Deck 2: Ethics in Psychological Research

Question 1

When planning any study, the research psychologist faces the conflicting demands of producing meaningful research and

A)respecting the rights of human participants
B)wasting time by doing an experiment that doesn't come out as predicted
C)getting something published
D)being sure to avoid any deception of participants

Answer 1

respecting the rights of human participants

Question 2

The most recent APA code (2002)includes 5 general principles and 89 standards. Which of the following is true?

A)the standards are "aspirational goals" guiding the general behavior of psychologists
B)the principles are "enforceable rules of conduct" for psychologists
C)both alternatives a. and b.
D)none of the above

Answer 2

none of the above

Question 3

The purpose of Watson and Rayner's Little Albert study was to

A)determine if emotional responses could be conditioned
B)evaluate the effectiveness of a therapy for treating children's fears
C)determine the stimuli that produced the basic emotions
D)see if humans learned in the same way as animals

Answer 3

determine if emotional responses could be conditioned

Question 4

People are using their own personal system of ethics when they make statements like this:

A)I enjoy watching baseball on TV
B)I think I'll cut the grass tomorrow instead of today
C)I don't think it is a good idea to physically punish children
D)I don't think it is a good idea to take a research methods course until after you've taken a statistics course

Question 5

Concerning the assignment of risk, where would you place the participants in Milgram's experiment?

A)at minimal risk
B)at risk
C)experiencing no risk
D)none of the above

Question 6

If a study is planned by a research psychologist but actually carried out by a graduate student, who holds primary responsibility for the "dignity and welfare" of the participants?

A)the graduate student
B)the research psychologist
C)the Institutional Review Board (i.e., neither the student nor the psychologist)
D)the participants themselves (buyer beware)

Question 7

The most recent APA code (2002)includes 5 general principles and 89 standards. The general principles are "aspirational goals." Which of the following is an example of an aspirational goal?

A)concern for the rights and dignity of others
B)ethnic quotas for admission to graduate school in psychology
C)blind review of research articles (reviewer doesn't know name of article's author)
D)the obligation for psychologists to provide some of their services free of charge

Question 8

How did Watson and Rayner justify doing the Little Albert study?

A)they knew they would be removing the fear at the end of the study; thus Albert would leave the experiment without the fear
B)they had the parents' informed consent and the approval of the IRB
C)they thought he was strong and healthy and would not be harmed by the procedure
D)none of the above - they gave no thought to the ethical dimensions of their study

Question 9

What was the "critical incidents" technique?

A)a survey procedure used to elicit examples of unethical conduct by psychologists
B)a 10-point scale measuring the severity of an ethical infraction
C)a procedure for identifying studies that were ethically questionable but "critical" for advancing psychological science
D)a procedure whereby psychologists were sent a set of 50 experiments and asked to criticize them on ethical grounds

Question 10

Dennis (1941)studied a pair of female twins. What was true about his study?

A)he obtained parental consent before testing them
B)he was interested in whether environmental deprivation would affect development
C)he was able to show that twins have about the same IQ, even if raised in different environments
D)it was the first developmental psychology study to use assent in addition to consent

Question 11

The most recent APA code (2002)includes 5 general principles and 89 standards. One of the general principles obligates researchers to continually weigh the profit and the cost of the research they complete. Which general principle is this?

A)beneficence and nonmaleficence
B)integrity
C)justice
D)fidelity and responsibility

Question 12

The __________ was a result of a United States congressional commission, and it contains three basic principles for research with human participants: Respect for persons, Beneficence, and Justice.

A)Nuremberg code of ethics
B)Belmont report
C)IUCUC
D)IRB

Question 13

Based on the Doctors Trials of Nazi doctor's experimentation on humans, the __________ was developed and stressed the importance of voluntary consent of human participants of research.

A)APA code of ethics
B)Belmont report
C)critical incidents method
D)Nuremberg code of ethics

Question 14

When formulating the original APA code of ethics, the Hobbs committee used an empirical procedure called the __________ method.

A)informed consent
B)critical incidents
C)ethics case study
D)archival

Question 15

All of the following are the kinds of statements that derive from one's system of ethics except

A)I don't think it is appropriate to allow children to watch more than three hours of TV per day
B)People should not be allowed to have pets; it's slavery
C)I don't think it is appropriate to separate mind from body; the mind is just a looser term for the brain
D)If you spare the rod, you will produce an emotionally healthy child

Question 16

If there is minimal or no risk to participants, the IRB will

A)not have to consider the case
B)typically complete a formal review (just to be sure)
C)typically complete an expedited review
D)always approve the research

Question 17

In the original Milgram obedience experiment, the research participants played the role of

A)experimenter
B)learner
C)teacher
D)either learner or teacher, depending on a coin toss

Question 18

If participants find themselves performing tasks like those encountered in ordinary daily living, then they are considered to be

A)experiencing no risk
B)at risk
C)at minimal risk
D)none of the above

Question 19

Milgram's participants thought they were in a study about _______ when in fact they were in a study about _________.

A)obedience; punishment and learning
B)punishment and learning; obedience
C)obedience; helping behavior
D)helping behavior; obedience

Question 20

What was Myrtle McGraw's purpose in doing the "pin-pricking" study with infants?

A)she wanted to study physiological maturation in the infants
B)she wished to determine if the infants would habituate to the pin pricks and not notice them
C)she was studying fear conditioning, but using better controls than Watson
D)she was examining which parts of the body were most sensitive to skin punctures

Question 21

Researchers believe that some degree of deception in research is sometimes warranted because

A)without it, participants might not behave naturally
B)without it, participants would be less likely to volunteer
C)most participants really cannot understand the complexity of research in psychology
D)participants expect to be deceived

Question 22

What did the Willowbrook and Tuskegee studies have in common?

A)took advantage of mentally ill participants
B)questionable informed consent procedures
C)first uses of effective debriefing
D)first medical studies to use proper control procedures

Question 23

Which of the following is true of the Willowbrook hepatitis study?

A)there was a complete absence of informed consent
B)the researchers made no attempt to justify the study
C)it violated the principle that mentally disabled children should only be studied in research concerning mental disability
D)patient confidentiality was violated

Question 24

A study that involves naturalistic observation of public behavior would likely receive the following designation from an IRB

A)exempt from review
B)expedited review
C)full review
D)none of the above

Question 25

Consent forms typically include

A)a brief survey eliciting participant opinions about psychological research
B)the precise research hypothesis being tested
C)an assurance of confidentiality
D)a statement indicating that participants must complete the study once they start it

Question 26

In a study testing prisoners, special care must be taken to insure that

A)families of the prisoners give consent
B)deception is never used
C)prisoners don't feel coerced into participating
D)provide incentives large enough to gain the trust of the prisoners

Question 27

What distinguishes the following two historical examples of ethically "challenged" incidents: the Willowbrook case and the MK-ULTRA case?

A)Willowbrook broke confidentiality; MK-ULTRA was a failure to debrief
B)the Willowbrook researchers hoped to improve health; the MK-ULTRA researchers were not concerned with medical benefit to society
C)Willowbrook failed on the issue of assent, but was adequate on the issue of consent; the opposite was true of MK-ULTRA
D)Willowbrook involved human participants, while MK-ULTRA used animals

Question 28

At a university or college, the Institutional Review Board is a university or college committee that

A)evaluates proposals and awards grant money to researchers
B)evaluates the methodological soundness of research proposals
C)evaluates the ethical soundness of research proposals
D)accomplishes all three of the tasks outlined in alternatives a., b., and c.

Question 29

Research participants can expect to find several pieces of information in an informed consent form. Which of the following is not likely to be found?

A)a statement of the possible risks for participating
B)a mechanism for contacting the researcher after the participation is over
C)a statement of the study's true purpose and hypothesis
D)an assurance of confidentiality

Question 30

In debriefing after helping behavior studies, experimenters often emphasize that some situations are often so powerful that nobody could be expected to help. This portion of the postexperimental session is emphasizing what Holmes referred to as

A)debriefing
B)dehoaxing
C)desensitizing
D)both alternatives b. and c.

Question 31

Which of the following is true about an IRB?

A)its membership includes nonscientists
B)it always judges the methodological soundness of studies
C)its approval is not needed for research completed outside a laboratory
D)its decisions can be appealed to the APA ethics board

Question 32

According to the APA's ethics code for humans, those who volunteer for a study

A)can quit at any time, without penalty
B)must be debriefed at the end of the study, if they request it
C)must sign an informed consent form that fully explains all aspects of the study ahead of time, including its complete hypothesis
D)must complete the study, once they begin

Question 33

In terms of the current ethics code, Milgram's obedience research is most questionable with respect to which issue?

A)confidentiality
B)debriefing
C)following up on participants to insure their well being
D)allowing participants to quit any time in the procedure

Question 34

How did researchers justify the Willowbrook hepatitis study?

A)they believed the ultimate goal of eliminating hepatitis at the institution justified the deliberate exposure to hepatitis
B)they believed that hepatitis was so rampant that the participants would be likely to contract it anyway
C)both of the above justifications were used
D)the researchers made no attempt to justify the study

Question 35

Which of the following is not part of the APA's ethics code for humans?

A)those who are at least at minimal risk must give their informed consent
B)people may or may not decide to participate, but once they start a study, they are obliged to finish it
C)participants must be thoroughly debriefed at the end of a study
D)participants must be assured of confidentiality

Question 36

The Society for Research in Child Development publishes a set of ethical guidelines that supplement the APA code. One such guideline applies when studying school age children in a school setting. In this research, which of the following is true?

A)no student in a class can be tested unless all students in the class agree to be tested
B)in addition to parents, the students' teachers should also give their consent
C)at least one representative parent must be recruited to observe the research trials
D)because some children might be reluctant to participate, it is OK to provide them with incentives large enough to get them to volunteer

Question 37

Which of the following is true of the Tuskegee syphilis study?

A)there was a complete absence of informed consent
B)the researchers were really studying poverty, not syphilis
C)it violated the principle that mentally disabled participants should only be studiedin research concerning mental disability
D)confidentiality was violated when patients were described in a news story

Question 38

IRB's have been criticized by some researchers in psychology. Which of the following is an often-heard and serious criticism?

A)there is no appeal process to protect researchers from overzealous IRB's
B)IRB procedures slow down the research process
C)because psychologists have always had a keen sensitivity to ethical issues, IRB's are not really needed
D)IRB's should be made up of research scientists only-nonscientists just don't get it

Question 39

In research with school children, what is meant by the principle of assent?

A)this is when the parents give consent
B)this is when the teachers allow their classroom to be used in the study
C)this is when the children agree to participate
D)this is when the children are given concrete rewards for participating

Question 40

Dehoaxing is to desensitizing as _______ is to ________.

A)explanation; stress reduction
B)explanation; consent
C)stress reduction; explanation
D)stress reduction; consent

Question 41

Which of the following is true about the use of animals in psychological research?

A)animals used to be subjects in the majority of psychological research; they are now used in less than 1% of the studies
B)animals are no longer used in psychological research
C)animals are used in about half of the studies done by research psychologists
D)animals are used in about 8% of psychological research

Question 42

Researchers in the interdisciplinary field of __________ study human-animal interactions.

A)anthrozoology
B)anthropology
C)biological psychology
D)comparative psychology

Question 43

In their visual cliff research, Gibson and Walk (1960)studied both children and goats. Why goats?

A)goat and human visual systems are identical
B)goats could be placed on the visual cliff while blindfolded; you cannot do that to children
C)unlike children, goats can be raised is perceptual isolation
D)goats can move through the environment at about the same time as humans

Question 44

What does the APA ethics code for animal research have in common with the code for human research?

A)both have a need for informed consent
B)both have a need to balance scientific merit and potential harm to subjects
C)both have a need to test as few subjects as possible
D)both require IRB approval

Question 45

All of the following are included in the APA ethics code for research with animals except

A)periodic checks of the facility by a veterinarian
B)an animal subjects committee analogous to an IRB
C)a prohibition against the use of animals for mere educational use
D)painless death if euthanasia is necessary

Question 46

Most research psychologists believe that

A)"sentient" animals have the same basic rights as humans
B)animals can be subjected to procedures not to be used with people
C)ethical guidelines are essential for research with humans, but not so for research with animals
D)animal research has no relevance for understanding human behavior

Question 47

The "scientific purpose" of an animal research study can fit into one of three categories. Which of the following is not one of those categories?

A)increase our knowledge of the basic processes underlying the evolution of a behavior
B)yield results that benefit humans and/or the species being studied
C)increase the basic understanding of the species being studied
D)improve the safety and efficiency of commercial products that will be used by humans

Question 48

Research using the Internet is increasing. Which of the following guideline is least likely to be a problem for participants?

A)informed consent
B)confidentiality and privacy
C)debriefing
D)the option to quit any time

Question 49

According to APA guidelines, when is it considered appropriate to deceive participants about the true purpose of the study?

A)never
B)only when debriefing is excluded (therefore participants won't need to discover that they have been deceived)
C)only when the subjects are nonhuman
D)only when the research hypothesis could not be tested in any other way

Question 50

Why did Gibson and Walk (1960)study animals in the visual cliff studies?

A)the animals could be raised in visual isolation
B)animals can be fully mobile without a matter of hours
C)studying animals enabled them to control for perceptual experience
D)all of the above

Question 51

In his address on "The Value of Behavioral Research with Animals," Neal Miller argued that

A)all animal research is justified
B)animal research contributes to the psychological well being of humans
C)animal research should only be done if it can be shown that the research directly benefits animals as well as humans
D)the benefits of animal research have been significantly overstated

Question 52

Which of the following problems is unique to electronic research?

A)it is impossible to accomplish debriefing
B)deception might occur
C)participants might think they cannot quit the experiment without penalty
D)there is no way to insure that a participant is age 18 or older

Question 53

If a researcher is concerned about _______, then the researcher may ask participants to not disclose any information to others until the study is completed.

A)deception
B)participant crosstalk
C)confidentiality
D)desensitizing

Question 54

In the early years of the 19th century, antivivisectionists criticized

A)Watson's research on determining which senses contributed to maze learning
B)Watson and Rayner's Little Albert study
C)Small's pioneering maze learning studies
D)any medical research involving either humans or animals

Question 55

During debriefing, the experiment must be prepared to reassure the participant if the procedures have created some stress. This part of debriefing is called

A)informed consent
B)insuring confidentiality
C)dehoaxing
D)desensitizing

Question 56

The Institutional Review Board (IRB)is to research with humans as the __________ is to research with animals.

A)Animal Welfare Act (AWA)
B)Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC)
C)Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD)
D)National Research Act

Question 57

Moderate animal rights activists who grant the necessity of using animals for medical research often criticize the use of animals in psychological research on what grounds?

A)it is needlessly repetitive
B)animal research has no relevance for human behavior
C)both a. and b.
D)none of the above

Question 58

Animal rights activists argue that instead of using laboratory animals, psychologists should use alternatives. They recommend all of the following except

A)using nonintrusive observational procedures and study animals in their natural environments
B)substituting nonsentient for sentient animals (bugs instead of rats)
C)using computer simulations instead of live animals
D)using non-primate mammals (e.g., dogs)instead of primates

Question 59

According to the APA code of ethics for animal research,

A)appetitive procedures are preferred over aversive procedures
B)using animals for mere educational use is prohibited
C)in research involving pain, only nonsentient animals may be used
D)the research supervisor must also be a veterinarian

Question 60

In his address on "The Value of Behavioral Research with Animals," Neal Miller argued that

A)animal rights activists have overstated the harm done to animals by researchers
B)animal research doesn't do much for animals, but it can benefit humans
C)animal research doesn't do much for humans, but it can benefit animals
D)animal research never harms the animals

Question 61

Which of the following is true about falsified data?

A)it might go undetected if it is consistent with results from other laboratories
B)almost all research involves replication, so falsified data is easy to spot
C)creating all the data for a study is obviously fraudulent, but making up one or two data points is normal practice
D)fraudulent data is easily spotted because it produces results that don't make sense

Question 62

Diederick Stapel was found to have committed scientific fraud in the fabricating of data for many of his studies. What does his case illustrate about data falsification?

A)if fraudulent results are believable and understandable, the fraud may go undetected
B)most scientific fraud can be detected because the results will not be replicated when other scientists study the phenomenon
C)scientific fraud is often uncovered during the peer review process for journal publication
D)scientific fraud generally happens when researchers become mentally unbalanced

Question 63

In the case in which a researcher fabricated data about a treatment for hyperactive children, the fraud was detected because

A)the results never replicated
B)it caught the attention of peers during the peer review process; the results were never published
C)a colleague suspected that the data were not genuine
D)the researcher was overwhelmed with guilt

Question 64

The traditional view about data falsification is that it will be detected eventually by the scientific community because

A)faked results won't replicate and will therefore be discarded
B)a faked result will raise suspicions during the peer review process
C)both alternatives a. and b.
D)none of the above

Question 65

What does the APA ethics code have to say about the status of data collected by a research psychologist?

A)before results based on these data can be published, the data must be statistically analyzed by a person not involved in the data collection
B)researchers are expected to make the data set available to other scientists who ask to examine it
C)all research participants should have the opportunity to examine all the data, in order to determine if they want their to stay in the data set or be removed
D)researchers have copyright ownership over their data and can deny its availability to others