The Importance of Ethical Guidelines When Conducting Psychological Research

Ethical guidelines are the frameworks and standards that govern psychologists in conducting a morally justified research to respect the rights of the participants. Since the researchers are responsible for the welfare of the participants, it is vital for them to act in accordance with a specific strict code of ethics and moral principles. One of the common ethical framework used in many psychological studies is IVCARD where ‘I’ stands for Informed Consent, ‘V’ equals Voluntary Participation, ‘C’ is Confidentiality, ‘A’ being Accurate Reporting, ‘R’ is Right To Withdraw and ‘D’ as Do No Harm. Although there are few disadvantages of these strict ethical guidelines, the advantages outweigh them. This is evident from two of the

To ensure that a researcher’s enthusiasm for knowledge and understanding doesn’t let them get carried away, clear guidelines for ethical behaviour in research, a Code of Ethics, have been established by governments, institutions and various professional societies such as the American Psychological Association(APA), the British Psychological Society (BPS) and the Psychological Society of Ireland (PSI).

The APA ethical guidelines help to ensure that all psychological research maintains the integrity that it does not do harm or conflicts with the majority of the human populations moral ethical codes. However, in some situations the APA ethical guidelines must be viewed as just that: guidelines. If a study has the potential to benefit humanity as a whole and does not result in the permanent or irreparable harm to a human being then some guidelines must be permitted to be stretched or even broken in the interest of human advancement and scientific progression. After all the goal and responsibility of a psychologist is to enhance our understanding of human behavior as well as to find ways to use this information to better society and humanity

As I enter training as a professional in psychology, personal values that I will bring are trustworthiness, empathy, listening skills, openness, and beneficence. During training I will make sure to practice what I have learned so when the time comes for me to serve clients in the real professional settings, I will have the skills to apply. I believe that these values align with the code of ethics because they are part of the foundation needed to build a therapeutic relationship with clients and understand their situations. By building a therapeutic relationship with clients, effective objectives and goals can then be put into place to begin the process of recovery. As I work with clients, their needs will be my priority and all my efforts

When dealing with psychological assessment you are dealing with people, and any time you are dealing with people you have to be mindful of the ethical concerns that come with whatever form of testing you are conducting. In the past there have been many legality issues concerning ethical violations, some were on accident and others were carried out to benefit someone other than the person being tested. Anyone in the psychological field has the responsibility to remain objective and conscientious of what they are putting a subject through during the time of testing. There are many ethical concerns that I will discuss throughout this paper, the main focus I am revolving

The first principle per the APA code of ethics is beneficence and nonmaleficence, this is where psychologist focus on the do no harm to their patients (APA, 2010, p.2). A psychologist is to strive to provide the best benefit to a potential client or individual they professionally work with and seek to safeguard their welfare and rights. The guarding of welfare and rights is also attributed to animals used in research. Among psychologist, conflicts will arise and should be handled accordingly to minimize harm (APA, 2010, p.2). Due to the possibility that a psychologist’s scientific judgment and actions may affect another’s life, they must be alert of their own personal, financial, social, or political views as they may be misused to influence others. The psychologist also needs to be aware of their own mental and physical health, so they are at their best capability when helping others.

abusive, disrespectful, the prisoners (inmates) showed levels of stress and anxiety that were through There has always been an overflow of unethical situations running rampant in the correctional system. The guards

Throughout this experiment a diversity of ethical breaches occurred which effected the guidelines of the experiment. First of all, the rights of the participants were breached, as the participants suffered great torment and harm both physically and psychologically. Several participants had mental breakdowns and many suffered symptoms such as crying, yelling, screaming, and curling up. In the meantime, they were stripped naked, they were also beat up by the guards, and they were not feed properly. This caused many prisoners to experience anxiety, depression, and stress. None of the actions above respects the rights of the participant!

It could be argued that more strict action was required to control misbehaving inmates, but the abuse and dehumanizing treatment of the prisoners was nowhere near acceptable. Although both groups acted unjustly towards the other group it was expected that the guards would act more fairly and be more respectful to the prisoners even if prisoners had acted out of line in some way. After many prisoners suffered severe psychological trauma the experiment was abruptly ended

The ethical principles also are the basis for a wide-range of codes and laws which help to determine how to act ethically and professional in practice. This is evident in the Australian Psychology Society (APS) Code of Ethics which demonstrates the minimum expectations of professional and ethical behaviour for psychologists (APS, 2007). The Code of Ethics (2007) states three main categories; Respect, Propriety and Integrity, which despite having different names parallel the same principles Beauchamp and Childress addressed. The Code of Ethics (2007) outlines an extensive set of rules and guidelines taking into account legal and moral standpoints to demonstrate how professionals can merge ethical practice in practice and outlines guidelines on confidentiality and other professional matters. Furthermore, APS has produced a list of ethical guidelines (APS, 2007) which provides more specific insight on how to

After six days, the prisoners and prison guards could no longer differentiate between the experiment and reality. The prisoners actually believed that they were prisoners subject to the commands of the guards, and the guards actually believed that they had to power to punish the prisoners as they deemed fit. The guards developed extremely cruel routines to discipline disobedient prisoners and eventually most of the prisoners underwent psychological and emotional breakdowns. Overall, the experiment demonstrated chilling aspects of our society’s prison culture and also revealed the influence of our environment on our own

The study failed the first ethical guideline for people. According to the textbook, the book states the “the rights and well-being of participants must be weighed against the studies value to science” where in other words, the participant’s well-being is the primary concern before the research. However, Zimbardo was driven to investigate the human behavior from a mock prison where he took the research more into account than the participant’s

I have learned that “what” the research finds isn’t the only thing that is important. We need to also be considered with “how” they went about finding it. The treatment of the research participants is always a consideration when doing research. Beneficence is the process of finding the most accurate results possible while ensuring fair treatment of the participants (Cozby & Bates, 2012). Some steps taken to ensure proper treatment of participants begin with informed consent. This ensures that those involved understand the all parts of the research that may affect their decision to participate (Cozby & Bates, 2012). This does not necessarily mean that there is full disclosure as that may interfere with accurate results. Debriefing is helpful after the completion of the research to counteract any ill effects suffered because of the research (Cozby & Bates, 2012). A safeguard in place to further protect participants is the Institutional Review Board. This board is in place and responsible for the research conditions taking place at their institution (Cozby & Bates, 2012). Another way to protect participants is confidentiality. This can be achieved through anonymous questionnaires, or coding of answers to protect privacy (Cozby & Bates, 2012). Protection doesn’t only apply

So, in the case of Milgram's experiment participants were randomly picked, told about the experiment being about a learning memory before entering the study area and, all teachers picked were encouraged by the experimenter to continue regardless of the shocks given to the learner (Great thinkers: Human, all too human, 2011). Because participants were volunteers and were not forced to continue (some left the experiment) and the pre-recorded screams mislead teachers as learners never received painful shocks there was no the violation of ethics. Although some participants may have held some psychological contempt for his/her actions, the manipulation of the study indicates that malicious behavior separates from self-intention as people acted within the social constraints.

Ethical Principles of Psychologists and the Code of Conduct are very important guidelines in any workforce. “These guidelines serve a purpose to guide and inspire psychologists toward the very highest ethical ideals of their profession” (APA, 2002). There are five major parts of the Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct guidelines. These parts include, Beneficence, Responsibility, Integrity, Justice, Respect for People 's Rights and Dignity. These are also known as principals that start from A, and end in E. All of these guidelines are to be obeyed when working in our chosen career.