are used to
• They should be fed the appropriate food in the correct moderation
• If researchers are planning deprivation studies they should consider the normal diet and feeding patterns of the species

Question 49

Describe the Animal Ethic of ‘pain and distress’.

Answer 49

• If the research involves administering pain to an animal the Home Office decides the extremity and regulation of the pain
• The researcher cannot cause suffering
• Surgery on animals can only be conducted by trained professionals
• Animals should be given time to recover and if they cannot, they should be euthanised humanely

Question 50

Describe the Animal Ethic of ‘isolation and crowding’.

Answer 50

• The researcher should understand the level of sociability of the species
• If they are social animals they should be housed with at least one other animal of its kind
• If they are not social animals they should be isolated appropriately
• Disturbance should be kept to a minimum as to not interfere with breeding cycles

Question 51

Describe the Animal Ethic of ‘number of animals’.

Answer 51

• The Home Office will regulate the number of animals used

- The number should be kept to a minimum with the correct species used for the type of research

Question 52

What is used to reduce the risk of ethical issues to animals?

Answer 52

• Bateson’s cube of a cost benefit analysis

- The 3 R’s of replacement, reduction, refinement

Question 53

Give an example of animal research from 3 topics.

Answer 53

Bio - Wagner’s (1979) study about castrated rats in which she injected them with testosterone to assess aggression
Learning - Pavlov (1927) used dogs to condition a response of salivation to hearing the sound of a bell
Clinical - Lodge (1989) found that glutamate activity at NMDA receptors produces psychotic reactions in rats

Question 54

Explain how ‘evolution’ suggests that we SHOULD and SHOULD NOT use animals in psychological research.

Answer 54

SHOULD - Animals are very similar to humans due to evolving to match the same environments
SHOULD NOT - Humans are further along than animals due to their evolutionary discontinuity meaning there will be differences we can’t compare

Question 55

Explain how ‘biology’ suggests that we SHOULD and SHOULD NOT use animals in psychological research.

Answer 55

SHOULD - Animals share similar biology to humans, such as a rat sharing 90% of its DNA with humans as well as being the animal with the most similar CNS
SHOULD NOT - Animals have qualitative differences in their brains to humans as they cannot demonstrate the same advanced cognition or social intelligence due to differing behaviours and norms

Question 56

Explain how ‘anthropomorphism and extrapolation’ suggests that we SHOULD and SHOULD NOT use animals in psychological research.

Answer 56

SHOULD - Anthropomorphism is the tendency to believe animals behave the same as humans and so their actions can be generalised
SHOULD NOT - Extrapolation suggests there is no real evidence to support animals thinking and reasoning the same way as humans

Question 57

Explain how ‘control’ suggests that we SHOULD and SHOULD NOT use animals in psychological research.

Answer 57

SHOULD - Animals are much easier to control than humans allowing a better causal relationship to be established with a lack of DCs due to their inability to guess the aim of an experiment
SHOULD NOT - Conditions in which animals are tested under are highly controlled and artificial which would lack ecological validity of the animals behaviour representing human behaviour in real life settings that are familiar to them

Question 58

Explain how ‘practicality’ suggests that we SHOULD and SHOULD NOT use animals in psychological research.

Answer 58

SHOULD - Animals are small and easy to control with short reproductive cycles meaning larger samples are available allowing studies to be repeated easier and quicker
SHOULD NOT - It can get expensive to go through the process of gaining a license from the Home Office and setting up the environment to house animals appropriately whilst ensuring limited suffering