6b' Ethics in Psychological Research

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6b. Ethics in Psychological Research
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The Milgram Studies

• Interested in obedience
• Began in 1961, 3 mos after start of Adolf
  Eichmann war crimes trial
• Advertised for participants for study of memory
  and learning

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Procedure

• One teacher (the participant) and one learner
  (actually a study confederate)
• Told to study word pairs
• When the learner made a mistake, the teacher
  was to administer an electric shock

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• Shocks supposedly ranged from 15 volts to 400
  volts
• Labelled from Slight Shock to Danger Severe
  Shock XXX

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Typical Layout

• Experimenter near participant
• Participant hears confederate screaming in pain
• Participant can stop, but is urged to continue

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If you had been a participant in this experiment,
when would you have quit administering electric
shocks?
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What do you think was the most common voltage at
which participants refused to administer shocks?
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What percentage of people do you think went all
the way to the end of the scale 450 volts?
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Were Milgrams studies ethical?

• Decision is based on a cost-benefit analysis
• What is the cost (harm?) to participants?
• What is the cost of not doing the study?
• What are the benefits to participants?
• What are the benefits to researchers?
• Whats the scientific contribution?
• Benefit to society?

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Deception

• Has been lots of deception in social psychology
  (e.g., Humphreys, 1970)
• Undermines informed consent
• Simply wrong to mislead people?
• Damage to psychologys reputation?
• Use of deception decreasing, most studies do not
  use deception

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Problems with Informed Consent

• Participants may change their behaviour
• Not real
• Not generalizable
• Selection bias
• May change who would participate in a study
• Again, not generalizable

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Alternatives

• Role-playing
• Simulations
• Honest Experiments
• Problems
• May not be applicable
• May not reflect reality
• May still produce unethical activity (e.g.,
  Zimbardo Stanford Prison Experiment)

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Other Ethical Issues

• Privacy/Confidentiality
• Anonymity
• Concealed observation
• (Middlemist et al., 1977 studied male urination)
• Maybe people wouldnt mind?
• Try role-play first
• Special Populations
• Children, patients

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Experimenter Obligations

• Punctuality
• Honour the agreement
• Be sure to keep track of credit
• Be up to date with Code of Ethics

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Animal Research

• Should we do animal research?
• This is both an ethical and political question
• Much, if not most, of the major progress in
  psychology has been conducted with animals where
  it would not have been possible with human beings
• Must adhere to Code of Ethics regarding animal
  treatment.

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Fraud

• Must not falsify data
• Must take steps to correct errors
• Must not plagiarize
• Do not make allegations of fraud lightly
• (e.g., Sobell Sobell, 1973 effectiveness of
  controlled drinking)
• Careful records a defence against allegations of
  fraud

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Jackson Rushton (2006)

• Conclude that men are just a little bit smarter
  than women.
• Previously criticised by peers
• ...Rushton argues at length for what he calls
  the 'principle of aggregation', which in his
  hands, means the pious hope that by combining
  numerous little turds of variously tainted data,
  one can obtain a valuable result but in fact,
  the outcome is merely a larger than average pile
  of shit.
• David P. Barash (Evolutionary Psychologist,
  cited Wikipedia http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._P
  hilippe_Rushton
• What ethical issues are raised here?