Ethical Considerations In Psychology Research

Running head: ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS IN PSYCHOLOGY RESEARCH 1

Ethical Considerations in Psychology Research

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ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS IN PSYCHOLOGY RESEARCH 2

Ethical Considerations in Psychology Research

Ethical issues in psychological research are defined by the general moral positions

held by researchers and the study population (Heffernan, 2015). Some of the questions about

ethical considerations attempt to answer to questions such as “should researchers tolerate

some minimal amount of harm to subjects to advance science?” and “should researchers

deceive subjects during experiments to obtain potentially important and relevant

information?” The question does not only depend on the researchers and subjects views but

also upon their general ethical philosophy (Heffernan, 2015). Every research that involves

physical subjects must address ethical concerns such as respect for persons, beneficence, and

justice.

Haslam presents a critique of previous studies done by Milgram and Zimbardo

(Haslam & Reicher, 2012). The studies involved human subjects. The most immediate ethical

concern in Haslam’s paper is plagiarism. In this context, plagiarism refers to using ideas and

words other people without crediting the owners (Haslam & Reicher, 2012). Haslam credited

the studies to Milgram and Zimbardo indicating that he did not claim ownership of the ideas.

The ethical concern arising with Milgram’s and Zimbardo’s studies is justice and beneficence

respectively (Haslam & Reicher, 2012). Milgram’s study recruited predominantly male

volunteer participants against the requirement of justice that research participants are selected

fairly to represent all segments of the population. The ethical consideration of beneficence

was violated because the participants in Milgram’s study was administered with electric

shocks as high as 450V that was fatal to their health. Similarly, Zimbardo’s prison

experiment resulted in abuse meted out to the students who were selected as prisoners by

their fellows who were guards necessitating termination of the study after six days (Haslam &

Reicher, 2012). The experiment violated the ethical standard of beneficence that means to do

no harm, minimize risk and capitalize on benefits of research.

ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS IN PSYCHOLOGY RESEARCH 3

Mischel evidently violated the ethical principle of respect for persons by including

over 500 children at the age of 4 years (Mischel et al., 2011). Respect for persons implies

respecting the autonomy of the human participants through obtaining their informed consent

to participate in the study. According to most legal systems, children below 18 years cannot

give informed consent because they are considered unfit to make informed decisions

(Mischel et al., 2011). The researchers do not discuss how they obtained the participants

informed consent to participate. The principle can be implemented when participants

voluntarily choose to participate in the study as seen in the case of Milgram’s experiment

(Mischel et al., 2011).

In the replicated Asch’s experiment conducted by Larsen, the ethical principle of

respect for persons is not discussed (Larsen, 1974). However, the study selected college

students for the study indicating that the participants are eligible for inclusion in the study.

Larsen did not detail how he provided the participants with information to join the study

voluntarily (Larsen, 1974). The Asch’s research was done against the ethical principle of

justice that requires that the study participants are selected in a manner representative of the

population (Larsen, 1974). The Asch’s experiment consisted entirely of male participants.

The study did not have any consideration for beneficence because no harm was imminent in

the survey.

The other ethical concerns that are imminent in the three studies are trust implying

that the dignity and welfare of the individuals participating in the research is central to the

research. The researcher is responsible for upholding the ethical performance of the research.

The researcher should take additional care when dealing with potentially vulnerable subsets

of the population such as children, inmates, students, employees, pregnant mothers,

psychologically disabled persons, economically underprivileged persons, and terminally ill

persons.

ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS IN PSYCHOLOGY RESEARCH 4

References

Haslam, S. A., & Reicher, S. D. (2012). Contesting the “nature” of conformity: What

Milgram and Zimbardo's studies really show. PLoS Biology, 10(11), e1001426.

Heffernan, T. M. (2015). The Student's Guide to Studying Psychology. Psychology Press.

Larsen, K. S. (1974). Conformity in the Asch experiment. The Journal Of Social Psychology,

94(2), 303-304. doi:10.1080/00224545.1974.9923224

Mischel, W., Ayduk, O., Berman, M. G., Casey, B. J., Gotlib, I. H., Jonides, J., & ... Shoda,

Y. (2011). 'Willpower' over the life span: Decomposing self-regulation. Social

Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 6(2), 252-256. doi:10.1093/scan/nsq081

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