Psychology Notes - What are the ethical research practices in psychology? and What is learning?

by jkking (student)

AS and A Level Psychology

CRITICAL THINKING

Critical Thinking Paper

Judith King

University of Alaska

Learning Unit 2: Research Methods

Select: What are the ethical research practices in psychology?

The basis of ethical research in psychology first and foremost is that the volunteer patient expects that no harm, either physical or psychological, will come to them as a participant of the research. The guidelines are outlined in our text as follows:

The rights and well-being of participants must be weighed against the study’s value to science.
Participants must be allowed to make an informed decision about participation.
Deception must be justified.
Participants may withdraw from the study at any time.
5. Participants must be protected from risks or told explicitly of risks.
Investigators must debrief participants, telling the true nature of the study and expectations of results.
Data must remain confidential.
If for any reason a study results in undesirable consequences for the participant, the researcher is responsible for detecting and removing, or correcting, these consequences. (Ciccarelli & White, 2011)

Collect: Informed Consent

One of the most important components of ethical research in psychology is informed consent. I consider informed consent to be one of the most important components. On the APA’s website, this issue is addressed. “For persons who are legally incapable of giving informed consent, psychologists nevertheless (1) provide an appropriate explanation, (2) seek the individual's assent, (3) consider such persons' preferences and best interests, and (4) obtain appropriate permission from a legally authorized person, if such substitute consent is permitted or required by law.” ("Ethical principles of," 2010)

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Reflect: Celiac Disease

While I have never personally taken part of a research study, I have read many scholarly articles about research studies in curing celiac disease. Many of these studies include the patient ingesting a substance that their body has a lethal reaction to in order to test the effectiveness of the vaccination.

Connect:

This is a preview of the whole essay

Reflect: Celiac Disease

Connect:

I took part in a medical ethics group. The discussion was based on a young patient’s desire to die and the parent’s desire to keep the child alive. We studied the stages of death and the child’s development in order to come to a decision that the child should be able, depending on age, to make the choice whether to extend their life or pass away.

Reference:

Ciccarelli, S., & White, J. (2011). Psychology. (3 ed., p. 33). Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall.

Ethical principles of psychologists and code of conduct. (2010, June 01). Retrieved from

Learning Unit 5: Learning

Select: What is learning?

Learning encompasses so much of who we are as human beings. It is our ability to exercise our mind. I believe a man could live for a thousand years and still not have learned everything about our universe. According to the text, “Learning is the process that allows us to adapt to the changing conditions of the world around us.” (Ciccarelli & White, 2011) There are many forms of learning, since each one of us learns in different ways.

Collect: Methods of Learning

Throughout our book I learned of many different learning methods. Classical conditioning, operant conditioning, Jungian learning styles, and many more were discussed. One of the most famous examples of conditioned emotional response to a learned phobia was that of Watson and “Little Albert”. Behaviors can be learned. According to an article on Watson’s research on behaviorism by Christopher D. Green, “They must be retraced along at least three collateral lines - to conditioned and transferred responses set up in infancy and early youth in all three of the fundamental human emotions.” (Watson, 1997)

Reflect: Fear of Water

I have always had a fear of water. After reading the unit about learning and the theory of behaviorism, I was able to remember why I feared water. My brother’s were constantly throwing me in the swimming pool even though I did not know how to swim well. They also would try to hold me under the water just to scare me. This learned behavior followed me into my adult life.

Connect: Anthropology Class

I really connected this whole chapter to what I learned in my Anthropology class. Different cultures employ the use of both classical conditioning and operant conditioning to teach children how to behave within their culture. This is partly why we have such diversity in the world.

Reference:

Ciccarelli, S., & White, J. (2011). Psychology. (3 ed. p. 169). Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall.

Watson, J. B. (1997). Classic in the history of psychology. Retrieved from http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Watson/emotion.htm

Learning Unit 10: Personality and Assessment

Select: Discuss one of the personality theories.

I chose the behaviorist perspective. According to our text, the behaviorist perspective “focuses on the effect of the environment on behavior.” (Ciccarelli & White, 2011) The basis of the behaviorist is that personality is a learned response to environmental stimuli. There is the social cognitive view, which believes that we learn from models and our memory and anticipation plays a role in our personality also. Our text points out that social cognitive behaviorism is limited because it does not take social and mental processes into account.

Collect: Self-Efficacy

Self-efficacy is simply one’s belief in one’s self. It is our internal voice that tells us we can attain a goal. Albert Bandura of Stanford University explain self –efficacy from the standpoint of the social cognitive theory, “People’s self-efficacy beliefs determine their level of motivation, as reflected in how much effort they will exert in an endeavor and how long they will persevere in the face of obstacles.” (Bandura, 1989) Basically, belief in one’s self is what drives a person’s personality.

Reflect: Twin Differences

I have a fraternal twin sister, and we could not be more different even though the same people raised us in the same home. She played with Barbie dolls and detested being dirty. I played with GI Joes and would roll in a mud puddle if allowed. She was very blunt, forceful, loud, and had to be the center of attention. I was quiet, self-motivated, introverted, and liked being alone. I was I think this is where behaviorism and the social cognitive theory fails. Although we were raised with the same external stimuli and environmental factors, we are two very different people.

Connect: Training

While I do not have an academic example, I can relate to my job. Part of my job is training people. I have learned behaviors which people exhibit that can tell me right off whether they are going to grasp what I am teaching or completely ignore me. If I applied the social cognitive theory to their actions, I could deduce that their parents allowed them to be disrespectful and did not teach them to pay attention when being spoken to.

Reference:

Ciccarelli, S., & White, J. (2011). Psychology. (3 ed. p. 494). Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall.

Bandura, A. (1989, September). Human agency in social cognitive theory . Retrieved from http://des.emory.edu/mfp/Bandura1989AP.pdf.