Ethics in Psychology

Ethics - moral principles that govern a person's or group's behavior, with respect to the rightness and wrongness of certain actions and to the goodness and badness of the motives and ends of such actions.

Research & TestingEthical principles:

• 1. Get permission of participants.• 2. Protect them from harm and discomfort.• 3. Keep information confidential.• 4. Explain the research afterwards.

• These principles apply to scientific research. Other places may not have ethics. (retail stores, companies…)

1961 Milgram Experiment• In the 1970s, Stanley Milgram measured the willingness of study participants to obey an authority figure who told them to do things against their personal conscience.•Wanted to know if Nazi guards were just following orders.• Experiments were considered unethical and psychologically abusive.

ETHICAL GUIDELINES• The American Psychological Association (APA) then strengthened their ethical guidelines regarding research design, implementation, and practice.• They prevent unnecessary deception and pain to humans and other animals, and protect confidentiality.

ETHICAL GUIDELINES• All public and private institutions have Institutional Review Boards (IRB) that must approve of all research conducted within their institutions.• They protect participants by requiring researchers to obtain signed informed consent agreements from all participants.

ETHICAL GUIDELINES• These statements describe procedures, risks, benefits, and the right of the participant not to participate, or to withdraw from the research study without penalty at any their willingness to participate.• Participants cannot be deceived about significant aspects that would affect their willingness to participate.

ETHICAL GUIDELINES• After they finish participating, they are debriefed about the research (i.e. the nature, results, and conclusions of the research are revealed).

ETHICAL GUIDELINES• Psychologists who conduct research involving other animals must treat them humanely.• Acquire, care for, use, and dispose of animals properly.•Make efforts to minimize their discomfort, infection, illness, and pain.

ETHICAL GUIDELINES• Please read the following scenarios carefully. Within each scenario is an ethical problem or dilemma. Identify and discuss the ethical problems with each scenario. • Once you have identified the ethical problem within the scenario, explain how you would change or revise the design to make it ethically acceptable. • Please think carefully about each scenario and if possible, provide a solution.

ETHICAL GUIDELINES• An experiment was conducted to test a new drug for depression. For the experimental group, Dr. Creekmore wrote a new prescription for depression without discussing it with the patients. For the control group, Dr. Creekmore prescribed their normal prescription. •What is wrong with this scenario?

ETHICAL GUIDELINESDr. Foggs conducted a study entitled “Emotion in the Media” to test the effects of anger. The participants were shown a video containing infuriating materials. The participants were then given a questionnaire to complete. Participants were told they could leave upon completion of the questionnaire. Dr. Mad thanked the participants for their time.•What is wrong with this scenario?

ETHICAL GUIDELINES• In an introductory psychology course, students were offered extra credit for their semester grade. In order to receive the credit, they had to participate in a AP Psychology research project. They were not given any other alternative opportunities to receive extra credit. •What is wrong with this scenario?

Unit 2:Research and Statistics

AP PsychologyMr. Ng

Module #2Research

Research & Testing•Hindsight Bias – the tendency to believe, after learning an outcome, that one would have foreseen it. • Easier to describe what has happened than to predict it.•Overconfidence – thinking we know more than we really do.• These two phenomena lead us to overestimate our intuition.

Research & Testing• Science is driven by curiosity, a passion to explore and understand without misleading or being misled.• The scientific attitude is to question facts, but being open to new learning.•Skepticism – questioning things that are believed to be fact.• Scientists have to be skeptical asking two questions, “What do you mean?” and “How do you know?”

Research & Testing• Scientists also have to have humility, or accepting that they too can be wrong.• Curiosity, skepticism, and humility is the basis of the scientific attitude.•Critical Thinking – examines assumptions, discerns hidden values, evaluates evidence, and assesses conclusions.

Research & Testing• Research has led to surprising findings as well as proving popular ideas wrong.•Scientific method – make observations, form theories, and then refine theories.•Scientific theory – an explanation using a set of principles that organizes and predicts behaviors or events.•Hypothesis – testable prediction

Research & Testing•Operational definition – a statement of the procedures used to define research variables.•Replicate – repeating a research study to see if the findings are the same.•Useful Theory – organizes and links observed facts and implies clear predictions that be tested.

Research & Testing• Laboratory environment should be a ‘simplified reality’ which allows focused study of specific behaviors.

•Not as concerned about behavior than with general principles that help explain behavior.

Research & Testing•Culture – shared ideas, attitudes, and traditions amongst a group of people which are passed on from one generation to the next.• Culture shapes who we are, how we act, and how we react. •Need to be culturally aware!!!!• Although cultures are different, many of the basic processes are the same.

Research & Testing•Gender issues are unavoidable in psychology.• Biology determines our sex, then culture bends the gender, but males and females are basically the same.

Research & Testing• Animal testing allows us to learn about people.• It has led to treatment for diseases, diabetes, polio, rabies, etc…• Animal testing can often be cruel to animals, but may lead to discoveries that benefit mankind.• Basic argument is whether it is right to value human life over that of animals.

Research & Testing• Psychology is not value-free. Our values effect what we study and how we study and interpret it.

Thinking Critically• 1954 – Brown vs. Board of Education ruled that “separate educational facilities are inherently unequal”.•Desegregated schools.• First case that a social psychologist participated.

Thinking Critically•Mamie P. Clark and Kenneth B. Clark were expert witnesses.• Conducted a study where they gave African-American children Black & White dolls and the most chose the white dolls.•Under segregation, Black children were internalizing anti-black prejudice.