Evaluation Of Raine Et Al

Question 1

What are the social and ethical implications of raine et al ?

Answer 1

• valid consent
• socially sensitive research
• right to withdraw

Question 2

Protection from harm

Answer 2

W- one limitation of this study is that there was a chance of lack of protection from harm as PET imaging is an invasive procedure
E- for example, participants have to be injected with a radioactive tracer, which for the NGRIs this was already done for legal reasons but for the controls this was a new medical procedure that have to undergo
E- this suggests that putting non murderers under invasive procedures they’ve never had, increases their chance of risk especially if they themselves have any underlying medical conditions
W- this is a weakness because despite it not being a dangerous procedure, the controls still had to go through an unnecessary medical procedure which inevitably puts them at any risk of harm.

Question 3

Socially sensitive research

Answer 3

S- the negative social implications of this study is that it is socially sensitive research that could be misinterpreted
E- for example, the findings suggest that murderers had significant lower parietal glucose metabolism than controls
E- this suggests that some people are driven to kill by their brain structure and that their
violence is out of control
W- this is a weakness because socially sensitive research can perpetuate harmful stereotypes leading to prejudice and Raine et al would have to take responsibility for that

Question 4

Valid consent

Answer 4

S- one weakness of this study is that murderers who pleaded guilty by reason of insanity may have not been mentally competent to provide valid consent and would not fully understand what they are required to do
E- for example, they may have found the performance task difficult resulting in their self esteem to be low
E- this suggests that gaining consent from incompetent participants ultimately leads to psychological harm therefore questioning the worth and ethics of the study
C- however presumptive consent was given by their lawyer or carer , someone they ultimately trusted on their behalf so it’s still valid
W- this is a weakness because it invalid consent subjects the study to rigorous ethics review especially depending on the amount of harm inflicted on the participant.

Question 5

Evaluation points for methodology and procedures

Answer 5

• a quasi experiment (ecological validity)
• the sample
• the research technique