essay on evaluating ethical issues in biological psychology and learning theories 12 marker
3 PEEL paragraphs and a balanced conclusion for top band marks
Evaluate ethical issues relating to psychological research
from biological psychology and the learning theories topic.
(12 marks)
1 ethical issue in research in learning theories is the possibility of normalising
unhelpful behaviour. This is when the participants develop undesirable
behaviour due to the study or gain the impression that their behaviour is
socially acceptable. This is a risk when conducting psychological research on
participants. For example, Bandura (1965) exposed 66 children aged 3-5 to
an aggressive role model who was rewarded with sweets and a soft drink
after displaying aggressive behaviour. This might have resulted in the children
gaining the impression that aggressive behaviour is acceptable as the role
model was positively reinforced. This may have normalised aggressive
behaviour in the children, which goes against social responsibility of the
research as it is unethical. In contrast, research into biological psychology
does not tend to normalise unhelpful behaviour. This is because most
research focuses on finding brain and hormonal differences in people
displaying violence and aggression compared to others who don’t display it.
For example, Dabbs et al. (1988) found that male prisoners committing violent
offences had higher testosterone levels compared to male prisoners
committing less violent crimes such as theft and burglary. This does not lead
to the prisoners assuming that aggression is socially acceptable because this
research focuses on determining physiological differences that are linked to
aggression. Therefore, research into learning theories may be less ethical as it
involves a greater degree of normalising unhelpful behaviour due to
observations involving aggressive role models. However, research into
learning theories may be more ethical as it obtains presumptive consent from
parents of children to be studied. For example, Bandura obtained
presumptive consent from nursery staff so that they allowed the children to
be part of the study, which made the study more ethical.
Another ethical issue in biological psychology and learning theories is issues
with social responsibility. This is ensuring that research leads to good
outcomes for everybody involved. However, the findings from Raine et al.
(1997) may suggest that aggression may be driven by differences in brain
structure and function, even though Raine clearly stated to be cautious
about the implications of his findings since there are other environmental
factors that must be taken into account when explaining aggression. The
public might still misinterpret the findings, which means that there may be
negative implications and bias for people with structural abnormalities in the
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