Download Ch. 2 S. 5

Ch. 2 Section 5: Ethical
Issues
Obj: Evaluate the ethical issues
involved in psychological research
Ethics are standards for proper and responsible
behavior. Psychologists follow ethical standards
to promote the dignity of the individual, foster
human welfare, and maintain scientific integrity.
An important aspect of psychologists’ work is to
lessen human suffering. Along these lines,
ethical standards prevent scientists from
undertaking research or treatments that will be
harmful to human participants. Specific ethical
guidelines have been established by the Am.
Psychological Association (APA), a scientific and
professional organization of psychologists.
Research with People
Ethical standards limit the type of research
that psychologists may conduct.
Psychologists would not intentionally
separate a child form their parent to
conduct an experiment on separation. One
alternative approach might be to observe
the development of children who have
already been separated from their mothers
since an early age.
The APA guidelines
provide a number of
provisions that detail
what is needed to
make a study ethical.
These guidelines
include two important
principles:
confidentiality and
informed consent.
Confidentiality
Psychologists treat the records of research
participants and clients as confidential. In
other words, the records are private. This
is because psychologists respect people’s
right to privacy. In addition, people are
more likely to disclose true information and
feelings when they know that what they
say will remain confidential.
In certain very rare circumstances, such as
when a client reveals plans to harm
someone, a psychologist may disregard
confidentiality in order to protect the wellbeing of the client or of other people. Such
situations, however, are definitely the
exception rather than the rule. Even when
they do arise, psychologists must think
long and hard about whether breaking
confidentiality is the appropriate thing to
do.
Informed consent
The APA has distinct restrictions against
research studies that could pose a serious
threat to the physical or psychological
health of participants or that might have
long-term, irreversible effects on them.
However, the APA acknowledges that
some worthwhile studies may cause
participants to experience some
discomfort or other short-term negative
effects.
To help avoid situations in which people volunteer
to participate in research without knowing that
such effects are possible, the APA generally
requires that the participants provide informed
consent. Informed consent means that people
agree, or consent, to participate in a research
study only after they have been given a general
overview of the research and have been given
the choice of whether or not to participate. The
provision of information and the opportunity to
choose give people some degree of control and
make participation less stressful.
Deception
On the other hand, some psychological
experiments cannot be run without deceiving
people. In order for the study to be valid,
some participants must be deceived. In drug
experiments, many participants might be told
they are taking a real drug when they are
actually taking a placebo, or vice versa.
According to the APA, psychologists may use
deception only under specified conditions.
• When they believe that the benefits of the
research outweigh its potential harm.
• When they believe that the individuals
would have been willing to participate if they
had understood the benefits of the
research.
• When participants receive an explanation of
the study after it has occurred.
Explaining what happened in the study once it
is over helps avoid misunderstandings
about the research. This also reduces
participants’ anxieties and let the
participants maintain their dignity.
Research with Animals
Most studies that use animals do not harm
animals at all.
Sometimes psychologists and other
scientists conduct research that may be
harmful to animals. Such research studies
often use animals because they cannot be
carried out with people for ethical reasons.
Example: sometimes parts of an animal’s
brain are destroyed to learn how those
parts influence the animals’ behavior.
Psychologists use animals only when there
is no alternative and when they believe
that the potential benefits outweigh the
harm. Only a small percentage of all
psychological studies involve animals.
Some researchers argue that this is
necessary, yet many people believe that it
is no more ethical to harm animals than it
is to harm humans. Although the APA
regulates this research also, it remains
very controversial.
Ethics in Using Data
Another area in which psychologists follow
strict rules about ethics is in how they
produce, store, and present their data.
When researchers conduct a study, they
need to be as objective as possible in
planning their study, in collecting their
data, and in analyzing their data. Without
this objectivity, the researchers may bias
their study, perhaps unintentionally, in
favor of their hypothesis.
Even more importantly, when information
collected by researchers contradicts their
hypothesis, they must be willing to discard
their hypothesis in light of the evidence. It
might be tempting to toss out all the
evidence that contradicts the hypothesis
and present to others only the evidence
that supports the hypothesis. But this
would be misleading and thus unethical. It
might also become an obstacle to others’
attempts to study psychology.