AP Psychology - Ethical Violations

informed Consent

• Whenever possible investigators should obtain the consent of participants.

• They also need to know what it is that they are agreeing to

• Danger Warning 

• 18+ or Guardian Permission 

• Presumptive consent 

Types of deception 

• deliberate misleading

• deceptive instructions

deliberate misleading

• using confederates, staged manipulations in field settings

deception by omission

failure to disclose full information about the study, or creating ambiguity. 

deceptive instructions

misleading or confusing directions that can trick someone into doing something incorrectly

Confidentiality

• Participants, and the data gained from them must be kept anonymous unless they give their full consent.  No names must be used in a lab report.

  • False Names 

  • Group Results 

 Withdrawal 

• Participants should be able to leave a study at any time if they feel uncomfortable.

• They should also be allowed to withdraw their data.

• They should be told at the start of the study that they have the right to withdraw.

Protection of Participants

• Researchers must ensure that those taking part in research will not be caused distress.

• They must be protected from physical and mental harm.

• This means you must not embarrass, frighten, offend or harm participants.

Debrief

• After the research is over the participant should be able to discuss the procedure and the findings with the psychologist.   They must be given a general idea of what the researcher was investigating and why, and their part in the research should be explained.

Why even use Animals? 

• Long terms effects easier to study with shorter life spans 

• Easier to control (white rats) 

  • diet 

  • living arrangements

  • genetic relatedness 

simple behaviors (easier to manipulate)