Ethics in cognitive process

When writing about ethics, the following concepts should be explained:

Attrition rate: The percent of an original sample that drops out of a study over time. If too many participants drop out, or if too many of one type of participant drops out, the sample may become less representative of the target population.

Deception by omission: When the researchers do not explain all the details of a study to avoid demand characteristics.  The participants are not told anything that is untrue, but the lack of detail means that they are not giving informed consent.

Deception by commission: When the researchers give incorrect information to the participants about the study.  This could include giving them a false aim of the study.

Informed consent: Participants agree to be part of a study after being told what the study is about, what the possible outcomes of the study are, and what their rights are as a participant.

Undue stress or harm: "Undue stress" refers to any stress that would be more than a participant would encounter in everyday life. Simple discomfort or embarrassment is not "undue stress or harm."

Tversky and Kahnemann

Aim: to test the influence of the anchoring bias on decision-making (An anchor is the first piece of information offered to someone who is asked to solve a problem or make a decision

Procedure:A sample of highschoolers were split into two groups \n \n Ascending: participants in this condition were asked to calculate the total of 1x2x-8 \n \n Descending: participants were asked to estimate the total of "8x7x6-1"

Findings:

• Median for ascending group was 512 and median for descending group was 2250 but actual value was 40320
• Anchor is smaller then so is final estimate (1x2 for ascending group) (8x7 for descending group)