The British Psychological Society (BPS) in 1985 approved a secure set of guidelines in which the Ethics Committee acknowledged a need towards the importance and upkeep on the development of ethical decision making (British Psychological Society, 2009). The BPS aims to maintain the highest standards of professionalism; uphold ethical attitudes, behaviour, and judgements in order to keep the public protected. At the same time encouraging and developing standards of values and principles which will help advance the understanding in the psychological field (British Psychological Society, 2009). This essay will include why we need ethical standards and examples of psychological studies such as: Zimbardo’s (1971) Stanford Prison Experiment and The …show more content…
The BPS came up with a set of guidelines to be used when working with animals, the Guidelines for Psychologists working with Animals (2012). Before carrying out any psychological experiments psychologist must make sure that the participants are protected from any risks. Prior to any research, the researcher must be aware that cultural, ecological, societal background and gender distinctions may affect any investigation (British Psychological Society, 2014.)
These principles have changed a lot from many psychological experiments that now question ethics. An example can be recognised in the Stanford Prison Experiment by Phillip Zimbardo (1971). Zimbardo wanted to show the power of social situations on people’s behaviour. The study used 24 students who were recruited by volunteer samplings, in order to study the roles of individuals in a prison setting. Half of the participants were randomly given the social role of a prisoner whilst the other half were given the guard role (C. Haney,
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Participants were not informed about the arrest which was carried out and were not given full facts about the experiment. The prisoners were lied to and their consent form was broken, this goes against the BPS code of human research ethics that participants should give informed consent before any experiment. Another unethical issue about the experiment is that participants were psychologically traumatised and were physically beaten. They started to experience mile emotional disturbance and rage (Brady & Logsdon,
The Asch and Milgram’s experiment were not unethical in their methods of not informing the participant of the details surrounding the experiment and the unwarranted stress; their experiment portrayed the circumstances of real life situation surrounding the issues of obedience to authority and social influence. In life, we are not given the courtesy of knowledge when we are being manipulated or influenced to act or think a certain way, let us be honest here because if we did know people were watching and judging us most of us would do exactly as society sees moral, while that may sound good in ensuring that we always do the right thing that would not be true to the ways of our reality. Therefore, by not telling the participants the detail of the experiment and inflicting unwarranted stress Asch and Milgram’s were
In Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Study, Zimbardo was interested in finding out how voluntarily people would conform to the roles of guard and prisoner in a stimulated role-playing experiment. Participants were picked to be either a prisoner or a guard and were placed in a prison environment for six days before Zimbardo had to shut the experiment down (Cherry, 2014). For the IRB ethical guideline respect of persons, each participant was given an informed consent about the study. Participants also had a preliminary interview in which participants with anxiety issues were told not to participate due to effects of the study. However, consent could not be fully informed because even Zimbardo himself did not know what was going to happen in the study (McLeod, 2008). Participants in this study also had the right to withdraw although they felt like they could not because they were being conformed to a prison environment. Confidentiality was also included in the study because participants had to complete a release form for their video footage to be used. Participants were also given an ID number during the experiment, therefore, remaining anonymous not only to other members of the study, but also anyone who watched the footage (McLeod, 2008).
In this study Zimbardo chose 21 participants from a pool of 75, all male college students, screened prior for mental illness, and paid $15 per day. He then gave roles. One being a prisoner and the other being a prison guard, there were 3 guards per 8 hour shift, and 9 total prisoners. Shortly after the prisoners were arrested from their homes they were taken to the local police station, booked, processed, given proper prison attire and issued numbers for identification. Before the study, Zimbardo concocted a prison setting in the basement of a Stanford building. It was as authentic as possible to the barred doors and plain white walls. The guards were also given proper guard attire minus guns. Shortly after starting the experiment the guards and prisoners starting naturally assuming their roles, Zimbardo had intended on the experiment lasting a fortnight. Within 36 hours one prisoner had to be released due to erratic behavior. This may have stemmed from the sadistic nature the guards had adopted rather quickly, dehumanizing the prisoners through verbal, physical, and mental abuse. The prisoners also assumed their own roles rather efficiently as well. They started to rat on the other prisoners, told stories to each other about the guards, and placated the orders from the guards. After deindividuaiton occurred from the prisoners it was not long the experiment completely broke down ethically. Zimbardo, who watched through cameras in an observation type room (warden), had to put an end to the experiment long before then he intended
Smith, A. (2000). The inescapably ethical character of psychotherpy. Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology.. Retrieved from http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&btnG=Search&q=intitle:The+inescapably+ethical+character+of+psychotherpy#0.
Many ethical boundaries were crossed in the Stanford Prison Experiment. Abuse was not limited to physical, but also psychological (Burgemeester, 2011). In the movie The Stanford Prison Experiment, which depicts events that actually occurred, the guards played physiological tricks on the prisoners. The prisoners were lead to believe that they actually committed crimes and couldn’t leave the experiment. One main thing that the guards did to physically and psychologically harm the prisoners was to tamper with their sleeping schedules. They would wake the prisoners on the middle of the night and have them do exercises, and once they were done they were permitted to go back to sleep (Ratnesar, 2011). By doing this the prisoners lose sense of what
You’re sitting at your house, you hear a knock at the door. You go and open it and to your surprise it’s the police. They’re turning you around and placing cold metal handcuffs on you while you’re getting read your miranda rights and spread eagle against the cop car while you’re searched. You’re being slung into the back of a cop car and driven to the police station, sirens wailing. When you arrive you get your picture taken, but you don’t smile. They take your finger and dip it in ink, then push it down hard on a piece of paper. They then put you back into the police car and drive you to another location. You’re still handcuffed, and you’re taken in. They put you in a dress, they put cold, heavy, loud shackles on your ankles. They make you put pantyhose on your head, and put rubber shoes on your feet. Then, last but not least, they place you in a small room with a bed thats nailed to the floor and a metal toilet which is also nailed to the floor. They close the metal bars behind you and it’s loud. Then all you can hear are the chains of your neighbors. All of this, and you're innocent. These are the events that happened to twenty four college males who participated in the Stanford Prison Experiment. This is just one example of many controversial psychological experiments. Certain psychological experiments suggest major controversy and their methods should be reconsidered.
In the mental health profession of counseling, therapy, psychology, psychiatric and social services ethical dilemmas are faced primarily on a daily basis. Being that mental health professionals are working with clients who are often fragile and vulnerable, they must develop an intense awareness of ethical issues. On the other hand, mental health professionals would never intentionally harm their clients, students or colleagues and others whom they work with. Unfortunately, good intentions are not enough to ensure that wrong doings will not occur and mental health professionals have no choice but to make ethically determined decisions. Depending upon the experience and expertise of the professional determines the outcome of the ethical circumstance. For example, if you were practicing mental health professional and had a friend who’s a licensed psychologist, who is invited to attend the wedding of a patient that she has been seeing in court-ordered therapy for a year; what advice would you give your friend?
The American Psychological Association (2013) approves of research on animals as long as the test meets the association’s guidelines. The guideline is very in-depth, but the two especially important points are: that the research has an acceptable scientific purpose, and has a reasonable chance of improving the health or welfare of animals or humans. The guideline advises against tests that harm the animal, however if the researchers can prove that the test is important enough they may be able to conduct their studies.
Having a positive approach helps psychologists clarify what they value, contemplate how they must behave, and decide what institutes suitable professional demeanor. The significance of positive ethics supports psychologists and allows them to reach their utmost ethical principles instead of violating the rules. The American Psychological Association are the top procedures to monitor to help stay within the ethical guidelines which has recently had revisions in the year two thousand two. There are a number of ethical codes to consider as a forensic psychologist cannot have the unawareness of particular psychological information, absence of specific preparation in forensic, presumptuous the lawyer will offer the expert with the essential legal ethical and professional evidence, assuming diverse jurisdictions are comparable in laws, how the laws are applied and failure to recognize the sole matters related with privacy and privileged communications for the work in the forensic
Bush, S. S., Connell, M. A., & Denney, R. L. (2006). Ethical Practice in Forensic Psychology: A Systematic Model for Decision Making. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/11469-001
The field of clinical mental health is one of great reward, but also one of grave responsibility. It is the duty of the counselor to provide the client with a safe environment and an open mind, in order to foster a healthy therapeutic relationship. The majority of mental health counselors would never intentionally harm their clients; however; good intentions are not enough to ensure that wrong will not occur. The ethical expectations and boundaries are regulated by both laws and professional codes. When discussing ethics, one must realize there are two categories, mandatory and aspirational. (Corey, Corey & Callanan, 2007)
In psychology, ethics are important because they set boundaries and control the way psychology is used by a set of laws. Ethic codes mainly protect clients from misuse of psychology. Ethics are important because they refrain the psychologist from lying to a patient. They also give protection to the public, clients, and psychologist. Overall, ethics are used to protect the psychologist and client from harm, as well as give control to the behavior in order to ensure safe and effective treatment. http://www.efpa.be/ethics.htm
Maureen H. Miner recommends in his article that any training in ethics will be judged by the quality of ethical choices made by those who complete it. If psychologists are to be recognized as professionals who are committed to best practice, then we should take ethical training very seriously. (Miner, 2005)
In this case, the psychologist is presented with several ethical issues which could cause harm to the client. The first ethical issue that arose in this case is the potential for a role conflict. The psychologist and Mr. Hartwig had contact prior to the development of a therapeutic relationship when the psychologist bought a car from Mr. Hartwig. It may not be enough that the brief, informal relationship ended. The psychologist must assess the dimensions of the previous relationship from the viewpoint of the client as well as his/her own personal feelings (Koocher & Keith-Spiegel, 2008). For example, the client could feel that he gave the psychologist a good deal and that the psychologist was indebted to him. This could leave the psychologist vulnerable to being manipulated by the client. Or, what if the car broke down? This could leave the psychologist feeling cheated and resulted in hostile feelings toward the client. The psychologist has an ethical responsibility to examine both relationships for role incompatibility prior to forming a therapeutic relationship. The psychologist seemed to be aware that there was the potential role conflict resulting from their initial meeting, and he acted ethically by attempting to refer Mr. Hartwig to a Psychology Registry.
Ethics play a major part in individual daily lives. Whether it is in an individual career, business, or family there are ethical values. Based on cultural, economics and religious differences many time the standards of ethics may vary. Some ethical values may be stronger and others may have few rules/laws they may abide by. Ethics are based upon a persons or groups moral principles, as we know some peoples’ morals should be questioned. This is the reason that large organizations have set in place their own ethical principles that they want their members to follow. Any profession that deals with psychology not only follows the organizational ethical rules but that of the American Psychology Association (APA). The APA refers to the ethical guidelines, Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct. Students of The Chicago School of Professional Psychology also follow another set of ethical values known as the TCS Codes of Conduct. Both ethical guidelines focus on the “do’s and don’ts” of the psychology world and that of the school. Both altos discuss at length the consequences of an individual