Social Sensitivity

• Very few researchers deliberately carry out studies that intend to have a negative impact on people. However, they sometimes overlook the negative impact that they may have.

  Ethical implications are the wider impact the researcher may have in terms of:

  • rights of other people
  • how research is used for public policy
  • how findings are communicated
  • how certain groups are regarded

  If the study has ethical implications, then it raises the question carried out of published.
• Seiber and Stanley define socially sensitive research as:

  Studies in which there are potential consequences or implications, either directly for the participants in the research or for the individuals represented by the research. In other words, findings from studies that may have an impact on groups in society.
• Seiber and Stanley suggest four things that a researcher will need to consider:

  • the research question - some questions could be damaging for a particular group of people , e.g. "is intelligence inherited?"
  • the method used- the rights of the participant e.g. confidentiality
  • who is funding the research and how the findings will be used
  • how findings will be applied to society e.g. how they will be used to shape social policy and law
• Bowlby's theory of attachment was used in social policy and to discriminate against women. He became an advisor in WHO in the early 1950s. His idea was that mother love in infancy is as important for mental health as vitamins are for physical health. He felt that the best person to bring up the child was the biological mother and this influenced views on childcare, with women staying at home and men going out to work.

  • today it makes women feel guilty for wokring and leaving their child in day care
  • could influence the legal norm that mothers are granted custody of their child
  • socially sensitive as it implies that women should stay at home and look after the children rather than pursue careers + the role of the father is not important in child development
• A03

  • A further problem with socially sensitive research is that it can be used in social policy to the detriment of certain groups in society and to the benefit of others.
  • Cyril Burts research influenced a report on education reforms which led to the creation of the 11+ examination in the UK
  • This was used to determine whether a student goes to a grammar or a comprehensive school
  • Based on evidence that proved intelligene was purely genetic and his review of twin studies showed a large coefficient of 0.77 HOWEVER it was later revealed that he made up a lot of data which led to public discredition. The view of separate education remained for years and is still used today.
• A03

  Another point is that socially sensitive research can be used to discriminate against certain groups of people. An argument against it comes from studies that have been used to advance eugenic methods of social control. Under this legislation, in the USA, 64,000 individuals were forced to be sterilised. This was justified on the basis of research on IQ findings from black Americans. These showed them to have lower scores in comparison to white Americans and led to the false thought of this idea.
• A03

  One strength of socially sensitive research is that it has benefits for the group who has been studied. For example, DSM in 1952 listed homosexuality as a sociopathic personality disorder. It was then removed in a later version based on research by Kinsey et al which said that it is a typical expression of human sexual behaviour. This was based on data from 500 men and 6000 women. This highlights the importance of conducting socially sensitive research.
• ANOTHER small point to note is that knowing the impact of findings is very difficult to ascertain beforehand. This can onnly really be known once it has been made public. Psychologists should engage more actively with policy makers after publishing their findings to prevent the data being applied inappropriately.
• Dealing with socially sensitive research

  A positive aspect is that is has raised ideas on how to deal with socially sensitive research:

  • Cost/benefit analysis. Researchers weigh up the pros and cons of publishing the research. If it is high in terms of quality, they will be more likely to go ahead with it.
  • Ethics committees and peer reviews. It can be used to check the quality of research. Essentially, they are the gatekeepers of knowledge and will make decisions about what actually gets published. A recent stat showed that 95% research that was not socially sensitive got the go ahead opposed to 50% which was considered sensitive.
  • Do not do it/ do not publish it
  • Be careful in how you frame the question/ hypothesis
• Knowledge is powerful and in the right hands can be used to benefit the greatest amount of people, which is a utilitarian argument. It can, however, be misused if the knowledge is used to benefit the position of the few to the detriment of many.