Ethics and Animal Ethics Flashcards
1
Q
Four Ethical Principles
A
- ) Respect
- ) Responsibility
- ) Integrity
- ) Competence
2
Q
Codes of Conduct
A
- ) BPS Code of Ethics and Conduct
2. ) Code of Human Research Ethics
3
Q
Ethical Principle: Respect
A
The researcher must be willing to explain the ethics of a study whilst carrying out research that maintains the dignity of others.
=Right to Withdraw/Avoiding Deception
4
Q
Ethical Principle: Responsibility
A
A researcher should maintain professional boundaries and take care of others doing them no harm. They must also access harm in the debrief and take steps to put issues right.
=Privacy/Protecting People from Harm
5
Q
Ethical Principle: Integrity
A
The honesty and accuracy of the researcher in dealing with others whereby professional boundaries much be maintained.
=Consent/Debrief
6
Q
Ethical Principle: Competence
A
A researcher must not claim to be competent in studying something when they aren’t. All research should be carried out to the best of the researcher’s ability within the field of their study based on up-to-date information.
=Confidentaility/Minimising Harm/Safeguarding
7
Q
Eight Ethical Guideline
A
- ) Informed Consent
- ) Right to Withdraw
- ) Debrief
- ) Protection from Harm
- ) Deception
- 6.) Confidentiality
- 7.) Privacy
8
Q
Why do we Need Ethical Guidelines
A
- To avoid psychological harm to ppts as humans have feelings and can experience pain. Needs to be considered.
- Protect the rights of participants (Children/Institutionalized) and when in dot consult
- Pressured ppts may not produce valid data so putting them at ease and requiring confidentiality means they are fully co-operating
- If consent is given, psychologists protect themselves
- Competence means psychologists can be trusted, ppts can, therefore, be more trusting and more studies can be done
9
Q
Ethical Guidelines Restricting
A
- Socially sensitive topics are often worthwhile researching due to their importance however ethical guidelines can restrict and sometimes prevent
- Following guidelines loses value and application of research as DCs can have an impact
10
Q
Justification for Breaking Guidelines
A
- When the cost to the ppt is lower than the benefit to society after doing a cost-benefit analysis
- The cost of the ppt is characterised as greater especially when they experience long-term harm or death
11
Q
Advantages of Following Ethical Guidelines
A
+Informed consent protects the researcher from consequences and complaints
+If ppts are pressured the valid data will not be gathered
+Competence increases the trust ppts place in researchers, allowing them to experiment more freely and with bigger samples
12
Q
Disadvantages of Following Ethical Guidelines
A
- ) Demand Characteristics: Won’t be valid as they will be aware through gaining informed consent.
- ) The benefit to Society: Huge benefit but the cost is too great to ppts so won’t be signed off. Mannucci: Found that this (Deception) was only a small issue when asking people about ethics in psychology. Double obligation Dilemma: greater benefit more harm caused
- )Following guidelines results in invalid and useless data
- ) Risks of Research: Risk of No greater than what is experienced in real life. Risk assessment before about during and after risks. Normalising unhelpful behaviours
13
Q
Issues with Informed Consent
A
- ) No deception means biased results as DCs more likely
- ) Limiting Research areas (Obedience and Prejudice)
- )Vulnerable groups may feel obligated or those unable to provide may be forced through presumptive consent (Prisoners as part of their sentence/Family of mental health patients)
14
Q
Solutions to the Issues of Informed Consent
A
- )Presumptive Consent as an alternative n which others give consent on behalf of ppts
- ) Prior to general consent as an alternative which is telling that they be misinformed but not when
- ) Debriefing ppts at the end if they have not yet consented allowing them to withdraw if they want
15
Q
Issues with Debrief
A
- )Reduce data if ppts withdraw
- )Can’t always carry out debrief (Watson and Raynor)
- )Not through enough
16
Q
Solutions to Debrief Issues
A
- )Don’t conduct if they will cause more harm
- )Debriefs can be through (Milgram: Provided follow up health checks)
- ) Gathering ppts personal data means they be contacted at a later date
17
Q
Issues with Protection from Harm
A
- ) Limit research opportunities into topics that may contribute to society
- ) Stops study of socially sensitive topics that may benefit more than not doing it
18
Q
Solutions to Protection from Harm Issues
A
- ) Informed Consent
- ) Debriefs with follow up health checks
- ) Pilot study to access the cost to ppts and where they may be short or long term
19
Q
Issues with Deception
A
- ) Ppts may show DCs if they aren’t deceived of the aim with makes the research useless
- )Can’t study some areas of behaviour without deception (Obedience)
20
Q
Solutions to Deception Issues
A
- ) Gaining prior general consent (telling them that they may be misinformed but not when)
- ) Intentional deception should lead to revealing the true aim at the earlier point usually during the debrief
- ) Only use if necessary and in moderation
21
Q
Issues with RTW
A
- ) Limit data if people decide to withdraw causing lower generalisability
- ) Limits research opportunities if topics are likely to cause withdrawal
22
Q
Solutions to RTW Issues
A
- ) Gain informed consent to reduce the likelihood
- ) Cause no harm to ppts that would make them want to withdraw
- ) Pre-assess ppts to select those most likely to carry out the experiment
- ) Use a larger sample than is necessary to account for the loss
23
Q
Evaluation of Classic Studies
A
- Guidelines followed
- Guidelines are broken
- The impact of this on the Research
- How does this affect the research
- Cost-Benefit Analysis
24
Q
Sherif: Guidelines Followed and Broken
A
+Presumptive Consent: Obtained from parents leading to high V as they weren’t aware the study was taking place
+Protection from Harm: Did get involved when psychical fights broke out
+Right to Withdraw: Two boys left the study so capable of leaving but reduced generalisability
-Deception: 22 11-year-old boys were lied to and unaware of the study. Natural behaviours, no DCs
-Protection from Harm: Verbal and physical fights
25
Sherif: Improvements and Justification
-Reduce the harm by implementing boundaries like no physical agg or you have to leave (More like real life). Reduces V as low and mild and don't reflect real life P
-Gain informed consent from the boys. Low V as they're knowledge of the aim and may present DCs being purposely prejudiced or by being nice
=Cost to the boys were minimal as phy agg was stopped and verbal agg isn't as harmful
= High benefit to society by providing a way to reduce P 9Supordinat goals)
=Justified due to little harm and large benefit to society
26
Baddeley: Guidelines Followed and Broken
+Informed Consent obtained from 72 at the APRU which results - Low v as psychology students who knew of his experiments leading to DCs
+PtH: Nothing distressing took place. High G as won't withdraw
-Deception: Surprise re-test that they didn't know about. High V as it represents memory in real life in how the information will be tested on accuracy without the person knowing
27
Baddeley: Improvements and Justification
-Gain prior general consent by telling ppts they will be misinformed but not when which would have limited psychological distress that may felt during the surprise re-test would be minimized
=No cost to ppts
=Benefits to Society. Semantic links instead of acoustic for students as LTM encodes semantically
=Lack of guidelines broken in the study justifies research into memory
28
Watson and Rayner: Guidelines Followed and Broken
+RtW: Was able to withdraw Little Albert from the experiment - LV as this meant that they were unable to see if the phobia could be unconditioned and so lacks cred in suggesting it can
+PfH: LA being chosen as he wasn't easily frightened - high V as his lack of fear was conditioned out of him when in the presence of a rat showing the success of the study
-PfH: Psychological distress to LA when he jumped every time a loud noise was heard and crying response to being shown a rat - High Inter-rater R as 2 researchers were observing his behaviour and agreed on the cause
-Debrief: Unable to condition LA fear due to his mom withdrawing him too early due to lack of understanding - Low predictive V as there is no evidence for the researchers to base their prediction of fear being unconditioned
29
Watson and Rayner: Improvements and Justification
-Detailed informed consent due to the assumption that the first consent was not that well informed as she withdrew it too early. HR as there would have been limited distractions to the full procedure of the study and no chance of variables from the environment affecting this
-Debrief: Could have contacted and explained the need to uncondition the fear. HV as would have been able to say they could uncondition and not assumed. Adding Cred
=High cost to Albert who experienced distress and phobia generalised
=Benefit to society. CC was proven. Can condition phobia so can be unconditioned as well
=Justifed. LA phobia went away after a month and treatments like SD were formed as a result
30
Rosenhan: Guidelines Followed and Broken
+P, Consent: Gained by owners of insitions. (12) High G as it allowed a wide variety of institutions to be represented
+PfH: Lawyers were on hand to remove any record of them having mental disorders as well as them being taught not to swallow - HR as they all followed the same set of instructions given due to trust that they would have no repercussions
-Deception. Staff were unaware. High EV as studied in a natural environment without awareness. So real life behaviour
-Informed consent from the staff due to their deception - HIgh V as the lack of their knowledge would make thier behaviour natural and free from DCs
31
Rosenhan: Improvements and Justification
-If deception was removed by gaining informed consent from all staff members so their RTW would not be compromised. - LV as the staff being aware of their assessment they wouldn't have act naturally and show DCs as they would have been much nicer to their patients
=Cost to real patients who didn't receive the proper amount of treatment as a result of the fake patients and real patients who weren't admitted
=Benefit is large as it highlighted the poor conditions of institutions and the poor treatments 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
32
Animal Research
To study behaviour in a controlled environment in an animal that won't show DCs and to avoid major harm to humans.
33
Animal Ethical Guidelines
1. ) Housing and Care
2. ) Anaesthesia and Euthanasia
3. ) Ethics and Legislation
4. ) Number of Animals Used
5. ) Wild Animals
6. ) Suppliers
7. ) Isolation and Crowding
8. ) Reward and Deprivation
34
Animal Ethical Guidelines
-Housing and Care
-Anaesthesia and Euthanasia
-Ethics and Legislation
-Isolation and Crowding
-Number of Animals Used
Wild Animals/Suppliers/Reward and Deprivation
35
Housing and Care
Animals should be given enough food and water of their diet and should be kept in their appropriate environment with enough space to move freely.
36
Housing and Care
Animals should be given enough food and water of their diet and should be kept in their appropriate environment with enough space to move freely. Enough food. Deprivation studies should consider the normal diet and feeding patterns.
37
Anaesthesia and Euthanasia
Animals should be protected from pain and euthanised if they are experiencing suffering. Surgery by professionals. HO decided the extent (Extremity the regulation) of pain caused if intentional. Time to recover.
38
Ethics and Legislation
Researchers should ensure that the costs to the animals must be justified by the scientific benefit of the research and alternatives should be considered wherever harm is caused.
Failure to comply will lead to prosecution.
HO project licence.
39
Isolation and Crowding
When caging the animals, researchers should avoid overcrowding to reduce stress and isolation for social animals.
Level of sociability should be considered.
Disturbance should be kept to a minimum as to not interfere with breeding cycles.
40
Number of Animals Used
Only the minimum number of animals should be used.
HO regulates the number.
Consider species.
41
Ways to Reduce the Risk of Ethical Issues to Animals
- Bateson's cube of cost-benefit analysis
| - The 3 R's of replacement, reduction and refinement
42
Examples of Animal Research
- Bio: Wagner (1979) study about castrated rats in which she injected the, with testosterone to assess aggression
- Learning: Pavlov (1927) used dogs to condition the response of salivation to hear the sound of a bell
- Clinical: Lodge (1989) found that glutamate activity at NMDA receptors produces psychotic reactions in rats
43
How Evolution suggests we Should and Shouldn't use Animals in Psychology
- Should: Animals very similar to humans due to evolving to match the same environments
- Shouldn't: Humans are further along than animals due to their evolutionary discontinuity meaning there will be the difference we can't compare
44
How Biology suggests we Should and Shouldn't use Animals in Psychology
- 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
- Shouldn't: Animals have qualitative differences in their brains to humans as they cannot demonstrate the same advanced cognition or social intelligence due to the differing behaviours
45
How 'Anthropomorphism and Extrapolation' suggests we Should and Shouldn't use Animals in Psychology
- Should: Anthropomorphism is the tendency to believe animals behave the same as humans and so their actions can be generalised
- Shouldn't: Extrapolation suggests there is no real evidence to support animals thinking and reasoning the same way as humans
46
How Control suggests we Should and Shouldn't use Animals in Psychology
- 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
- Shouldn't: Conditions in which animals are tested under are highly controlled and artificial which would lack ecological validity of the animal's behaviour representing human behaviour in real life settings that are familiar to them
47
How Practicality suggests we Should and Shouldn't use Animals in Psychology
- Should: Animals are small and easy to control with short reproductive cycles meaning larger samples are available allowing studies to be repeated quicker and easier
- Shouldn't: It can get expensive to go through the process of gaining a licence from the HO and setting up the environment to house animals appropriately whilst ensuring limited suffering
