Professional Ethics for Psychology (PSE103)

PRELIM

VISION
A premier institution of higher learning in Region IV,
developing globally-competitive and value-laden
professionals and leaders instrumental to community
development and nation-building.

MISSION
As an institution of higher learning, UC (PnC) is committed
to equip individuals with knowledge, skills, and values that
will enable them to achieve their professional goals &
provide leadership and service for national development.

WHAT IS ETHICS?

MORALS & ETHICS

Morals
 Rules to guide our behaviour
 Based on a number of socially agreed principles
which are used to develop clear and logical
guidelines to direct behaviour
 Contain ideas about what is good and what is
desirable in human behaviour
 Concerned with or relating to human behaviour,
The Tuskegee Syphilis especially the distinction between good and bad
or right and wrong behaviour
Ethics
 A moral framework that is applied to a narrow
group of people
 A social, religious, or civil code of behaviour
considered correct, especially that of a particular
group, profession, or individual
 The philosophical study of the moral value of
human conduct and of the rules and principles
that ought to govern it
The Case Study of H.M.
Issues
 Something which arises because of a conflict
ETHICAL ISSUES
 In the case of psychological research it is usually
Informed Consent
a conflict between the requirements of
 The idea that any participant in an experiment
meaningful research (e.g. deception) and the
should be informed about what the research
rights of participants (e.g. to be treated
entails and asked formally to consent to take
honestly).
part.
Four Categories of Ethical Behaviour
 Basic human right was first recognized by the
 Consequence
Nuremberg trials.
 Action
 Character
THE NUREMBERG CODE
A set of ethical research principles for human  Motive
experimentation created by the court in the US. Two approaches for solving moral dilemmas
 Absolute Morals
o Some things are simply right or wrong
 Relative Morals
o Believe that all morals are dependent The purpose of conducting any research is to establish
on context knowledge that may be used to improve the world in
RIGHTS & VALUES which we live or to better understand ourselves and our
Rights behaviour
 Divine Rights - the rights are seen to come from JUSTIFYING UNETHICAL RESEARCH
the God of that society, and are commonly Some forms of deception aren’t that bad
written in a holy book and interpreted by  Presumptive Consent
religious scholars o You cannot ask the actual participants
 Natural Rights - describes human nature and to to give their informed consent because
say what parts of our behaviour are inevitable this would spoil the experiment, but
and what parts are created by the world we live you can ask a similar group of people
in and then presume that the actual
 Cultural Rights - rights from custom and practice participants would feel the same way
 Validity of Research Data
MORAL & ETHICAL DEVELOPMENT o Field experiments commonly have
Behaviorists’ view greater validity and the price we pay is
 A matter of learning which behaviour gets deception
rewarded and which gets punished  Costs and Benefits
Psychoanalysts’ view o If we can see that a study has the
 Explains and looks at how the child internalizes potential to produce meaningful
the personality of their parents findings that can be used to enhance
Cognitive Development view human lives, then we can balance this
 Emphasizes how we think through problems to against possible costs
arrive at our judgement
RESOLVING ETHICAL ISSUES
WHY STUDY ETHICS? Ethical Committees
The study of ethics allows us to reflect on our own  Used in order to avoid bias when a researcher is
behaviour and so change it for the better. left to make his or her own ethical judgements
about a prospective research study.
ETHICAL ISSUES  Their existence helps to correct the power
Ethical Issues in Psychology imbalance between experimenter and
 The dilemmas that arise when designing participant.
psychological research and the moral principles Ethical Guidelines
we use to assess whether our psychological  Professional groups develop ethical codes of
research is good or bad, right or wrong conduct that are a set of rules which can and
should be followed by members of the
THE PARTICIPANT’S VIEW professional group.
 All individuals should be treated with respect o Debriefing - the participant must be
and allowed to be in control of their own life correctly informed about the aim of
(autonomous) the experiment.
 Individuals should not suffer immediate or long- o Right to withdraw - All participants
term harm, either psychological or physical should be advised at the start of a
 What you do and say should not be exposed to research study that they can withdraw
public scrutiny without your permission from the study at any time.
 Research should be a collaborative process Using alternative ways
between researcher and participant not an  Prior General Consent - participants were given
autocratic one of ruler and subject, the term a list of research projects including one that
used in the past to refer to a research participant involved deception.
 Role Play - inform the participants about the
THE PROFESSION’S VIEW nature of the study and then ask them to
Members of any professional group have a duty to protect pretend that they are actually participating in an
the integrity of that group experiment

THE SOCIETY’S VIEW