Ethics

Question 1

Importance of ethics

Answer 1

psychological research should aim to improve our self understanding, be beneficial to people and try to improve the quality of life for individuals

Question 2

What did the British Psychological Society produce

Answer 2

• ethical guidelines for psychologists to follow when they’re designing studies
• formal principles for what is considered to be accepyable or unacceptable, and include advice on deception, consent and psychological harm

Question 3

Outline informed consent, as an ethical guideline

Answer 3

• pps should always give informed consent
• they should be told aims and nature of study
• they should know they have the right to withdraw
• if the pp is under 16, they cannot legally give consent
• in naturalistic observations, consent is not obtained

Question 4

Outline deception, as an ethical guideline

Answer 4

• if pps have been deceieved, they cannot have given informed consent
• some researchers must withhold info about the study because the pps wouldn’t behave naturally if they knew what the aim was
• deception is only acceptable if there is strong scientific justification for the research
• researchers can ask independent people if they would object to the study
• pps could be given general details

Question 5

Outline protection from harm, as an ethical guideline

Answer 5

• the risk of harm to pps should be no greater than they would face in their normal lives-hard to accurately assess this
• research procedures can involve physical and psychological discomfort
• some people face risks in their work but this doesn’t mean they should face these risks in research
• researchers don’t always know in advance whay might be distressing for pps

Question 6

Outline debriefing, as an ethical guideline

Answer 6

• supposed to return pps to the state they were in before the research
• important if deception has been used
• researchers must fully explain what the research involved and what the results might show
• pps are given the right to withdraw their data

Question 7

Outline confidentiality, as an ethical guideline

Answer 7

• none of the pps in a psychological study should be identifiable from any reports that are produced
• data collected must be confidential- researchers can’t use pps names
• pps must be warned if their data is not going to be completely anonymous
• some groups of people might be easily identifiable from their characteristics

Question 8

Outline animal rights, as an ethical issue

Answer 8

• people argue that animal research has provided valuable information for psychological and medical research- some experimental designs couldn’t be conducted on humans
• ethically wrong to inflict harm and suffering on animals
• cruel to experiment on animals thay have a similar intelligence to humans but no point experimenting on animals thay are less developed than us

Question 9

Why is deception an ethical issue

Answer 9

• it is sometimes difficult to conduct research without a bit of deception- if pps know what’s being studied their behaviour may change
• psychologists tend to minimise deception
• Milgram’s study- deceived pps the true purpose of the study

Question 10

Why is consent an ethical issue

Answer 10

• telling pps they’re being observed could change the way they behave
• Milgram’s pps couldn’t give informed consent until after debriefing

Question 11

Why don’t ethical guidelines solve all the problems

Answer 11

• some researchers may not follow the guidelines properly

- even when guidelines are followed, it can be difficult to assess things like psychological harm