The Importance Of Ethics In Psychology

When we define ethics we know that they are a set of moral principals that guide a person’s behavior. It is the norm for conduct that differentiates acceptable from unacceptable behavior and distinguishes right from wrong.
Ethics are different from laws as they are a broader concept. Laws tend to enforce ethical behavior in society.
It is imperative to cohere to ethical norms in psychological research for various reasons and as a volunteer I would expect the psychologist to do the same. Ethics set boundaries in research limiting to what the psychologist can or cannot do. It is especially important when the subjects are humans or animals as their safety and care has to be considered.

A few of the most critical guidelines as per me would be:

Avoiding discrimination on basis of ethnicity, sex or race. Being careful and avoiding negligence and errors. Have a signed consent and the right to withdrawal at any time.

Protection- Ensuring the complete safety of the subjects and minimizing risk of harm. Also in case of children, keeping them comfortable and taking care of their well being.

Animal welfare- Proper care of animals, minimizing harm and risk to their lives. Behavioral procedures must be followed to minimize discomfort to the animal.

Responsibility- Avoiding deceptive publications, not using unpublished methods or results. Avoiding plagiarism. Being a responsible mentor to students and treating them fairly.

In 1924, Carney Landis, a psychology graduate at the University of Minnesota developed the facial expression experiment. The aim of this experiment was to see if all people have a common expression when feeling disgust, shock, joy, and other

While all the participants were repelled by the idea, eventually two-thirds obeyed and did it. The unethical situation was the fact that most of the students had no idea how to perform this operation in a humane manner and the animals were forced to experience great suffering. For the one third who refused to perform the decapitation, Landis would pick up the knife and cut the animals head off for them.
The consequences of the study were actually more important for their evidence that people are willing to do almost anything when asked in a situation like this. It anticipated the results of Milgram's obedience experiment by almost forty years. However, Landis never realized that the compliance of his subjects was far more interesting than their facial expressions as his hypothesis was left unproven.
Milgram’s experiment similarly raised a lot of ethical questions. The subjects were lied to and deceived regarding the hypothesis being tested. They were also made to believe that they were subjecting the learner to pain thus causing themselves distress. They were not allowed to withdraw as they were constantly persuaded to