Lecture 11 - Ethics

Question 1

Define ‘ethics’

Answer 1

• The study of the standards for what is right and what is wrong
• Most ethics is a mixture of deontological and consequentialist views

Question 2

Define ‘deontological ethics’

Answer 2

• ‘duty’ or ‘rights-based’ ethics
• Actions are considered to be right or wrong depending on if they are consistent with the duties of the agent and the rights of those affected by the decision
• E.g. Immanuel Kant

Question 3

Define ‘consequentialist ethics’

Answer 3

• More pragmatic than deontological ethics
• Actions are considered right or wrong following the ‘weighing’ of their positive and negative outcomes
• An example is utilitarianism - making a choice which will achieve the maximum happiness for the most people
• Such as Jeremy Bentham

Question 4

What were the neuremburg trials?

Answer 4

• War crimes trials for those involved in the Nazi regime
• 1947
• Gave express emphasis on the importance of informed consent (nazi scientists obviously did not ask for consent)

Question 5

Describe Russel and Burch (1956)’s 3 R principles

Answer 5

• To do with ethics of animal research
• Refinement - reduction in severity of inhumane procedures
• Reduction - reducing the number of animals used
• Replacement - replacing highly sentient animals where possible
• Remember Russel - 3R’s
• The animals must also be kept in conditions which meet their needs.

Question 6

What is a key scientific reason animals must be kept happy when they are involved in research?

Answer 6

State of mind can influence results of the research, and a negative state could cause incorrect or inconsistent results

Question 7

What are 4 of the most common ‘questionable research practices’ in psychological research?

Answer 7

• Not reporting all of the dependent measures
• Collecting more data after seeing if the current results are statistically significant
• Failing to report all experimental conditions
• Stopping collecting data earlier than planned because you had found the result you wanted

Question 8

What are the problems with competitive funding of scientists?

Answer 8

• Encouraged in the US as they think it drives progress
• But can cause ‘game-playing’
• Sabotage of other’s work
• Refusing to allow others to use one’s work
• Questionable research practices
• Interference with peer-review processes

Question 9

Describe publication bias for findings in psychology

Answer 9

• Psychology (more than any other academic field) publishes almost exclusively (over 90%) research that is ‘positive’
• ‘Positive’ research is research that support the tested hypothesis
• Same for findings that are new
• Creates problems with replication and falsification of data

Question 10

Give 4 examples of conflict of interest in research

Answer 10

• Researcher may financially benefit from specific results (e.g. testing if their new form of therapy works better than a standard type)
• Peer-reviewers want to get similar research published
• Peer-reviewers know the author of the research
• There are some psychologists who have earnt multi-million pounds in consulting fees from companies whos drugs they were studying (basically bribery)
• Most academic journals require you to declare any commercial or financial conflicts of interests