Scientific Benefit vs. Ethical Cost
This controversy is all about finding a
balance between making scientific
progress and protecting people and
animals from harm.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9S
9gwhS6Yk
Lesson 1 Objectives
• To be able to define ‘scientific benefit’ and
‘ethical cost’
• To consider why ethical dilemmas arise in
Psychology
• To describe the scientific benefits and ethical
costs of lab experiments involving deception.
Definitions
• Use your handout and the textbook to
produce your own definitions with examples
• Scientific benefit
• Ethical Costs
• Read out your definitions to a partner and
decide on any improvements
Psychology and ethics
• CQ – Is research justified when you measure
scientific benefits against ethical costs?
• Gross (2003) particular ethical issues are
raised in psychological research because
humans and animals have feelings and can
experience pain, fear and so on.
• The double obligation dilemma
• What is it? Why does it pose a problem?
Lab experiments, Deception and
Informed Consent
• The key ethical questions here are “Can failure to
inform the participant of the true purpose of the
experiment ever be justified?” and “Can the end justify
the means?”
• What are the scientific benefits of deception in
psychological research? Look at page 70-71 for ideas.
• Give examples of studies that could not have produced
valid results without deception.
Asch 1955
A
B
C
Loftus and Palmer 1974
Ethical Costs
• What were the ethical costs of these examples?
• What did Milgram say about
what Pps thought after his study on
obedience? Refer to handout
• Did the end justify the means?
Dealing with deception
• What can be done to overcome deception
issues?
• Use your handout to discuss and write down
the problems with using these :• Debriefing
• Presumptive Consent
• Stopping the study if things go wrong
Quick recap
• Do you have good definitions of scientific
benefit and ethical costs?
• Can you suggest reasons why ethical issues
occur in Psychology?
• What are the scientific benefits of deception
in research? Give some examples.
• What are the ethical costs of deception? Give
examples.
Lesson 2
• To consider the scientific benefits and ethical
costs of using other research methods besides
Lab experiments.
• To understand how cost-benefit analyses are
used by ethics committees.
Alternatives to Lab Experiments
• Lab experiments are seen as the most
scientific as they establish causal
relationships.
• However they lack ecological validity. What
does this suggest about the scientific benefit?
• So what benefits are there of other methods
of research?
• What ethical issues do they raise?
Rosenhan (1973)
Complete handout on these methods.
• Observations (see middlemist)
• Field Experiments (Rosenhan, Langer and
Rodin)
• Case Studies (HM)
• Animal studies (Blakemore and Cooper) Gray
argues animal suffering is justified if it
alleviates human suffering. (Speciesism)
Cost-benefit approach
• Aronson (1992) suggests that one way of
dealing with ethical issues is to use a costbenefit analysis, weighing up how much good
will derive from the research against any
potential harm or distress to the participant.
• Key questions are:
• Can we derive the scientific benefit before the
study?
• Can we predict the ethical costs?
Ethical committees and cost benefit
approach
• Read about Laud Humphreys’ tearoom trade
study and conduct a cost benefit analysis
• Discuss as many scientific benefits as you can
with a partner. Use the table worksheet
• Now discuss the ethical costs
• As an ethics committee would you have
approved this research?
Lesson 3 Objectives
• To identify the scientific benefits and ethical
costs of some famous studies in Psychology
• To consider the advantages and disadvantages
of using cost-benefit analyses.
When is harm justified?
• Review your handout and the textbook for
information about Milgram’s study.
• What was the scientific benefit? Was it
predicted?
• Could the harm caused be anticipated?
• What does this suggest about ethical
committees?
• What about the benefit and costs of Zimbardo’s
prison study? How was this improved by BBC’s
‘The Experiment’
Cost-benefit approach - Ethics Debate
• Scenario based on Piliavin et al Good Samaritan study on
bystander apathy.
• Mad scientists – Your task is to persuade the ethics
committee to approve a bystander apathy study in which a
person will pretend to be shot by a sniper in the centre of
London so that researchers can observe their helping
behaviour. There will be fake blood and a gun shot.
• Touchy feely complainers – Your task to complain on behalf
of the innocent bystanders in the street and recommend
revisions to the study.
• Sensible ethics committee – Your task is to find a balance
between scientific benefits and ethical costs and approve a
version of the study you are happy with
Evaluation
• What does Baumrind (1975) (pg71) argue
about the use of a cost-benefit analysis?
• Does the scientific benefit gained from
research directly benefit its participants?
• Do participants benefit in any way?
• What is the true scientific benefit of
conducting artificial experiments?
• What are the scientific benefits of conducting
research using other methods?
What is meant by scientific benefits?(3)
Critically consider the balance of scientific benefits measured
against ethical costs in Psychology (22)
Assessment Objectives
• Remember that controversy questions are
different.
• AO3 Marks are gained for showing your
understanding of the scientific method by
making relevant arguments and using
evidence.
• AO2 Marks are gained for counter-argument
and analysis of points (highlighting what they
suggest/mean)
Outline Plan – over to you!
• Intro – Explain the controversy –finding a balance. Outline why ethical
issues occur in Psychology and give example.
• AO3 Outline the scientific benefits of lab experiments using deception e.g
valid results (Milgram).
• AO3 What are the ethical costs and problems with ways of dealing with
them e.g debriefing – does it help?
• AO2 Do lab experiments produce valid results? (ecological validity) Are
there ways that deception can be dealt with (debriefing)? Do these help?
• AO3 Outline the scientific benefits of other methods of research e.g
Observation (Tearoom Trade), case studies (HM) as opposed to lab
experiments. (better ecological validity but lower reliability)
• AO3 What are the ethical costs of these e.g privacy, consent for HM
• AO2 How can these studies be generalised? What’s the benefit?
• AO3 Explain the use of cost-benefit analyses/ ethical committees BPS,
• AO2 Is it possible to predict benefits or costs? Use Zimbardo/BBC as
example.
• Conc: How do we strike a balance? Is our duty to participants or the
general public? What benefit is there to the actual pps? Is the balance
between science and ethics in psychology about right or too in favour of
one side?