Ethical issues in psychology

• Focus on the important questions:• Why are ethics important?• What are the issues?• What is and isn’t acceptable?• How should we make ethical judgements?

• Avoid writing essays about how naughty Milgram & Zimbardo were

• Use the studies to illustrate your discussion of the issues

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Why are ethics important?

• A number of reasons including:• Moral obligation to society• Professional values (‘amelioration of

the human condition’)• Image of the discipline and profession• Practical reasons e.g. getting

participants

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What are the issues?

• Research practices that threaten (directly or indirectly) the well-being of the participants e.g.:• Informed consent (lack of)• Deception• Risk of harm (physical/psychological)• Confidentiality & privacy (threats to)

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Ethical perspectives

• Deontological • The correctness of an action lies in itself,

not its consequences• E.g. lying is always wrong, even if it

produces a good outcome• Teleological

• The correctness of an action is determined by its intended consequences

• E.g. lying is good if it is done for the ‘right’ reasons (like protecting a person from harm)

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Ethical Perspectives

• Utilitarian• A form of teleological ethics• The moral correctness of an action is

determined by its consequences for society as a whole

• “The greatest good for the greatest number”

• Psychological researchers usually take a utilitarian view, but with certain absolute prohibitions

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Making ethical decisions

• Where ethical problems arise, a cost-benefit analysis is often applied, where:• Costs are the (potentially) negative

consequences of the research – usually for the PPs involved (NB: SSR)

• Benefits are the (potentially) positive consequences of the research for the PPs or (more usually) for society

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Cost-benefit analysis

• Provides a framework for making ethical decisions

• Involves subjective judgements about costs and benefits

• Consequences cannot always be anticipated e.g. Zimbardo, Milgram

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