Ethics in Psychological Research

1. Ethics in Psychological Research Mr. Jochem

2. Reflections on Ethics Before we begin… answer the following question: 1) What is Ethics? What do you know about ethical behavior in the sciences? 2) Why was it important for psychological researchers to act and treat their participants in a ethical manner? 3) What is deception? How can deception be used?

3. Evaluating Ethics • In the following examples of historical ethical experiments take note as to WHY these studies were so unethical?

4. Past Psychology Experiments NAZI (Sterilization) • One of the first acts by Adolf Hitlerafter achieving total control over the Germanstate was to pass the Law for the Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Offspringin July 1933. The law was signed in by Hitler himself, and over 200 eugenic courts were created specifically as a result of the law. • Under the German law, all doctors in the Reich were required to report patients of theirs who were mentally retarded,mentally ill(including schizophreniaand manic depression, epileptic,blind, deaf, or physically deformed, and a steep monetary penalty was imposed for any patients who were not properly reported. Individuals suffering from alcoholismor Huntington's Diseasecould also be sterilized. • The individual's case was then presented in front of a court of Naziofficials and public health officers who would review their medical records, take testimony from friends and colleagues, and eventually decide whether or not to order a sterilization operation performed on the individual, using force if necessary. Though not explicitly covered by the law, 400 mixed-race "Rhineland Bastards” were also sterilized beginning in 1937. • By the end of World War II,over 400,000 individuals were sterilized under the German law and its revisions, most within its first four years of being enacted.

5. Past Psychological Experiments Tuskegee Institute (syphilis) • The Tuskegee syphilis experiment(also known as the Tuskegee syphilis study or Public Health Service syphilis study) was an infamous clinical study conducted between 1932 and 1972 in Tuskegee, Alabama by the U.S. Public Health Service to study the natural progression of untreated syphilis in poor, rural black men who thought they were receiving free health care from the U.S. government. • The Public Health Service, working with the Tuskegee Institute, began the study in 1932. Investigators enrolled in the study a total of 600 impoverished, African-Americansharecroppers from Macon County, Alabama; 399 who had previously contracted syphilis before the study began, and 201 without the disease. For participating in the study, the men were given free medical care, meals, and free burial insurance. • They were never told they had syphilis, nor were they ever treated for it. According to the Centers for Disease Control, the men were told they were being treated for "bad blood," a local term used to describe several illnesses, including syphilis, anemia and fatigue.

6. Past Psychological Experiments Stanley Milgrim’s (1963) Obedience To Authority Experiments Philip Zimbardo’s (1973) Stanford Prison Study

7. Lessons Learned from These Controversial Studies • "The social psychology of this century reveals a major lesson: often it is not so much the kind of person a man is as the kind of situation in which he finds himself that determines how he will act” - Stanley Milgram,1974 • “We exaggerate the extent to which our actions are voluntary and rationally chosen- or, put differently, we understate the power of the situation. My claim is not that individuals are incapable of criminal culpability; rather, it is that, like the horrible behavior brought out by my experiment in good, normal young men, the situation and the system creating it also must share in the responsibility for illegal and immoral behavior.” -Philip Zimbardo, 2007

8. Common Ethical Issues Encountered in Psychology Can you identify these issues with past psychological experiments ? • Lack of Informed Consent • Invasion of Privacy • Coercion to Participate • Potential Physical or Psychological Harm • Use of Deception • Violation of Confidentiality

9. Upholding Ethical Principles- Risk-Benefit Analysis Potential Risks to Participants • Physical Harm • Psychological Stress • Damage to the reputation of the field • Loss of privacy or confidentiality Potential Benefits to Participants • Educational • Research Process • Self-Knowledge • Diagnostic Information • Psychological or Medical Treatment • Acquiring Skill Sets • Material gains

10. How do Psychologists monitor Ethics? • Universities and colleges have ethical committees (often called the Institutional Review Board or IRB)-it is a group professionals who review proposal for research. • They determine the impact (psychological and mental) on the participants. • They look at the entire study from its equipment used to the methodology section.

11. Guidelines for Doing Research With People • Here are the following guidelines: • 1) Rights and well-being of participants must be weighted against the study’s value to science. • People FIRST science SECOND • 2) Participants must be allowed to make an informed decision about participation. • Researchers have to explain the study to the people who volunteers before they participate---informed consent • 3) Deception must be justified • If deception is used participants must be informed after (debriefing) to inform them why deception was used • 4) Participants may withdraw from the study at any time • They can drop out at any time for any reason with just cause.

12. Guidelines Continued… • 5) Participants must be protected from risks or told of risks • 6) investigator must debrief participants, telling the true nature of the study and expectations of results • 7) Data must remain confidential • You must use “false names” if individual participants are needed on results section

13. But why not just study people? • Animals live shorter lives, so looking for long-term effects become much easier. • They are also easier to control, they can control their diet, living arrangements and even genetic relationships • They can be used in ways we cannot do to people • Without animals, there would be a severe lack in medication and vaccinations in the world • There ARE ethics for animals –unnecessary pain or suffering

14. Critical Thinking in Psychology • It is the ability to make reasoned judgments. There are four basic criteria for critical thinking: 1) Few concepts that do not need to be tested Ask-How do I know that? What evidence do I have? 2) evidence can vary in quality look at methodology and peer reviews 3) experts and authorities do not automatically make something true evidence should guide truth 4) Being skeptical vs. Open-minded it is a critical balance between skepticism and willingness to consider possibilities