Why bother?
To ensure that all participants are protected from harm. This will give psychology a good name and should mean that participants will be willing to take part again in any future research. This is very important because participants are vital for psychological research. Any psychological harm suffered by participants would give psychology a bad name and would deter further participation in research.
The BPS's 4 Principles
The British Psychological Society’s Code of Ethics and Conduct has 4 principles:
Respect
Psychologists should respect individual, cultural and role differences, including (but not exclusively) those involving age, disability, education, ethnicity, gender, language, national origin, race, religion, sexual orientation, marital or family status and socio-economic status. They should also respect the knowledge, insight, experience and expertise of participants and members of the general public .and avoid practices that are unfair or prejudiced. The guidelines informed consent, right to withdraw and privacy and confidentiality are part of the principle of respect.
Competence
Psychologists value the continuing development and maintenance of high standards of competence in their professional work, and the importance of preserving their ability to function optimally within the recognised limits of their knowledge, skill, training, education, and experience.
Psychologists should: Develop and maintain a comprehensive awareness of professional ethics, including familiarity with this Code, Integrate ethical considerations into their professional practices as an element of continuing professional development. Recognise that ethical dilemmas will inevitably arise in the course of professional practice and accept their responsibility to attempt to resolve such dilemmas.
Responsibility
Psychologists value their responsibilities to the general public, and to the profession and science of psychology, including the avoidance of harm and the prevention of misuse or abuse of their contributions to society. The guidelines protection of participants and debriefing are part of the principle responsibility.
Integrity
Psychologists value honesty, accuracy, clarity, and fairness in their interactions with all persons, and seek to promote integrity in all facets of their scientific and professional endeavours. The guidelines relating to deception are part of the integrity principle.
- Respect – informed consent, right to withdraw, confidentiality
- Competence
- Responsibility – protection of participant, debrief
- Integrity – deception
Respect
Psychologists should respect individual, cultural and role differences, including (but not exclusively) those involving age, disability, education, ethnicity, gender, language, national origin, race, religion, sexual orientation, marital or family status and socio-economic status. They should also respect the knowledge, insight, experience and expertise of participants and members of the general public .and avoid practices that are unfair or prejudiced. The guidelines informed consent, right to withdraw and privacy and confidentiality are part of the principle of respect.
Competence
Psychologists value the continuing development and maintenance of high standards of competence in their professional work, and the importance of preserving their ability to function optimally within the recognised limits of their knowledge, skill, training, education, and experience.
Psychologists should: Develop and maintain a comprehensive awareness of professional ethics, including familiarity with this Code, Integrate ethical considerations into their professional practices as an element of continuing professional development. Recognise that ethical dilemmas will inevitably arise in the course of professional practice and accept their responsibility to attempt to resolve such dilemmas.
Responsibility
Psychologists value their responsibilities to the general public, and to the profession and science of psychology, including the avoidance of harm and the prevention of misuse or abuse of their contributions to society. The guidelines protection of participants and debriefing are part of the principle responsibility.
Integrity
Psychologists value honesty, accuracy, clarity, and fairness in their interactions with all persons, and seek to promote integrity in all facets of their scientific and professional endeavours. The guidelines relating to deception are part of the integrity principle.
The 6 Ethical Guidelines
Informed Consent – Participants should be told the nature, purpose, and anticipated consequences of any research participation, and ideally the researcher should gain informed consent at the beginning of research. If participants are under the age of 16, consent needs to be gained from parents or guardians.
Right to withdraw – Investigators should make clear to participants their right to withdraw from the investigation at any time irrespective of payment or other inducement. If a participant withdraws they have the right to demand their own data and recordings to be destroyed.
Privacy and Confidentiality – Participants privacy should be respected and in the case of observations research you should only expect to be observed in a ‘public place’. All results or information gathered relating to specific individuals must be kept confidential. Names or details of participants should not be released. Participants should be made aware where any breech of confidentially may occur.
Protection of Participants – Researchers must not cause any physical or psychological harm to participants. They should leave a study in the same state that they entered.
Deception – Intentional deception such as lying to participants, misleading them about the aims or other aspects involved must be avoided as much as possible unless deception is necessary in exceptional circumstances to preserve the integrity of research.
Debriefing – A way to overcome breaking ethical guidelines after a piece of unethical research has been conducted is to debrief your participants. This is done at the end of the study, it is the researchers’ responsibility to provide participants with any necessary information they need to complete their understanding of the study and check that participants have not suffered any harm psychological or physical harm. If the participants had been deceived in any way or consent not gained the researchers should fully explain the true purpose.
Right to withdraw – Investigators should make clear to participants their right to withdraw from the investigation at any time irrespective of payment or other inducement. If a participant withdraws they have the right to demand their own data and recordings to be destroyed.
Privacy and Confidentiality – Participants privacy should be respected and in the case of observations research you should only expect to be observed in a ‘public place’. All results or information gathered relating to specific individuals must be kept confidential. Names or details of participants should not be released. Participants should be made aware where any breech of confidentially may occur.
Protection of Participants – Researchers must not cause any physical or psychological harm to participants. They should leave a study in the same state that they entered.
Deception – Intentional deception such as lying to participants, misleading them about the aims or other aspects involved must be avoided as much as possible unless deception is necessary in exceptional circumstances to preserve the integrity of research.
Debriefing – A way to overcome breaking ethical guidelines after a piece of unethical research has been conducted is to debrief your participants. This is done at the end of the study, it is the researchers’ responsibility to provide participants with any necessary information they need to complete their understanding of the study and check that participants have not suffered any harm psychological or physical harm. If the participants had been deceived in any way or consent not gained the researchers should fully explain the true purpose.
Cost Benefit Analysis
Psychologists must ‘weigh up’ the benefits to society that may be gained by testing new theories and the costs to the participants within the research. This may often produce conflict about treating the participants ethically. For example, if informed consent is obtained and no deception is used in the study the participants are being treated ethically BUT they are not naïve so this could affect the results of the study.
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Comparing the Debate with Other Debates
Free Will / Determinism
Determinism has the danger of causing psychological harm due to the implications research may have such as genetic causes of behaviour or poor upbringing
Nature/nurture
Taking the nature view has the danger of causing psychological harm due to the implications research may have such as suggesting genetic causes of behaviour which a person can do nothing about. Taking the nurture view may cause psychological harm as it may blame mental health / crime on a poor upbringing
Reductionism/ Holism
Narrowing the cause of behaviour to single variables (reductionism) may cause psychologists to deceive Ps when they are researching or fail to get informed consent.
Individual/ situational explanations
Situational explanations can be seen as removing individual responsibility whilst individual explanations risk labelling. Both have a level of psychological harm.
Usefulness
One way to assess whether a study is ethically acceptable is to do a cost (in terms of psychological harm) and benefit (potential usefulness of the research) analysis.
Socially sensitive research
Often socially sensitive research causes psychological harm
Psych as a Science
The BPS guidelines encourage psychologists to have respect, competence, responsibility and integrity. This should encourage them to take a scientific approach to research.
Free Will / Determinism
Determinism has the danger of causing psychological harm due to the implications research may have such as genetic causes of behaviour or poor upbringing
Nature/nurture
Taking the nature view has the danger of causing psychological harm due to the implications research may have such as suggesting genetic causes of behaviour which a person can do nothing about. Taking the nurture view may cause psychological harm as it may blame mental health / crime on a poor upbringing
Reductionism/ Holism
Narrowing the cause of behaviour to single variables (reductionism) may cause psychologists to deceive Ps when they are researching or fail to get informed consent.
Individual/ situational explanations
Situational explanations can be seen as removing individual responsibility whilst individual explanations risk labelling. Both have a level of psychological harm.
Usefulness
One way to assess whether a study is ethically acceptable is to do a cost (in terms of psychological harm) and benefit (potential usefulness of the research) analysis.
Socially sensitive research
Often socially sensitive research causes psychological harm
Psych as a Science
The BPS guidelines encourage psychologists to have respect, competence, responsibility and integrity. This should encourage them to take a scientific approach to research.
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Hodder Education's
Psychology Review Centre Spread on being an ethical researcher in Psychology can be found here |
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