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Ethical issues in Psychology; - Coggle Diagram
Ethical issues in Psychology;
British Psychological Society (BPS);
Who are BPS; The British Psychological Society is the representative body for psychology and psychologists in the UK, and is responsible for the promotion of excellence and ethical practice in the science, education and practical applications of the discipline.
Psychologists in the UK are advised by the BPS. Psychologists in the US are advised by the American Psychological Association (APA).
The most recent code of ethics and conduct identifies four key principles; respect, competence, responsibility, integrity.
The BPS has a code of ethics that all researchers must stick to when conducting psychological research. It is the professional duty to follow them, failure to do so may result in loss of reputation or career.
Usually ethics committees in institutions and universities will use a cost-benefit approach to determine whether research proposals are ethically sound to go ahead.
Ethical guidelines;
Confidentiality (& Privacy);
It may be difficult to protect the confidentiality because the researcher wishes to publish the findings. A researcher may guarantee anonymity but even then it may be obvious in a study. The Data Protection Act makes confidentiality a legal right. It is only acceptable for personal data to be recorded if the data are not made available in a form that identifies the participant (age but not name). (Confidentiality).
It may be difficult to avoid invasion of privacy when studying participants without their awareness, for example in a field experiment. (Privacy).
Deception;
It can be necessary to deceive (lie) about the true aims of a study otherwise participants may alter their behaviour. However, this ranges on how acceptable it is (withholding some of the details - reasonably acceptable, deliberately providing false information - less acceptable). Baumrind (1985) argues that deception is morally wrong. Deception prevents participants being able to give informed consent. They may agree to participate without knowing what they have really let themselves in for and this could be a potentially distressing experience. Deception may also make the researcher look untrustworthy.
Informed consent;
Means revealing the true aims of the study and/or telling them what is actually going to happen. Researchers often do not reveal all aspects of the study to the participants to decrease demand characteristics. Should be told what they will be required to do before consenting to participating in the study. Also should be told the risks involved. However, Epstein and Lasagna (1969) found that only 1/3 of participants volunteering really understood what they had agreed to take part in.
Debreif;
If you cannot give informed consent then you must debrief the participant after the experiment in full. You must also remind them of the rights to withdraw from the experiment. The debrief should include all the information of the study including aims, what will be done with their data, contact information and withdrawal procedures.
The right to withdraw;
If the participants leave during the study, this may bias the results - why? = Because those who stayed may be more obedient or more hardy which will lead to a bias sample. If a participant is made to feel uncomfortable or distressed they should be able to withdraw. This is especially important if the participants has been deceived. Some participants who have received more or uni credits may feel less able to withdraw.
Protection from physical and psychological harm;
It is difficult to guarantee protection from hard as some important questions in psychology may involve a degree of distress in participants and its difficult to predict the outcomes of some experiments. Nothing should happen to them which causes harm - this includes physical or psychological. It is considered acceptable if the harm is no greater than a participant would be likely to experience in ordinary life and if participants are in the same state as they were before the study.