I just discovered a new series of videos called SciFusion Shorts, which posts well-produced, video interviews with psychology researchers around the world. They're a great place to hear about cutting-edge research and practice research methods concepts such as conceptual definitions, operational definitions, ethics, and graphing correlational results. The researchers use video clips to study resilience. …
Category: Chapter 04; Ethical Guidelines for Psychology Research
Repairing past research injustices (a joint post with Jess Hartnett!)
This is a joint blog post by two W.W. Norton & Co. authors (and pals): Beth Morling and Jess Hartnett. We first “met” through our blogs and social media years ago (Beth's blog on teaching RM, which you are reading now, and Jess's blog on teaching stats, notawfulandboring, here). Our friendship love language is DMing each …
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Placebo controls: When are they necessary? When are they ethical?
Many public health officials raise ethical concerns about requiring placebocontrolled tests of slight revisions to existing vaccines. Photo: PeopleImages.com - Yuri A/Shutterstock Placebo effects have been in the news lately because the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), Robert F. Kennedy Jr., announced a new policy requiring placebo controlled studies for vaccines before …
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Bonobos and chimps remember their friends
A journalist from the Washington Post has reported on a study showing that two ape species (chimpanzees and bonobos) appear to recognize old friends and family members. These two chimpanzees, Qafzeh and Edith, are living at the Edinburgh Zoo. See the journalist's story for a clip of Edith's eye tracking performance in the study. Photo: …
Respect for “persons” in animal research
On the Farm Sanctuary, chicken pig, and cow participants can only participate in research if they choose to. Credit: Xalanx/Deposit Photos Here's a second story on animal ethics for the month of February. In this journalist's report, you can read about the Farm Sanctuary in Watkins Glen, NY, USA. The sanctuary has a "new, in-house …
Animal ethics: What do we owe lab animals?
Researchers are expected to reduce the number of animals used, refine procedures to reduce pain and suffering, and replace animals with computer or cell models. What about repayment of animal subjects? Photo credit: Aleksei Gorodenkov/Alamy Stock Photo As you read in Chapter 4, the use of animals in research studies is well-regulated around the world. …
Can a cuddly object or blanket reduce adult anxiety?
Does holding a comfort object actually reduce anxiety in adults? That's an empirical question! Photo: NDanko/Shutterstock Apparently, about half of American adults still have a childhood teddy bear, and 40% still sleep with it (we can look into the methodology of this survey in a later post!). Do such comfort objects provide anything beyond sentimental …
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Tuskegee Syphilis Study: An anniversary
Four months after Heller's story broke, the Tuskegee study was terminated with this letter. Credit: U.S. National Archives In this photo from the 1950s, a man participating in the study had his blood drawn. Credit: U.S. National Archives The year 2022 marks the 5oth anniversary of a major news event--journalist Jean Heller's story about the …
Curbing hate speech with empathy
The study found that empathy-inducing responses like this were more likely to be followed by people deleting their original hateful posts. Photo courtesy of the author Hate speech abounds on certain corners of social media. Some people post racist, sexist, anti-immigrant, or homophobic comments, and these contribute to a harmful and hateful discourse online. Some …
Ethics, justice, and vaccine trials
The journalist writes that Black Americans have been proportionally less willing to participate in vaccine trials, perhaps because researchers in the past have violated their trust. Photo: Andrey_Popo/Shutterstock At time of writing (late 2020), researchers around the world are racing to test vaccines for the covid-19 virus. To test the efficacy and safety fo these …