T7 Ethics

Question 1

History of ethics - Hippocratic oath

~500-300 BC

Answer 1

Into whatsoever houses I enter, I will enter to help the sick, and I will abstain from all intentional wrong-doing and harm, especially from abusing the bodies of man or woman, bond or free.
And whatsoever I shall see or hear … I will never divulge, holding such things to be holy secrets.

Question 2

History of ethics - important dates

Answer 2

Thomas percival - medical ethics (1793)
Nuremberg Code (1947)
deceleration of Helsinki (1964)
ethic board in university (1980s)

Question 3

What is the nuremberg code?

Answer 3

Code for experiments: voluntary consent, the good of society, no-harm

Question 4

What is the deceleration of Helsinki?

1964

Answer 4

Respect, special vigilance for vulnerable individuals

Question 5

What are grimpacts?

Answer 5

Science clearly has an impact on society, both direct and indirect.
Some of these societal-level impacts can be negative – grimpacts

Question 6

What are some challenges of grimpacts?

Answer 6

Grimpacts are indirect and difficult to detect/quantify
Most scientists (esp. Psychologists) don’t receive training to deal with grimpacts
Ethics boards don’t regulate for grimpacts
Potential grimpacts don’t influence publishing
Proven grimpacts don’t influence retractions(COPE: Committee on Publication Ethics)
“Bad faith” actors can utilize this to promote harmful science

Question 7

What are some controversies and grimpacts?

Answer 7

Spitzer
Littman
Bailey

Question 8

What is the Spitzer controversy and grimpact?

Answer 8

“highly-motivated” individuals can experience change to their sexual orientation if they go to conversion therapy.

Question 9

What is the Littman controversy and grimpact?

Answer 9

teens that know transgender people can develop gender dysphoria even though they are not transgender via “social contagion

Question 10

What is the Bailey controversy and grimpact?

Answer 10

using “objective measures”, we can determine whether self-identified bisexual men really have bisexual attraction.
he treated his participants just fine, but the impact was for all bisexual people

Question 11

What is science?

Answer 11

Science is the search for empirical truth, using scientific methods.

Question 12

What is advocacy

Answer 12

Advocacy is writing or speaking in support of something

Question 13

What is the perspective of scientists in the grimpacts debate?

Answer 13

Scientific freedom is key, so science should not be subjected to advocates’ criticism
Advocates are not committed to truth and are likely to be wrong
Scientists should not engage in advocacy, as it would reduce trust in science

Question 14

What is the perspective of advocates in the grimpacts debate?

Answer 14

Society is improved by better ideas
Scientists are people, and people are biased
Historically, under the guise of objectivity, science was (is) used to promote harmful agendas
Scientists’ status gives them an undue impact on society
Science can help advocacy

Question 15

What are the different approaches?

Answer 15

1. science should be free from social accountability
2. Scientists should consider and reflect on the potential impact of their research
3. Scientists should be accountable and use science to advocate for social justice

Question 16

What was Percy Bridgman thoughts?

Answer 16

Scientists neither possess a special moral competence nor the time to consider the possible consequences of their research

Question 17

How to voluntarily improve social responsibility in research?

Answer 17

• Scientific rigour
• Participatory research
• Incorporating social context
• When all else fails…

Question 18

Shoudl science be rigor?

Answer 18

Science should be rigorous.
Potentially harmful science should be extra rigorous.
Considering limitations in advance
Preregistration
Transparency in data sharing and reporting
Insisting on a rigorous peer-review process

Question 19

How to incorporate social context?

Answer 19

The laws of nature are oblivious to society and history.
Social groups and human behaviour are not.

• Include measures that address the social context
• Integrate social context in the study’s narrative (not just an after-thought)
• Consider language and terminology
• Be aware of possible interpretation from motivated parties

We can and should report true problematic findings, but we need to contextualize them.

Question 20

What should research do when all else fails?

Answer 20

Reach out to the public relations office and write a press release.

If misrepresented in media: Consult the public relations office & Reach out to new outlets.

Engage in social media discussions: Find for the gems (criticisms) in the rubbish heap. Take a step back or ask someone else to help summarize the criticisms. & Take your time to phrase a thoughtful response.

Corrections and retractions

Question 21

What is the difference between corrections and retractions?

Answer 21

A correction can be issued to alert the readers about flaws that do not take away from the main point of the article.

A retraction may be in order when the flaw relates to a key measure, analysis, or conclusion

Question 22

What are some limitation in doing responsible research?

Answer 22

Responsible research is slower (and not rewarded)
Scientists may shy away from studying important issues
We need to acknowledge that social responsibility currently comes at a cost.
High impact journals prefer simple narratives

Systemic changes are needed.
Perhaps bottom-up norm changes can fuel future changes.

Question 23

What is a summary of the ethics topic?

Answer 23

It’s actually not so simple to do research responsibly.

There’s no one right way to do science, and we will never please everybody.

But… there are concrete actions we can take at any stage of research to be better (and fortify our research from criticism).