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Notebook Page 4
Experimental Ethics
Unit 1 – Scientific Foundations of Psychology
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Experimental Ethics
Researchers must properly conduct humane, and ethical experiments

Some issues arise regarding psychological experimentation:

• Is it okay to expose groups to pain, trauma, or discomfort?
• Is it okay to conduct experiments on children, even with parental consent?
• Is it okay to conduct experiments on animals?

To tackle some of these issues, governments and universities have

established associations and regulations for psychological experiments
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Oversight and Protection

Psychological Institutions
The American Psychological Association and British Psychological Society determine
the ethics and procedures, and require compliance from any prospective experimenters

Federal Regulations
The HIPAA Privacy Rule, among other laws, requires that U.S.
physicians (mental & physical) keep patient information confidential

Universities
Local institutional review boards screen research proposals and safeguard participant’s well-
being at each institution according to the guidelines provided by the APA, BPS, government, etc.

Animal Rights
The Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee is a federally-mandated
committee in the U.S. that oversees animal programs, facilities, and procedures
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Experimental Prerequisites
While there is more detail involved in the regulations required by the APA
and BPS, most can be reduced to these four fundamental ethics rules:
1) Obtain informed consent of the subjects
2) Protection from physical harm or discomfort
3) Confidentiality regarding subject information
4) A full debrief of the results for subjects afterwards