Issues related to socially-sensitive research Flashcards
what is social sensitivity research
Socially sensitive research relates to studies where there are potential consequences or implications, either directly for the participants in the research or for the class of individuals represented by the research
what is important to consider when doing research
implications of research: whether the findings of the research could offend or divide people
public policy and other uses: could the findings/ knowledge published get into the wrong hands
validity: attention should be paid to biases and interpretations and psychologists needs to ensure that research is valid and can be verified
social approach – cultural differences in obedience
individualist vs. collectivist cultures
suggests that individualist cultures may be less obedient while collectivist cultures may be more obedient
this may create divisions within cultures
social approach – cultural differences in prejudice
individualist vs. collectivist cultures
Tajfel – individualist, british culture, were more prejudiced
Wetherell – Tajfel replication to polynesian culture (collectivist), less prejudiced
may create divisions within cultures
social approach – Adorno right wing authoritarianism
those who score high in F-scale means that they are more submissive, aggressive and conventialist, have RWA
also found that those in Milgram’s study who fully obeyed destructive order scored higher on F-scale
socially sensitive because it suggests that those with RWA will be more likely to obey destructive orders
social approach – gender differences in obedience
careful about how you stereotype gender
e.g. Giligan’s study on moral dilemmas shows the differences between ‘ethics of care’ versus ‘ethics of justice’ in males and females.
however, other studies have shown no differences between males and females.
Careful about studies that only use males e.g. Milgram which may result in incorrect generalisation to females (similar with Tajfel/Sherif et al.)
social approach – Milgram et al.
obedience is not always bad and could be useful in certain situations
social approach – Allport right wing authoritarianism
Gordon Allport’s claims regarding thinking styles are especially harmful and could be taken to mean that those with right-wing views are less capable of critical thinking. Given the fact that democrats currently outnumber republicans 12:1 in American psychology departments, publication bias could certainly be responsible for the weight of literature focusing on RWA as opposed to left wing authoritarianism (LWA).
biological approach – publishing data on twins (Brengden)
is this going to damage their self-confidence and make them feel different to other people?
biological approach – brain dysfunction (Raine)
labelling those with brain dysfunction
Raine’s findings suggest that there may be a ‘murderer brain’ – those with abnormal brains may be labelled as murderers
this may have serious implications for how society responds to aggressive criminal behaviour and deals with issues of crime and punishment – it raisees the possibility that murderers may not be entirely responsible for their crimes
biological approach – gender (hormones)
assuming that males are more aggressive as they genetically have a much higher level of testosterone (which was found to positively correlate with aggression)
this may lead to generalisation to all males that they are aggressive
biological approach – gender (evolution)
also implies that males are more aggressive than females
this is due to the process of natural selection and how males had typically been aggressive in order to protect their mates and reproduce
also leads to the generalisation to all males than they are aggressive
biological approach – portraying aggression as a natural, innate urge
portraying aggression as a natural, innate urge may cause people to not take responsibility for aggression actions or even convictions
cognitive approach – publishing research related to dementia
research related to dementia may be socially sensitive
need to be careful about making them feel like they are not a burden on society and creating a negative perception of them
this can threaten their dignity
cognitive approach – culture, Sebastian and Hernandez-Gil’s study
People assuming that some cultures are better than others
digit spans found to be lower in Spanish children than English children
digit spans longer in Chinese children than Malay children
may lead to certain generalisations according to culture
cognitive approach – case studies (HM, KF)
need to be aware of the difficulties that people with brain damage face and be sensitive to their needs and how we present information
learning theories – Bandura
results must be published with caution
may suggest that it is the parents’ fault if the child is aggressive due to having aggressive role models
may blame parents
learning theories – rewards and punishments
by rewarding and punishing pupils in school and at home needs to be looked as it may shape individuals
shaping through positive and negative reinforcement may manipulate/ limit kids from not being free, unique and open
learning theories – classical conditioning used in aversion therapies
if the findings of classical conditioning gets into the wrong hands, it may be used for wrong things
e.g. aversion therapy may be applied through classical conditioning by removing one’s behaviour (like conversion therapy for LGBTQ+)
clinical psychology – publishing research on mental health illnesses
can create sticky labels which causes distress and discrimination
- may cause the public to view people with mental illnesses as different or special
- may cause people to seem like burdens
clinical psychology – reductionism in drug treatments and scientific explanations
reducing mental illnesses into biological explanations and treating it with drug treatments may cause patients to feel hopeless
gives them a sense that they could not be helped or changed because they are genetically predisposed to it
if dependent on drugs, they may have no control over illnesses
clinical psychology – problem with social causation in illnesses
could make patients with disorders feel like they are at fault looking at the side of social causation
this is because it blames the people and situation around them for their issues
clinical psychology – Rosenhan findings
people started doubting the validity of diagnosis made by psychiatrists in the US
this is socially sensitive as clinicians may feel incompetent and it also damaged the reputation of psychology, possibly leading those vulnerable with no help
criminal psychology – explanations for anti-social and criminal behaviour
it might imply that those who have a certain biological traits (eg. XYY)/ grew up in a certain socioeconomic background / personality / brain injury may feel offended that these traits are associated with criminal/ antisocial behaviour when it might not be the case for everyone, cannot be generalised
mainly associates crime with blue collar crime while white collar crime (committed by those of higher social classes: fraud, bribery, tax evasion, etc.) are usually not talked about.
