Ethical Principles
10
WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGY?
Is it ethical to put participants in psychological research through knowingly stressful conditions in order to
study the effects of stress? Is it ethical to deceive a participant about details of a research study because
their knowledge may influence the results? Should participants have the right to leave a research project
even if they have agreed to be involved? Answers to these types of questions form the basis of an area of
psychology called ethics.
Ethics are moral principles and standards that guide individuals to distinguish between right and wrong, or
good and bad behaviour. Ethical codes are adopted by various professions and help guide behaviour and
outline acceptable and unacceptable ways people can work within their chosen profession.
The Australian Psychological Society (APS) has created a Code of Ethics, which provides guidelines to follow
when conducting counselling or research. These guidelines are designed to protect the rights of human and
animal participants or clients and to ensure that no participant should ever experience any psychological or
physical harm during or as a result of participating in psychological research.
Responsibilities of the researcher
The responsibility for ensuring that the code of ethics is followed in any psychological research lies with the
researcher. The researcher has to weigh up the benefits to society from the potential findings of an
investigation against any discomfort or risks to the participants. For example, in the London Dungeon
experiment (page 38) the levels of stress experienced were high but this was weighed up against the
benefit of gaining an understanding of how much memory deteriorates with increasing stress levels. This
has implications for the accuracy of eye-witness testimony and ultimately the fate of many people brought
before a judge and jury. In this instance it was thought that the benefits outweighed the pain and suffering
caused by the stress endured.
Participants’ rights
It is important that all participants in psychological research are not harmed in either a physical or
psychological way. It is also the responsibility of the researcher to protect the rights of each individual.
Participants should not feel any pain or discomfort or experience stress or anxiety. The most important of
the guidelines relating to participants’ rights are presented below.
Informed
consent
Participants should not take part in any psychological research unless they give
informed consent in writing. Participants must be made aware of the aim of the
research and all procedures involved.
Voluntary
participation
All participants must participate in the research willingly and not be forced in any way.
Deception
Participants should not be deceived over the nature of the research or any procedures
involved in the research.
Debriefing
After the research, the psychologists conducting the research must be prepared
to explain and discuss all of the procedures and results with the participants.
Withdrawal
Rights
Participants should be made aware that they have the right to withdraw from the
research at any point, for any reason.
Confidentiality
Results of the research should remain confidential and the participants’ identities
should not be revealed. For example, in a case study, participants should be referred to
by their initials.
Professional
conduct
The Australian Psychological Society (APS) has published a guideline for conducting
research that must be adhered to at all times. This is to ensure that a psychologist
conducts their research in a manner that is professional, ethically acceptable, and does
not bring the profession of psychology into disrepute.
Professional conduct
At all times throughout a research, researchers are expected to conduct themselves in a professional
manner. They must not behave in a way that brings the profession or the scientific research into disrepute.
For example, they must not force people to participate against their will, ridicule participants or disclose
the findings of individuals without first getting their written permission. If psychologists collaborate with
scientists of other fields of science like biology or chemistry, they must agree to abide by the APS Code of
Ethics.
Use of animals in psychological research
Although most of the research in psychology is conducted on human behaviour, some of it, about ten per
cent, involves animals. Half of these studies are conducted on one of the most intelligent of all animals,
monkeys and other primates.
Ethical guidelines have been established for psychologists (and other researchers) to ensure that all
reasonable steps are taken to minimise the discomfort, illness and pain to animals used in research. The
use and care of laboratory animals must be directly supervised by a person who can ensure their comfort,
health and humane treatment.
If an animal is to be subjected to pain, stress or deprivation, research may occur only if no other alternative
is available and the research can be justified. If surgery is to occur, the animals must be given the
appropriate anaesthesia so they do not experience pain. When an animal’s life is to be terminated, it must
be done quickly and painlessly (Grivas and Carter, 2005).
Learning Activity – Ethics in Research
1. Define the term ‘ethics’.
2. Are you ever allowed to use deception in research? Explain your answer.
3. If deception is used, what must be done to combat the negative effects incurred by using it?
4. Go online to find out what ‘beneficence’ means. Go to the Australian Psychological Society’s
website (www.psychology.org.au) to find out.
Learning Activity – The Top 10 Unethical Psychological Experiments
Yesterday you explored the top 10 most unethical psychological experiments ever conducted. Though
these are highly unethical experiments, they forced the community of psychology to create their own
standards to operate under – ‘Code of Ethics’. This was to prevent these types of experiments from being
conducted again, because a failure to adhere to the code of ethics can result in significant harm to the
participants. For three of the top 10 unethical studies, complete the following:
1. Describe the research investigation in terms of the seven steps of psychological research (identify
the research topic of interest, formulate the hypothesis, select the research method and design the
study, collect the data, analyse the data, draw conclusions, report the findings). You may not have
enough information to explain each of the steps – provide as much detail as is available.
2. Using the ethical guidelines explain how the experiment may have breached the ‘Code of Ethics’.
3. Can you think of any reason why this research should be conducted again? Explain.