The Dark Side of Research: Ethical Implications & Socially Sensitive Research | A-level Psychology

psychologists want to study human behavior they want to try to understand why we do the things we do I can't Le the P me out of here standing I'm not going to kill that man there but some psychological studies are [Music] different some psychological Studies have consequences back in 2009 there was a research paper titled vetal test testosterone and autistic traits the more testosterone they found whilst the baby was in the womb the more it was linked to autism but why did they do this research and what happened next when they published it hey everyone welcome back to Bear it in mind this video is going to explore the ethical implications of psychological research and how it can be socially sensitive there is a difference between ethical issues and ethical implications when psychologists conduct research there is often a conflict between the need for researchers to study human behavior in a way that is useful and meaningful but at the same time protect the rights of the participants taking part for example Stanley Milgram wanted to understand why people obeyed authority figures and committed terrible acts during World War II but to do this it was necessary for him to deceive his participants and to let them experience a certain level of harm I can't stand the pain let me out of here can't stand I'm not going to there on the other hand ethical implications are concerned with the impact or Consequences that can come from the findings of psychological research and this goes beyond the participants of the study the other aspect to this is socially sensitive research this brings us to CBA and Stanley who wrote an important paper in 1988 in relation to this issue they defined socially sensitive research as studies in which there are potential social consequences or implications either directly for the participants in research or the class of individuals represented by the research listen to this scientific knowledge and techniques that can be used for human betterment can be turned to manipulative and exploitative purposes as well just as results of research in atomic physics can be used for the treatment of cancer as well as for destructive weapons so methods discovered to reduce Prejudice toward minority groups may also be used to reconcile the victims of social injustice to their fate in other words psychological research can be used for human good but that same research can potentially be applied in ways that can cause harm this means that some research is sensitive it's socially sensitive because it has the potential to harm others it has ethical implications let's discuss each of these with various examples from psychology and at the end we'll look at how researchers in Psychology could deal with issues related to social sensitivity firstly let's start with the renowned John Balby John bal's Research into attachment saw him become an advisor for the World Health Organization in the early 1950s bal's theory of maternal deprivation stated the early separation of a child from their primary caregiver usually the mother during a critical period can have irreversible damaging consequences for the development of the child there is a certain time frame in which an attachment needs to be formed if it's not formed during this time then that's when the consequences occur bal's argument that motherly love in infancy is as important for mental health as vitamins are for physical health influence the way in which at least a generation of children were raised however bal's theories have been criticized for its wider ethical implications this is because it could lead to those children raised in daycare rather than with a stay-at-home mother to be negatively stereotyped perhaps those children who were separated during the critical period would feel that there is nothing they can do about their anxiety and their struggles in relationships as an adult because it was all determined by their first few years of life or perhaps it could lead to those mothers who send their children to daycare to be looked down upon and criticized it arguably adds a terrible burden of responsibility on mothers to form a strong relationship with their child and set them up to take the blame for any of the negative behaviors and delayed development in the child's life so was bal's research important well many have argued yes was its purpose to help children's development well many have argued yes but it was also socially sensitive because it might have negatively affected working mothers next let's talk about criminals are some people born criminals or is crime learned what if a psychologist conducted research to see if there were any brain differences between criminals and non-criminals could this have ethical implications and be socially sensitive Adrien rain conducted research in 1996 on murderers pleading Not Guilty by reason of insanity in some cases it's argued as part of their defense that the criminals have a brain dysfunction however at the time there were no previous studies supporting such a link so rain can conducted research where brain scans of 41 murderers and 41 age and sex matched controls were taken they found a range of differences in the activity of the brain in such areas of the prefrontal cortex and the amydala which led them to suggest that there appears to be abnormalities in the brain that predispose these individuals to violence and murder what might the ethical implications of This research be how might this be socially sensitive these results could lead to a change in or justification for the way these groups are treated or perceived it could lead to the general belief that biology causes criminal Behavior which leads to the removal of moral responsibility for criminals in other words they're not accountable for their behaviors if their biology made them do it or imagine you are someone who hasn't committed a crime but you have been identified as having this brain abnormality could this mean that whether you commit criminal behavior is now inevitable could it lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy where you now behave in line with your biology and go on to commit crimes because you believe that's just who you are this could lead to a sense of Despair and hopelessness and should these people be identified before they've even committed a crime and labeled should they be removed from society could it even provide justification for the use of [Music] eugenics for our next example we return to that study into autism have you ever heard of the name Simon Baron Cohen sound familiar no not this man that's Sasha Baron Cohen the famous actor and comedian Simon Baron Cohen is his cousin and he's one of the world's leading experts on autism who runs the autism Research Center at Cambridge University back in 2009 he was involved in that study titled fetal testosterone and autistic traits as we saw at the start of the video video it looked at the link between levels of testosterone in the amniotic fluid of pregnant women and autistic traits they found that levels of testosterone were positively correlated with measurements of autism now when this research was published it was picked up by some journalists in the media one article with the guardian LED with the headline new research brings autism screening to reality the article went on to write new research published today will bring prenatal testing for autism significantly closer prompting experts to call for a national debate about the consequences of screening for the disorder in the womb and allowing women to terminate babies with the condition this article took the findings from the study and interpreted and applied it to the issue of terminating pregnancies This research by Baron Cohen could lead to changes in public policy that affects individuals Andor groups the lives of future babies in the womb who happen to have higher levels of testosterone this led Simon Baron Cohen to have to write a response piece in the guardian in which he had to clarify the purpose of the research and what it did not mean the title of it was our research was not about prenatal screening for autism this once again shows how psychological research needs to be careful in considering the ethical implications of the research and how it may be interpreted and applied by the [Music] media our final example is perhaps the most shocking not so much because of what the research might lead to but because of what it has led to in history this is about intelligence testing in 1904 Alfred Benet created the first measurement of intelligence which became known as the Stanford Benet IQ test he developed this for the specific purpose of identifying French children with developmental disabilities so that they could receive extra help in school however some people took B's ideas translated it into English and used the intelligence tests for completely different purposes when the USA entered World War I a man called Henry Ur wanted to develop a way of measuring the intelligence of the recruits for the Army why well if you want to win the war you want to put the smart intelligent people as officers in the important roles of making decisions and planning rather than being on the front line where they are more likely to be killed as a result they created an army Alpha test and they also created an army beta test for those who were illiterate and didn't speak English which basically meant the test was in pictures would you like to have a look at the type of questions these IQ tests contained let's see how intelligent you are here's some of the questions from the alpha test Washington is to Adams as first is to Chrisco is a patient medicine a disinfectant a toothpaste a food product Christin matthewson is famous as a writer artist baseball player comedian here are the answers Washington is to Adams as first is to Second this is because Washington was the first American President and Adams was the second krisco was a food product and Christy matthewson was a baseball player for the New York Giants I mean who doesn't know that and here are some of the pictures from the beta test what's missing from each of these pictures the answer here was a bowling ball and the answer for this picture is a net now ask yourself Who would know the answers to those questions and who would get them wrong these questions on both the alpha and beta tests are clearly biased in favor of those from American culture to do well on the test required not only you having experience and having taken tests but a more General cultural knowledge about America and particularly favored those who were Elite and higher up in society who had the privilege to play things like tennis 1.75 million Army recruits ended up taking the tests which included white Americans black Americans and European immigrants what they found was that white Americans had a mental age of a 13-year-old this led one author to suggest this indicated that the country was quote a nation of morons I'm going to use all the power of my brain but secondly they found that the black Americans had an average mental age of 10.41 so we see how this is culturally biased but what's this got to do with being socially sensitive well after World War I this large amount of data about the intelligence of different groups was then taken and used as justification to demonstrate the superiority of white race and the need to prevent those classified as quote feeble-minded to be wait for it sterilized so that they couldn't reproduce and pass on their DNA in America in the 1920s and 1930s a number of US states passed laws that led to the sterilization of many people on the basis that they were feeble-minded because they were unfit to reproduce eradicate genetic defects and improve the genetic makeup of populations in other words get rid of those with poor genes so that only those with good genes reproduce and pass on their characteristics Steph j g a historian of science wrote a book called The mismeasure of man in which he analyzed the misuse of this intelligence testing data and called it scient ific racism so what can be done about this how can researchers in Psychology deal with issues related to social sensitivity in a publication by the American Psychological Association about the ethical implications of research they say that psychologists must recognize and alert others to the fact of the potential for the misuse of research so here are four things that can be done number one care needs to be taken with how psychologists form formulate their research question so that it doesn't misrepresent certain groups we saw this with intelligence testing if researchers are aiming to see if there are racial differences in IQ with the underlying assumption that the white race might be superior genetically then this is clearly setting himself up for ethical implications and the negative impact on others number two be alert to the possibility of the misuse of findings and take steps to present findings in a value free way without any iCal or ideological assumptions we also saw this with Research into difference in brain activity of criminals psychologists need to be clear with their research findings to ensure that they are not misinterpreted and misapplied for example there are many other factors that need to be taken into account with criminal Behavior Beyond biology brain development can be significantly shaped by early maternal care as well as poor nutrition communicating clearly to the public what the research does not mean and its limitation can help to prevent misuse number three take steps to avoid Sensational media presentation of findings we saw this with the autism research to quote CRA and Stanley the media are Infamous for translating careful scientific statements into flashy and dangerous generalizations and the task of communicating with reporters effectively is timec consuming and complex we saw that Baron Cohen made a speedy response in the media to correct the misunderstanding but perhaps if Baron Cohen had anticipated this potential reaction and clearly communicated what the research did not imply that it could have been prevented and finally number four an overall practical step with psychological research is to weigh up the possible costs and benefits before conducting any research and only proceed where the benefits to many people outweigh the costs to a few in the next video we're going to explore the debates in Psychology and consider whether free will is an illusion to watch that video you can click on the screen now or the link in the description below I hope you found this video helpful and we'll see you in the next one

Channel: Bear it in MIND

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Length: 15min 40sec (940 seconds)

Published: Mon May 27 2024