Discuss issues relating to the ethics of SSR

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“Psychologists have a real dilemma in carrying out works in socially sensitive areas.  Such work raises difficult ethical issues and yet it may provide insights into some of society’s most pressing problems.”

Discuss issues relating to the ethics of SSR, such as those raised in this quotation

Socially sensitive research describes studies in which there are potential social consequences or implications, either directly for the participants in research or the class of individuals represented by the research.  Socially sensitive research can produce risks for many people other than those directly involved, for example, members of the group to which participants belong, people closely associated with the participants, the experimenter/s or even the research institution to which the experimenter/s belong.  

  Sieber and Stanley 1988 have argued that ethical concerns can arise with respect to 4 major aspects of such research; deciding on the research question or hypothesis to be tested, the conduct of the research and treatment of the participants, the institutional context and the interpretation and application of findings in ways far removed from the intentions of the experimenter.  When looking at research that attempts to link crime to genetics, both legal and moral implications are created.  With regards to treatment of participants, one of the major problems is maintaining the confidentiality of information that might be revealed as part of the research process, for example, sexual habits or drug use.  In such situations the issue of confidentiality is paramount.  If confidentiality were broken, then participants would be less willing to divulge this information in the future and further research in this area would have been compromised.  On the other hand, carrying out socially sensitive research also carries significant implications for the researchers themselves.  Milgram was continuously harassed and criticised by the American press for his findings that ordinary people are capable of committing such atrocities when instructed to do so by an authority figure.  A major concern in the interpretation and application of research findings in psychology is that they may be used for reasons other than those for which they were originally intended.  Not all socially sensitive research issues are quite as controversial as Hamer’s work on the inheritance of a gene connected with homosexuality; research into the accuracy of children as witnesses in allegations of sexual abuse has shown quite clearly that children are able to remember events with the same kind of accuracy as we might expect from adults.  In contrast, up until the 1980’s, children’s accounts of sexual abuse were generally regarded as unreliable and therefore inadmissible as evidence.  

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  Studies that examine the relationship between race and IQ or the genetic basis of homosexuality can be considered socially sensitive; the scientific knowledge can be used for exploitation and even social manipulation.  Psychologists are cautioned that some aspects of human behaviour are beyond the scope of psychological research although it is largely left to the individual psychologists as to how this caution is interpreted.  This has resulted in some researchers avoiding sensitive areas altogether, and those who do pursue such areas often risk criticism from colleagues and others outside the discipline.  From this it is evident that socially sensitive ...

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