Issues related to socially sensitive research Flashcards
Issues related to socially sensitive research
Socially sensitive research is research that has negative implications for the ppts and/or the group that they represent.
If people are affected by the results of the study beyond the study itself then this makes the study socially sensitive.
This can also be the case if psychology itself or the psychologists doing the research are affected.
Social
Early research into prejudice can be heavily criticised for exaggerating differences between races and producing biased evidence that whites and superior to blacks.
Socially identity theory says social categorisation is a basic characteristic of human though and that the mere existence of groups is thus enough to bring about prejudice, leading to the implication that prejudice is inevitable.
Research has shown little cultural differences between obedience for example (Blass,2012) so this could encourage a diffusion of responsibility for blind obedience and may increase harmful acts in society.
Cognitive
Memory loss is a sensitive area for both the amnesia patient and the families concerned. Amnesia is a life altering impairment that can cause an individual extreme distress because their intelligence remains virtually intact, leading to confusion and frustration about their loss of memory. However, research is important for both psychological understanding and to benefit amnesia patient recovery.
Biological
Research showing a biological basis for aggression or criminal behaviour is socially sensitive as it has implications for society. If biological factors are involved in aggression and criminality, it suggests that individuals are not responsible for their actions. This leads to the question of whether people should be criminalised for behaviour that is outside of their control. It also means that biological markers can be used to identify those people who are at risk of aggressive or criminal behaviour and some groups might want to control those individuals as a preventative measure. This has ethical issues.
Raine et al 1997 found differences in murderers brains compared controls which could be used in society as evidence that violent acts are beyond their responsibility, which may increase violent acts. Therefore, there are issues regarding personal responsibility when a crime is committed as such behaviour may be claimed to be out of their control. This could also lead to pre-emptive action being taken to control the behaviour of people identified as having the biological markers for crime before any crime is committed.
Learning
Treatments based on learning theories can be regarded as socially sensitive because the control of the client’s behaviour is managed directly by the therapist. Aversion therapy involves associating a behaviour with a negative stimulus, such as taking an emetic drug to cause feelings of nausea when smoking or drinking alcohol.
In the past aversion therapy was used to treat homosexuality, this treatment had negative consequences for the individual concerned, and concerns judgements about what is acceptable or unacceptable behaviour in society.
Clinical
Can be considered socially sensitive as it involves labelling people with an illness in order to then investigate the possible causes or treatments or illnesses. There could possible be negative outcomes for the patient from taking part in research in this area.
Guardia et al (2012) where the patients were being asked to compare their body size to that of another person. A common symptom of anorexia is low self-esteem and encouraging them to actively compare their body size to others may further harm their vision of themselves having a negative effect on self esteem.
Child
Studying how parenting style affects attachment types is socially sensitive as it could lead to parents being blamed for insecure attachments to their children. Also highlights negative effects of day care therefore may lead to parents feeling guilty about leaving their children in non—maternal day care.
