Ethical Implications & Socially Sensitive Research

Ethical Guidelines:

A set of principles set out by the BPS to help psychologists behave honestly and with integrity.

Ethical Issues:

Issues that arise when there is conflict between the rights of the participant and the aims of the researcher(s).

These terms SHOULD NOT be confused with Ethical Implications.

Ethical Implications:

The term ethical implications considers the impact or consequences that psychological research has on the rights of other people in a wider context, not just the participants taking part in the research.

A really helpful tip in understanding this key term, is that when you are in your exam and you see the words ethical implications, just read the word implications. In essence, that’s what this key term means. Ethical implications refer to the consequences of the research and theory. This could be positive consequences or negative consequences.

Social Sensitivity:

Sieber and Stanley (1988) used the term socially sensitive to describe studies where there are potential social consequences for the participants or the group of people represented by the research.

Social sensitivity and ethical implications are directly connected to one another.

Ethical implications refer to any consequences, where as social sensitivity is specific to social consequences such as discrimination, political change and reinforcing stereotypes.

Therefore, social sensitivity is a specific type of ethical implication.

Sieber & Stanley’s 3 considerations for Socially Sensitive Research:

Social implications: Could the research create bias, racism, discrimination or reinforce harmful stereotypes?
Uses and Political change: What is the research going to be used for? Weigh up the possible costs and benefits before conducting any research. Could the findings be adapted in order to support certain pollical directions or public policies?
Validity and Interpretation of research: Are the findings accurate or driven by bias? Is the data correlational and presented as cause and effect evidence? Will the interpretation of the findings have harmful consequences?

Lets go through an example of a piece of research and explain how it could be socially sensitive, and the ethical implications. This will hopefully allow you to understand the difference between the two of them.

Zimbardo’s prison study:

Ethical issues: The participants were deceived, they were unable to provide fully informed consent. The experiment was distressing. However, they were debriefed when leaving the fake prison.

Ethical Implications: The research is useful in understanding how prisons can be reformed and how guards may need to be retrained.

Socially Sensitive: It could be argued that Zimbardo’s research is socially sensitive as the results could be used to reinforce harmful stereotypes of prison guards, suggesting that they are sadistic and lack empathy. It may also be used to create political changes such as enforcing uniforms in certain situations in order to control behaviour.

Bowlby’s Theory of Attachment – Monotropy:

Ethical Implications: Bowlby’s theory has contributed to the development of childcare practices and has protected children. However, it has also encouraged the view that a women’s place is at home with her children, which could make some mothers feel guilty for wanting to return to work, following childbirth.

Socially Sensitive: Likewise, it could be argued that Bowlby’s Theory of Attachment is socially sensitive as it could be used to coerce mothers to stay at home and look after their children. Reinforce gender stereotypes. It could be used to enforce political change i.e. changes in child care provision.

See below an interesting piece of research which could be great example of socially sensitive research:

Yerkes (1917) used 1.75 million army recruits in the USA during WW1. The recruits included White Americans, Black Americans and European immigrants. Procedure: From May to July 1917, Yerkes, together with a number of colleagues wrote the army mental tests. Together they developed three types of Intelligence tests. Examples of questions include:

Washington is to Adams as first is to …….
Crisco is a: patient medicine, disinfectant, toothpaste, food product?
The number of kaffir’s legs is 2, 4, 6, 8?
Christy Matthewson is famous as a: writer, artist, baseball player, comedian

Notice how biased these questions are to American culture.

Findings from Yerkes study:

White Americans had a mental age of a 13 year old. This indicated that the country was ‘a nation of morons’ and due to this, Yerkes quoted that ‘the poor, Negroes and feeble-minded had been interbreeding and lowering the overall intelligence of the population’
The black man had an average mental age of 10.41. However the lighter the skin colour. The higher the scores.

Consequences of the research:

THE IMMIGRATION RESTRICTION ACT was passed in 1924 by the US Congress and was shaped by Yerkes’ findings. People from southern and eastern Europe and from the Alpine and Mediterranean nations who had scored very poorly on the army tests were no longer welcome in the USA. These immigration restrictions were to have horrendous consequences. The persecution of the Jewish community which started well before the actual beginning of the Second World War, meant that many Jews tried to escape from their homeland, but there was ‘no admittance’ to America!

Strengths of Socially Sensitive Research

Psychologists have devised methods to resolve the issues raised.
SSR is the most scrutinised research in psychology. Ethical committees reject more SSR than any other form of research.
By gaining a better understanding of issues such as gender, race and sexuality we are able to gain a greater acceptance and reduce prejudice.
SSR has been of benefit to society, for example EWT. This has made us aware that EWT can be flawed and should not be used without corroboration. It has also made us aware that the EWT of children is every bit as reliable as that of adults.
Most research is still carried out on white middle class Americans (about 90% of research quoted in texts!). SSR is helping to redress the balance and make us more aware of other cultures and outlooks.

Weaknesses of Socially Sensitive Research

Flawed research has been used to dictate social policy and put certain groups at a disadvantage.
Research has been used to discriminate against groups in society such as sterilization of people in the USA between 1910 and 1920 because they were of low intelligence, criminal or suffered from psychological illness.
The guidelines used by psychologists to control SSR lack power and as a result are unable to prevent indefensible research being carried out.

Exam Questions:

Explain what is meant by socially sensitive research. [3 marks]

The term socially sensitive research is used to describe studies where there are potential social consequences for the participants or the group of people represented by the research.

For example, Milgram’s study could be considered as socially sensitive because the results could be used to ensure that people obey orders, including those they don’t wish to follow.

In a study of antisocial activity and social background, researchers interviewed 100 children aged 14 years. They then classified each child according to their level of antisocial activity. They concluded that 26 were ‘very antisocial’, 40 were ‘mildly antisocial’ and 34 were ‘not antisocial’. The researchers found that the majority of the ‘very antisocial’ children attended Crayford secondary school, whereas most of the other two groups of children attended another local school.

Briefly explain how the researchers could have dealt with the issue of social sensitivity in this study. [4 marks]

The researchers need to be aware of the methodology they use including the treatment of the participants and their right to confidentiality and anonymity. Furthermore, the researchers need to consider the application of the findings which could have negative implications for the students, the school and the wider community. For example, the findings could lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy where the student think that their school is ‘anti-social’ and as result become more antisocial. Both of these socially sensitive issues could be dealt with by ensuring that the researchers do not publish the names of any students or the school, which they have not done in this extract as they have named ‘Crayford Secondary School’’.

Discuss the ethical implications of research studies and theory, including reference to social sensitivity. [16 marks]

Ethical implications can occur at every stage of the research process in psychology, not only at the moment of actually conducting the research procedure. Ethical implications consider the impact or consequences that psychological research has on the rights of other people in a wider context, not just the participants taking part in the research. Social sensitivity is used to describe studies where there are potential social consequences for the participants or the group of people represented by the research.

Sieber and Stanley outlined four aspects of the research process that raise ethical implications, especially in socially sensitive research. Firstly, the research question should not add to any prevailing prejudice or stereotype, for example, the belief (by some people) that intelligence is inherited. Secondly, the information obtained should be treated with confidentiality before, during and after the research process. Thirdly, if the research is being funded by the government or an institution, the researcher should ensure that the data is not misused in any way. Finally, the researchers, should ensure that the interpretation of the data or findings has no impact on the participants involved or the group of people that those participants represent. According to Sieber and Stanley, if researchers follow these considerations then the research is less likely to have any social consequence on the participants involved and the group of people the participants represent.

Socially sensitive research can lead to issues of discrimination and therefore some psychologists would argue against conducting this form of research: For example, research examining racial differences in IQ has been used to justify unjust political change. Yerkes research played a part in the introduction of the Immigration Restriction Act that was passed in 1924 in America. These restrictions were to have horrendous consequences as the immigration from southern and eastern Europe was all but ceased. The persecution of the Jews which started well before the actual beginning of the Second World War, meant that many Jews tried to escape from their homeland, but there was ‘no admittance’ to America. Furthermore, Yerkes argued that black Americans had lower IQ scores in comparison to white Americans and suggested that the reason for low IQ scores in white people, was caused by the ‘interbreeding’ of white and black people. This is extremely socially sensitive because it promotes discrimination and racism towards black people and this could lead to unjust treatment.

Theories can also have ethical implications and be deemed socially sensitive. For example, Bowlby’s Theory of Attachment suggests that children form one special attachment bond, usually with their mother, which must take place within a critical period. Bowlby also suggested that this attachment bond affects their future relationships through an internal working model. In terms of ethical implications. It could be argued that on the one hand Bowlby’s theory has contributed to the development of childcare practices and has protected children. However, it has also encouraged the view that a women’s place is at home with her children, which could make some mothers feel guilty for wanting to return to work, following childbirth. This is deemed socially sensitive because it is potentially fuelling gender stereotypes, and the idea that women should stay at home and men should work. This is an outdated view that could be used to coerce mothers into staying at home.

It is important to recognise that socially sensitive research can highlight flaws in theories, and can therefore be used to improve our understanding of behaviour by unpicking the faults of earlier research. Milgram disagreed with other psychologists who had theorised that obedience was influenced by disposition, and that Germans were more inclined to obey. This was a socially sensitive theory because it promoted stereotypes about German people, which could lead to racism and discrimination. Milgram set out to disprove this because he believed that it was the situation that influenced obedience. He believed that anyone, who was put in the same situation, would follow extreme orders. Milgram studied 40 Americans and found that 65% would deliver a lethal electric shock if told to do so by an experimenter (authority figure). The findings from Milgram although unsettling, it had positive ethical implications because the research was useful to society in determining the factors that affect obedience to authority and also proved that culture was not the determining factor of obedience.

The issues with conducting socially sensitive research (like those highlighted above), are why some psychologists simply suggest that we should avoid conducting such research, and steer clear of sensitive topics, including race, gender and sexuality. Some psychologists believe that such research could have a negative impact on the participants. However, this would probably leave researchers with nothing but trivial questions to investigate. A more acceptable solution might be for psychologists to engage more actively with policy makers after the publication of their findings to help reduce the likelihood that data is misused and to ensure that evidence-based research is used in socially sensitive ways.

Examiner 16/16

Discuss one or more ethical implications of research in psychology. Refer to at least one topic you have studied in psychology in your answer. [8 marks]

Ethical implications within psychology refers to how published psychological research could have an effect on the rights/wellbeing of the sample as well as other individuals in society. In the past this has often led to undermining the rights of certain groups as the research helps form new discriminatory public policy. Nowadays psychologists argue that certain aspects of their research must be considered before publishing such as the direct implications on society, the possible use of it to shape public policy and the validity of the research if it does have implications.

One example of a study that has ethical implications is Lombroso’s Atavistic form, in which he claimed that criminals have specific physical features that show that they are under-evolved. Researchers pointed out that the theory was scientifically racist as it claimed many features typical of black people were atavistic features such as dark skin, curly hair and high cheekbones. Lombroso’s theory has also been accused of encouraging eugenics (the study of how to arrange reproduction within a human population to increase the occurrence of heritable characteristics regarded as desirable) as it claims certain people are less genetic superior due to their Atavistic form and they don’t add much to society.

An advantage of research into ethically questionable areas is that it starts a discussion when previously it may have been avoided in the mainstream media. For example, the scientific condition pre-menstrual syndrome is often a topic for debate. This has brought to the limelight how women’s feelings are often medicalised and then disregarded. This new discussion due to ethically questionable research has allowed psychologists to be more careful when determining gender differences. A disadvantage of ethically questionable research is how it can negatively shape public policy despite often being peer-reviewed to show it lacked validity. For example, the development of the 11+ exam shaped many people’s futures, often for the worst and yet the research backing it up was cherry-picked data. Even after it was shown to lack scientific rigour the 11+ exam was continued to be used. This shows how psychological research can have a long-lasting ethical effect on people’s lives and psychologists should take this into consideration when publishing their findings.

Examiner – 8/8