Ethical Issues and Ways of Dealing with Them

Ethical Issues: Definition

Ethical issues in psychology arise when the research being conducted may impose some form of physical or psychological harm on the participants or the general population. Psychologists and ethics committees have devised different ways of dealing with ethical issues that might occur in psychological research.

Fig. 1 - Ethical issues need to be considered and addressed in psychological research.

It also provides ethical guidelines built around four major principles: respect, competence, responsibility, and integrity. Researchers have a professional duty to follow these and could lose their job if they don’t.

Ethical Issues in Psychology

Ethical issues in psychology arise when there is a conflict between the rights of the participants in a research study and the goals of research to produce authentic, valid, and worthwhile data.

Ethical issues are relevant to everyone involved in the process of psychological research. Whether a practitioner or consumer of psychological services, each individual needs to be aware of the role that ethical guidelines play in directing the application of psychology to the problems of the real world.

As a psychology student, you must consider the ethical implications of different experiments and studies.

Understanding ethical issues mean you can do a critique on moral grounds and use cost-benefit arguments (i.e., is the ethical cost outweighed by the benefits of the research?).

Evaluating the costs and benefits of a psychological study is fundamental today. We want to ensure that what we do brings more benefits to humanity in the long run. Ethics committees weigh the costs and benefits of research proposals to decide whether a research study should go ahead or not.

History of Ethics in Psychology

The ethical issues and ways of dealing with them have come a long way since the beginning of psychology.

During the origins of psychology, ethical issues were of little to no concern. When psychology was not recognised as an independent discipline, the focus was on establishing the subject. Back then, few efforts were put into ensuring participants’ safety or the long-term effects the research could have on the participant’s health.

Some examples of ethical issues that were often breached when ethical issues were not established include:

• Intentional psychological harm.
• Deception.
• Occasional physical harm (Zimbardo had to end his study prematurely due to the psychological toll and physical harm that participants endured).

What are the ethical issues of the Watson and Rayner research?

• Intentional psychological harm, which is even more crucial as the study occurred during his early development stages.
• He is a child, so although his parents can consent, he cannot; it is also difficult for him to voice his concerns and withdraw from the study.
• Finally, anonymity remained an issue.

Ethical Issues: Examples

Most of the ethical issues that arise in a psychological study can come from four different principles.

Participants should know what they’re going into when it comes to research. Informed consent consists, therefore, in telling people the aims of the study and its procedures.

Also, ensuring they know their rights, including the right to withdraw at any point during and after the experiment. After giving this information to the participants, they can make an informed decision about whether they want to participate in the study.

Like informed consent, deception arises when a participant has not been adequately informed about the study or the researchers deliberately lied about it. The participant couldn’t have truly consented if misled about what would happen.

Although deception can be problematic, there are cases in which it doesn’t lead to distress for the participant.

Participants should not be more at risk of harm than they are in their daily lives. Another ethical issue example is that participants shouldn’t be subject to physical or psychological harm.

An important part is ensuring participants know they can withdraw at any point, even part-way through the study. An ethical issue that can arise from this is that even though participants know that they can withdraw at any point, the researcher is a figure of authority, which might make it harder for the participant to make the decision.

Participants have the right to privacy and confidentiality. The right to privacy is the ability to control personal information about yourself, and confidentiality is the right to have any personal data protected.

Ethical Issues in Research

Participants must sign a consent letter detailing all relevant information about the study before they can participate. This is called briefing, an important communication tool to avoid ethical issues. For children under 16, a parent or guardian has to sign.

At the end of the study, participants should be informed of the true aims of the study and any details they were not previously aware of (e.g., other groups or experimental conditions). Debriefing is another important communication tool to avoid ethical issues in psychological studies.

They should also be told where the research will be shared and have the right to withhold the data if they wish. This is important if retrospective consent is a feature of the study.

Participants should also be assured that their behaviour was normal, and if they have suffered psychologically due to stress or embarrassment, they should be provided with counselling.

Usually, researchers maintain anonymity and instead refer to participants using numbers.

Ethical issues in animal research are essential. They do not receive the same standards as humans; however, animal research is becoming less common due to ethical issues and animal rights concerns.

Fig. 2 - Animal research is only conducted when there is no other alternative to research the phenomenon.