Ethical Implications

Question 1

What are ethical implications

Answer 1

The impact that the psychological research has on the rights of other people, especially participants. This includes the influence of public policy, and/or the way certain groups of people are treated. Examples include milligrams research which could influence people to think that Germans are ‘bad’.

Question 2

Strengths of ethical implications

Answer 2

The thought and consideration about ethical implications has led to research that is conducted in a more sensitive manner, which has resulted in the protection of health, and dignity of participants as well as the reputation of psychology

And by understanding ethical implications, a cost benefit analysis can be conducted to decide whether a piece of research is worth carrying out. If costs outweigh the benefits then it should not be carried out, however if costs outweighs the consequences then it should be carried out

Question 3

Weakness ethical

Answer 3

Sometimes it’s not possible to see what effects research might have on the researcher, participants and society. And considering ethical implications is subjective not objective so there is potential bias from within the decision makers. This means that research could cause problems from time to time. For example research on daycare has shown that it makes children more aggressive. Insinuating that they should not go to daycare, which will affect working mothers.

Sometimes ethical demands for research permission can be too strict. Some research could be extremely beneficial if conducted but ethical issues prohibits this. Reaching a balance is problematic

Question 4

What is socially sensitive research

Answer 4

Sieber and Stanley (1988) used the term socially sensitive to describe research where there are potential social consequences for the participants or the group of people represented by the research.

Question 5

What 4 aspects did Sieber and Stanley conduct in order to consider before carrying out socially sensitive research

Answer 5

1. The Research Question: The researcher must consider their research question carefully. Asking questions such as ‘are their racial differences in intelligence’ or ‘is intelligence inherited’ may be damaging to members of a particular group.
2. The Methodology Used: The researcher needs to consider the treatment of the participant’s and their right to confidentiality and anonymity. For example, if someone shares their sexual identity, religion, amount of money they earn, the researcher should keep this confidential so that the participants name cannot be connected to the information collected
3. The Institutional Context: The researcher should be mindful of how the data is going to be used and consider who is funding the research. If the research is being funded by a private institution or organisation, why are they funding the research and how do they intend to use the findings?
4. Interpretation and Application of Findings: Finally, the researcher needs to consider how their findings might be interpreted and applied to the real-world. Could their results be used to inform government policy?

Question 6

What also needs to be considered

Answer 6

Also, any research linking intelligence to genetic factors can be seen as socially sensitive. For example, Cyril Burt used studies of identical twins to support his view that intelligence is largely genetic. His views greatly influenced the Hadow Report (1926) which led to the creation of the 11+ which was used from 1944-1976. This meant that generations of children were affected by the 11+ exam, even though there has been huge controversy regarding whether Burt had falsified his research data.

Question 7

Weakness Evaluation

Answer 7

Socially sensitive research can lead to issues of discrimination and therefore some psychologists would argue against conducting this form of research. For example, research examining racial differences in IQ has been used to justify new (and often unwarranted) forms of social control. For example, between 1907 and 1963, over 64,000 individuals were forcibly sterilized under eugenic legislation in the United States, and in 1972, the United States Senate Committee revealed that at least 2,000 involuntary sterilizations had been performed on poor black women without their consent or knowledge. This could be ‘justified’ by (flawed) research findings which argued that black Americans had lower IQ scores in comparison to white Americans.

Furthermore, some psychologists argue that ignoring socially sensitive areas (e.g. ethnicity or gender related research) amounts to an abdication of their ‘social responsibilities’. Scarr (1988) argues that ‘science is desperately in need of good studies that highlight race and gender variables…to inform us of what we need to do to help underrepresented people to succeed in this society.

Question 8

Strengths of socially sensitive research

Answer 8

However, it is important to recognise that not all socially sensitive research is controversial and some is desirable and beneficial to society. For example, research examining eye-Witness testimony, especially the use of child-witnesses (e.g. Flin et al.) has found that young children can be reliable witnesses if they are questioned in a timely and appropriate manner. In this area, socially sensitive research has resulted in a good working relationship between psychologists and the legal profession to help improve the accuracy and validity of children eye-witnesses.

It has been suggested that socially sensitive research should be avoided all together to prevent the potential negative consequences for certain groups of people. However, this would probably leave Psychologists with only unimportant issues to examine. Siber and Stanley’s view is that avoiding controversial topics is also avoiding responsibility. Therefore Psychologists have a duty to conduct research.