Ethical implications - Issues and debates [A-Level Psychology]

psychological research can have a real impact on people's lives that's pretty obvious when thinking about the participants who take part in the actual research studies after all we have research ethics that are designed to treat them with dignity and protect them from harm but when we consider the ethical implications of research studies and theories we of course include the effects on participants in the studies but we also need to consider the ethical issues that go beyond the participants how might a controversial theory on a minority group be interpreted by WI Society if an organization takes part in research and the results of that study makes the organization look bad how might publishing that research affect the lives of the company's employees and the customers and should we think about how governments could use the results of studies to create and justify laws that change all of our Lives the psych boost flashcard app has a new feature test yourself over 1,500 multiple choice questions including every topic on a level of gcsc psychology try paper one for free right now and Patron supporters can watch psych boost videos at free learn from over 17 hours of exclusive exam tutorial videos and access hundreds of digital and printable resources including my Maps quiz sheets worksheets teaching slides and more ethical implications of research I imagine you've already studied ethics as part of research methods but if you haven't or as a quick reminder when conducting research psychologists have to follow research ethics there are range of guidelines but they're fundamentally about minimizing harm to the actual participants in the experiment Sample When discussing the ethical implications of research this consideration still applies but we also need to consider all the people who may be affected by the research even if they didn't participate in the actual study the word implication is important when we consider the implications of research what we mean is thinking about what could happen as a result of what psychologists do both when conducting studies and when correcting theories so in the same way that psychologists need to be mindful of their participants while beinging in research they need to consider the effects on the communities the participants represent this could be small groups and organizations for example a school or a business or large groups in society such as minority or socio economic groups let me be clear by outlining a few potential implications of research so if the participants of a study are harmed during the study that's an implication but if you're writing an essay about implications you should take your explanation beyond the participants wider public opinion being influenced by psychological theory and research is also an implication so a psychological theory leads to society developing a common stereotype linked to this point the lives of people in the community studied can be affected by the development of harmful stereotypes the people in these communities would then face bias and discrimination or research may lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy another possible implication of psychological research is changes in public policy the government is aware of and often funds research and will base changes to legislation on the outcomes of This research so potentially research could result in changes to the law that goes against the interest of the group studied a term we need to be able to use that is connected to this idea of implications is socially sensitive research cbar and Stanley in 1988 defined socially sensitive research as studies in which there are potential consequences or implications either directly for the participants in the research or for the class of individuals represented by the research as you probably guessed there are many subjects that psychologists research that are potentially sensitive gender mental health relationships child raring and intelligence psychological theories and findings on these topics have changed how Society views and treats entire groups of people I'll give you some examples from the course in the last section of this video dear dealing with socially sensitive research as many areas of psychological research are socially sensitive researchers need to know how to best approach difficult research projects the first principle which is pretty foundational to everything else is reflexivity reflexivity is the idea that researchers should carefully consider the influential position they hold and the responsibility they have to be objective and conduct research effic they should reflect on their biases beliefs and values and consider how their backgr ground and experiences might influence how they conduct and Report research when planning studies researchers should take care of informing the initial research questions this is important so the group studied is accurately represented for example rather than writing research questions that imply a certain mental illness is linked to Violent Behavior researchers should focus on understanding the experience of individuals with that illness or if the researchers studying issues related to socioeconomic status they should try not to word research questions in a way that reinforces a stereotype about poverty or wealth the researcher should consider ethical issues in the design of studies they should try to imagine the possible reactions of the participants the researcher should use briefing and debriefing procedures effectively especially if the use of potentially harmful methods is unavoidable the ultimate decision on whether the study should go ahead is generally not in the hands of the researcher but an Ethics Committee part of their reasoning is based on a cost benefit analysis considering the potential harm arms and benefits the research might have on the participants and broader society when writing up research and publication the psychologist should consider the possibility that their findings will be misused this includes the media presenting the findings in a biased or sensationalized way for this reason the researcher needs to present their findings in a value-free way and make clear the limitations of their methods and conclusions peerreview has a role in ensuring potentially harmful or misleading research is not published this includes ensuring research search is reported objectively that the conclusions drawn are justifiable from the data and the potential conflicts of interest are made clear such as the sources of funding for the research before moving on I do want to consider two slightly more advanced points firstly while researchers and ethics committees are expected to conduct a cost benefit analysis the reality is the true implications the full costs and benefits of research are not known until after the research has been conducted and potentially might only be clear many years after it publication studies may have high short-term costs and potentially be controversial publication but they may be very valuable to Future generations of psychologists conducting research in areas considered highly socially sensitive like gender and sexuality often presents extra challenges and risks of controversy this situation may stop researchers from exploring those fields leading to a lack of studies on minority communities as a result the unique issues these groups face may not be fly or objectively investigated it's crucial to acknowledge and support the importance of conducting socially sensitive research and ethics committees shouldn't stop research just because it explores a socially sensitive topic examples of socially sensitive research in Psychology all areas of psychology have the potential to be socially sensitive but if you need to give examples in your exam these are some that are considered particularly socially sensitive bal's theories of monotropy and maternal deprivation are socially sensitive as this Theory AR that the mother not the father has a unique role in providing care for infants and without this care infants would develop emotional social and intellectual difficulties as they grow this theory has two socially sensitive implications this gender double standard places pressure on the mother to develop a strong attachment to their babies while it minimizes the role of the father this could mean many women May sacrifice working on their own careers so they can provide the majority of the child care so we could say Bob Fair is socially sensitive as the implication leads to inequalities in society such as a gender pay Gap we can also point to the fact that as a result of this Theory male Le single parent and single gender families may feel that they're unable to provide adequate care for their infants from Psychopathology we can consider how we Define abnormality as socially sensitive the statistical and frequency definition of abnormality argues that behavior that is rare in a population is abnormal one of the most well-known examples is an IQ of below 70 forming part of the diagnostic criteria intellectual dis ability disorder this use of a cut off point which has been set by psychologists is used by the medical profession to allocate support and the legal system when considering sentences this can have important implications for people who are just beyond the cut off point and who may not receive the medical support they need or in the legal system have their sentences affected as an extreme example Florida has a 70 IQ point cut off for the death penalty leading to murderers like Freddy Lee Hall who has an IQ of 71 to be sentenced for the death penalty when if he had an IQ just one point lower he would have avoided the death penalty biological research that argues for a genetic basis for Behavior can be socially sensitive especially when considering biological theories about aggression and criminality arguing that criminal behavior is inherited leads to the implication that criminals are not fully responsible for their actions this idea is counter to the justice system which is built on the concept of criminal responsibility if this spere is accepted then criminals could use their biology to argue for treatment rather than sentences negatively affecting the lives of victims of crime who seek Justice psychologists like Adrien R have even suggested that potential criminals can be identified with pet scans before they've committed a crime and be treated before they offend finally from social influence and mgr's work and obedience you may expect me to criticize the eics of Milgram such as his lack of protection from harm and the inability of his participants to withdraw and while you can write about this actually I want to consider the positive implications of his work the topic mgrm was investigating was socially sensitive the reasons people obey and after the second world war it was F that Germans must have been exceptionally obedient to go along with the horrors of the Holocaust and other crimes in other words the world for that Germans have an obedient disposition mgr's research suggested that perspective was a stereotype in fact most of us are capable of extreme obedience if placed in the right situation I've only given four examples here but you may want to try to practice writing about social sensitivity in the context of another topic especially if you study a unit like gender schizophrenia or addiction I want to thank everyone over on patreon for supporting the channel because of you I've been able to teach parttime meaning I can make Psy boost on YouTube for everyone I do have exra resources that are exclusive for my patrons so if you've decideed to sign up you can grab those over on my website and these include over 100 exam question tutorial videos of course including questions on the issues and debates unit I hope this was helpful and I will see you in the next psych Boost video

Channel: Psych Boost

Views: 6,943

Keywords: aqa psychology, aqa alevel psychology, Psychology, Alevel, Alevel psychology

Id: P5yD_oBZ2Ug

Length: 11min 13sec (673 seconds)

Published: Sat Feb 17 2024