Issues related to socially-sensitive research

Question 1

what is social sensitivity research

Answer 1

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

Question 2

what is important to consider when doing research

Answer 2

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

Question 3

social approach – cultural differences in obedience

Answer 3

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

Question 4

social approach – cultural differences in prejudice

Answer 4

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

Question 5

social approach – Adorno right wing authoritarianism

Answer 5

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

Question 6

social approach – gender differences in obedience

Answer 6

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.)

Question 7

social approach – Milgram et al.

Answer 7

obedience is not always bad and could be useful in certain situations

Question 8

social approach – Allport right wing authoritarianism

Answer 8

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).

Question 9

biological approach – publishing data on twins (Brengden)

Answer 9

is this going to damage their self-confidence and make them feel different to other people?

Question 10

biological approach – brain dysfunction (Raine)

Answer 10

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

Question 11

biological approach – gender (hormones)

Answer 11

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

Question 12

biological approach – gender (evolution)

Answer 12

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

Question 13

biological approach – portraying aggression as a natural, innate urge

Answer 13

portraying aggression as a natural, innate urge may cause people to not take responsibility for aggression actions or even convictions

Question 14

cognitive approach – publishing research related to dementia

Answer 14

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

Question 15

cognitive approach – culture, Sebastian and Hernandez-Gil’s study

Answer 15

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

Question 16

cognitive approach – case studies (HM, KF)

Answer 16

need to be aware of the difficulties that people with brain damage face and be sensitive to their needs and how we present information

Question 17

learning theories – Bandura

Answer 17

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

Question 18

learning theories – rewards and punishments

Answer 18

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

Question 19

learning theories – classical conditioning used in aversion therapies

Answer 19

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+)

Question 20

clinical psychology – publishing research on mental health illnesses

Answer 20

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

Question 21

clinical psychology – reductionism in drug treatments and scientific explanations

Answer 21

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

Question 22

clinical psychology – problem with social causation in illnesses

Answer 22

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

Question 23

clinical psychology – Rosenhan findings

Answer 23

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

Question 24

criminal psychology – explanations for anti-social and criminal behaviour

Answer 24

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.

Question 25

criminal psychology – anger management + publishing research on criminlas

Answer 25

publishing research on criminals may be socially sensitive – e.g. do all criminals need anger management in order to reduce their urge for revenge? it also Anger management may not be the only way to rehabilitate offenders and not all offenders may need it, by publishing research on it, it may lead to the assumption that offenders require anger management to control themselves.

Question 26

criminal psychology – research on factors affecting jury decision making

Answer 26

Race – white jurors are more likely to convict black defendants
esp for crimes like drug offence same for hispanic
lose faith in justice system because of biased views
raise awareness of bias and make sure people are aware
it is vital that they feel they are receiving a fair trial and judgement is based on evidence ONLY

Question 27

Sherif et al. – portrayal of men/ boys

Answer 27

This can bring have an affect on men because it shows how they can be prejudice and aggressive towards once there is a competition.

the study paints the boys as badly behaved
perpetuates stereotypes of men being more aggressive
may cause people to view the participants negatively
However this has helped reduce prejudice from understanding how to reduce prejudice through superordinate goals. People can work together / reduce prejudice by achieving a similar/the same goal.

Question 28

Baddeley et al. – sample

Answer 28

study focused on young servicemen (from the army)

this may offend the participants or change opinions towards the army

Question 29

Watson and Rayner – being conditioned

Answer 29

People may believe that they are not in control of themselves as it is could be conditioned into them when they were young

Question 30

Watson and Rayner – if research gets into the wrong hands

Answer 30

if research gets into the wrong hands, conditioning may be used to manipulate/ control people
expecially marginalised groups of people in society

Question 31

Loftus and Palmer – creating doubts in the criminal justice system and the police

Answer 31

shows that police could use leading questions to misdirect witness statements
However publishing this research can help make changes in the legal system. / interview techniques altered to make eyewitness testimony more reliant
make people more aware of leading questions and manipulation when it comes to questioning