Deck 3: Research Ethics

Question 1

The Nuremberg Code was the first formal statement of the importance of distributing risks and benefits fairly across different groups in society.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

Milgram's original obedience study would be considered unethical by today's standards.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

Informed consent refers to participants' reading and signing a consent form.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

The APA Ethics Code allows for deception in psychological research under certain conditions.

Question 5

Debriefing refers to informing participants about the details of a study before it begins.

Question 6

IRB approval for a study is obtained after collecting data but before publishing the research.

Question 7

A psychologist who is unfamiliar with the APA Ethics Code cannot be held responsible for conducting research that does not conform to that code.

Question 8

Autonomy refers to people's right to make their own choices and take their own actions.

Question 9

It is generally acceptable for researchers to wait until debriefing to reveal their research question.

Question 10

Ethical researchers consider how their research might affect society.

Question 11

An informed consent form is a necessary part of the informed consent process.

Question 12

Scientific studies are considered ethical only if there is no risk of harm to the participants.

Question 13

The APA Ethics Code was first published in 1953.

Question 14

Institutional review boards consist entirely of psychologists and other research scientists.

Question 15

Prescreening can be used to identify participants who are at high risk of harm in a study.

Question 16

The first written ethics code for research with human participants was the Declaration of Helsinki.

Question 17

Participants in the Tuskegee syphilis study were prisoners in a state penitentiary.

Question 18

The Nuremberg Code was written in association with the trials of Nazi war criminals after World War II.

Question 19

Participants in Milgram's (1963) obedience study received dangerous electric shocks.

Question 20

Ethical researchers are able to eliminate all ethical conflict from their studies.

Question 21

Milgram himself reported which of the following reactions among the participants in his original obedience study?

A) trembling
B) seizures of laughter
C) stuttering
D) all of the above

Question 22

What does IRB stand for?

A) Intermittent Reality Board
B) Internal Recording Board
C) Illogical Research Board
D) Institutional Review Board

Question 23

Research that suggested that there was a relationship between the MMR vaccine and autism highlights which of the following ethical issues?

A) Research on medical issues should be left to medical professionals.
B) Research participants should never be deceived.
C) Psychological research can have negative effects on society.
D) The scientific community often shuns researchers who publish unpopular results.

Question 24

When it comes to the use of animals in psychological research, which of the following summarizes what the APA Ethics Code says?

A) Research with animals is acceptable if harm to the animals is minimized and is outweighed by the benefits of the research.
B) Research with animals is acceptable only if the animals are studied in their natural environments.
C) Research with animals is never acceptable.
D) Research with animals is acceptable only if the animals are not harmed in any way.

Question 25

Which of the following is NOT one of the general moral principles discussed in the textbook?

A) avoiding deception
B) acting with integrity
C) weighing risks against benefits
D) seeking justice

Question 26

Burger (2009) was able to replicate Milgram's obedience study ethically by doing which of the following?

A) using nonhuman animal participants
B) telling participants that they might be reduced to a "twitching, stuttering wreck"
C) conducting it as a thought experiment only
D) stopping participants when they were about to deliver the 150-volt shock

Question 27

Measuring characteristics of potential participants to identify those who may be at risk of harm in the study is called _____.

A) debriefing
B) prescreening
C) informed consent
D) risk reduction

Question 28

The principle of informed consent requires which of the following?

A) Participants read and sign an informed consent form.
B) Researchers tell participants about their hypotheses before the study begins.
C) Participants must have a minimum of seven days to think about whether or not they will participate.
D) Participants are told everything that might be expected to affect their decision to participate.

Question 29

Which of the following was a feature of Milgram's famous obedience experiment?

A) deceiving research participants
B) shocking research participants
C) holding research participants against their will
D) using prisoners as research participants

Question 30

During debriefing, researchers should do which of the following?

A) identify the research question
B) reveal any deception that took place
C) describe the full research design
D) all of the above

Question 31

Consent forms should be kept together with the data that have been collected.

Question 32

Which of the following is true of the use of deception in psychological research?

A) It used to be allowed but it is not anymore.
B) It can be used only in the evaluation of psychotherapy effectiveness.
C) It is acceptable if there is no alternative way to conduct the study.
D) Most researchers in psychology believe that it is wrong.

Question 33

Give a hypothetical example to illustrate a violation of each of the following general ethical principles: weighing risks against benefits, acting responsibly and with integrity, seeking justice, and respecting people's rights and dignity.

Question 34

The Nuremberg Code was written in association with which of the following?

A) the Treaty of Versailles
B) a review of Milgram's obedience study
C) the trials of accused Nazi war criminals
D) the Tuskegee syphilis study

Question 35

In Milgram's famous study, who was the confederate?

A) the person being shocked
B) the experimenter
C) the person doing the shocking
D) none of the above

Question 36

Which of the following occurred in the infamous Tuskegee syphilis study?

A) Research participants were told they had syphilis even though they did not to see how they would react.
B) Research participants were denied treatment for their syphilis.
C) Research participants were injected with syphilis bacteria.
D) Research participants were give experimental treatments for syphilis.

Question 37

Research on the effectiveness of normal educational activities would generally be categorized as which of the following?

A) exempt
B) minimal risk
C) at risk
D) none of the above

Question 38

What was the first formal ethics code for conducting research with human participants?

A) The Belmont Report
B) The American Medical Association's Code of Research Conduct
C) The APA Ethical Principles
D) The Nuremberg Code

Question 39

The APA Ethics Code includes principles that apply to which of the following activities?

A) writing and publishing research
B) conducting studies
C) working with patients
D) all of the above

Question 40

What three groups must be taken into account in the consideration of the ethics of a research project?

A) society
B) clinical practitioners
C) the scientific community
D) research participants

Question 41

What were two ethical problems with Milgram's (1963) famous obedience study? How does each one fit into the framework for thinking about ethical issues?

Question 42

Imagine a study in which the researcher put some people in a happy mood and others in a depressed mood to observe the effects of mood on memory. Describe an appropriate informed consent and debriefing procedure for this study.

Question 43

Under what conditions is deception of research participants considered to be ethically acceptable according to the APA Ethics Code? Give an example of a hypothetical study for which deception would be considered unacceptable and another for which it would be considered acceptable.