ETHICAL ISSUES IN PSYCHOLOGY

1. Tired of looking at the stars, Professor Miller takes up social psychology Lecture 4 | Social Psychology | C80FIP ETHICAL ISSUES IN PSYCHOLOGY Dr Fenja Ziegler

2. The Bystander Effect • Put volunteers in a situation where someone is in distress and needs help • Number of factors influence whetherpeople help • How would you feel if you didn’t help? • Is it ethical to put you into this situation? Lecture 4 | Social Psychology | C80FIP

3. Landis’ Facial Expressions (1924) • Are facial expressions universal (e.g. shock, disgust)? • Paint people’s faces with lines and make them do stuff: • Smell ammonia • Watch porn • Hand in bucket of frogs • Decapitate rat (2/3 complied eventually). 1/3 Landis did himself • Nothing universal (but note obedience) Lecture 4 | Social Psychology | C80FIP

4. Monster Bully (1939) • Do children stutter innately, or do we make them stutter? • Take some orphaned children and split into two groups: • Criticise every mistake • Praise for speech • Effects on children? • Loss of self-worth • Enduring speech problems Lecture 4 | Social Psychology | C80FIP

5. Ethics and Morals - Issues • Ethics (professionals) → Morals (common standards) • Cost-benefit analysis • Animal experiments, developing nuclear/ chemical weapons, stem cells • Psychology: • Human and other animals (care and respect) • Socially sensitive (e.g. IQ testing) • Exploitation of results (e.g. stress factors) • Deception, consent, protection from harm Lecture 4 | Social Psychology | C80FIP

6. Deception • Full information on Research • Asch: full information → no research • All deception harmful? • Deception or distraction? (e.g. implicit learning) • < damaging → > acceptable • > important → > acceptable • ? alternatives → > acceptable Lecture 4 | Social Psychology | C80FIP

7. Ditching Deception? • Role playing • As real behaviour? • Still stressful? • Debriefing • Told purpose of experiment • Withdraw data • Leave as sane as on arrival • Does not justify unethical methods • Might not reduce distress Lecture 4 | Social Psychology | C80FIP

8. Informed Consent • Informed on: • What will be required • Purpose of research • Your rights (confidentiality, withdrawal, etc.) • Give consent • Children and learning impaired • Some experiments (incl. field experiments) • Retrospective; in public domain (e.g. Kitty Genovese bystanders) • Presumptive consent (from similar sample) • Prior general consent • Withhold data (damage done) • Participants (subjects) Lecture 4 | Social Psychology | C80FIP

9. Protection from Harm • Physical Harm: • e.g. anxiety (seizures, sweating, etc.) • Psychological Harm: • Psychological safety (of pp) • Confidentiality • Privacy (observing in public or private places) Lecture 4 | Social Psychology | C80FIP

10. Milgram’s study of Obedience • Milgram (1965) – Study of Authority: the way in which subjects are prepared to follow instructions to shock another subject • “study of memory” at Yale • Subject, Actor and Experimenter, Lecture 4 | Social Psychology | C80FIP

11. Stanford Prison ExperimentZimbardo, 1973 • Dispositional/ situational • Guards and prisoners • Power structure • Terminated • Behaviour change Lecture 4 | Social Psychology | C80FIP

12. Difficult Research Issues • Language • Violence • Stress • Personality • Drugs • Conformity • ??? Lecture 4 | Social Psychology | C80FIP

13. Reading • Eysenck, M. (2005) Psychology for AS level, (3rd ed.). Chapter 7, Section 19 All lecture slides on www.fenjaziegler.org Lecture 4 | Social Psychology | C80FIP

14. Would you take part in… • Research on brand recognition of commercial products • Research on product safety • Research in which you will be misled about the purpose until afterwards • Research involving group standards Lecture 4 | Social Psychology | C80FIP