PSY
429 Experimental Psychology
Experimental Dilemma # 7
Answer
PSY
429 Experimental Psychology
Experimental Dilemma # 7
Answer
Attribution research is interested in the kinds of self-attributions people make about their own behavior, how those attributions are made, and how those attributions govern behavior. The researcher proposed the following experiment. College students will be brought into a small seminar room for testing. The experimenter will tell them that they will receive several intelligence tests, and the better they do the greater the amount of credit they will receive for participation. Although the questions on the test will be extremely difficult, half of the participants will be told not to worry about the difficulty because the questions were devised for potential members of Mensa (an elite group of high IQ people). The other half of the students will be told that the test is a new version of a tedst to be used for admission to college. When students fail on most of the questions, sthe researcher will assess to what the students attribute their failure. A second aspect of the proposed study will be to videotape the participants surreptitiously as they are completing the test. Participants will be aware that the scoring manual for the test is in a book case in sthe testing room, and the experimenter wants to see how many students in each group cheats.
Suppose you are on a committee that reviews the ethicality of research proposals. What would you say about the ethical aspects of this research?
The students should address the issues of deception and informed consent. Many aspects of the procedure involve deception, and the researcher has not made any provision for withdrawal, protection, or debriefing. Having a video tape of a student cheating means that some provision for confidentiality must be undertaken.
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