Lecture 13 - Ethics in Affective Computing

Question 1

Why research ethics?

5 reasons

Answer 1

1. Manipulations may subject participants to undesirable or even harmful experiences
2. Some experiments involve withholding information from participants
   3, Variables studied are often private / sensitive
3. The experimenter / participant relationship contains a power differential
4. Researchers are responsible for preserving public trust in the scientific enterprise

Question 2

What does principle A, beneficence and non maleficence mean?

Answer 2

• Risky research is only allowed if there are significant benefits to be expected for society
• Risk must be estimated and constantly reassessed
• Institutional review of research plans

Question 3

What does principle B: Fidelity and responsibility entail?

Answer 3

Faithfulness to the agreements one has accepted and responsibilities one has taken on
Protecting the confidentiality of the research subjects’ data

Question 4

Principle C is..?

Answer 4

Scientific integrity

Question 5

Principle D: Justice, means?

Answer 5

take into account differences between people (race or skin color)
also conveniece for inviting only prisoners for research

Question 6

Principle E: Respect for People’s Rights and Dignity

Answer 6

Individuals decide whether they enroll in research and whether research fits with their own values, interests, and goals with i.e. respect to autonomy

Most of the time performing research on people that is involuntarily is treating them merely as a means. Failing to respect the fact that they are a rational agent capable of running their own life

Implies informed consent is necessary

Question 7

In deciding whether it is okay to use deception, we need to determine:

Answer 7

• research could be carried out without deception
• benefits, in all terms of knowledge gained, outweight the risk to the participants
• potential harm to subjects as a result of deception is minimal
• check if it will undermine the trust in psychological research as a practice

Question 8

To minimize the potential negative impact of deception

Answer 8

• never withhold information concerning possible risks
• inform participants they might be deceived (but not how)
• perform a careful, sensitive debriefing
• allow participants to withdraw their data upon debriefing

Question 9

Describe the difference between soft and hard impacts

Answer 9

Hard impacts

• risks to health, safety, or environment
• values are clear and quantifiable
• causal links are direct

Soft impacts

• qualitative impacts that are not always intentional or anticipated
• sometimes they are morally ambiguous (privacy versus safety)
• can lead to destabilization of moral standards

Question 10

Soft impacts, technologies can impact our:

Answer 10

customs
identities
world views
morals
conceptions of the good life

Question 11

What is a nudge?

Answer 11

Any aspect of the choice architecture that alters people’s behavior in a predictable way without forbidding any options or significantly changing their economic incentives. Nudges must be easy and cheap to avoid. Nudges should not be mandates

Question 12

What could be the harm of moral nudges using AC?

Answer 12

voluntariness
loss of moral muscle because we are overrelying on technology
Impediment to moral progress

Question 13

What is otello’s error / Ekmans warning in AC?

Answer 13

our faces do not reveal what triggered the emotion

rule out all the possible explanations before you conclude that what you are seeing is a sign of lying about a criminal act, because very often, it is not!