ethical issues

• point :(

  L&P did not gain valid consent from participants, as they were not aware of the real aims of the study.
• example :(

  if the participants had been aware of the aims of the study, this would have affected their behaviour, e.g. they would have been aware that the questions were "leading," and more careful in the responses they gave.
• explain :(

  therefore, despite this lack of fully informed consent, this level of mild deception was necessary to maintain the validity of the experiment, otherwise, the participants behaviour would not reflect EWT in everyday life and would not provide useful insights.
• link :(

  so whilst the study had a lack of valid consent and level of deception, it could be argued that it was both necessary and at an acceptable level to avoid any real harm
• point :)

  the study avoided the risk of psychological harm
• example :)

  one of the criticisms of this study is that the participants did not witness a real accident, but instead, watched film clips of an accident, meaning they may not have responded to the task the same way that an eyewitness would in a real accident.
• explain :)

  however, the use of staged crashes still could have arguably produced strong emotional reactions in some participants - what if they had been in a car crash themselves?
• link :)

  therefore, just in the case of this possible risk of harm, that otherwise has been fully avoided, L&P should've fully debriefed the participants, explaining that the footage of the car crash wasn't real, no one was actually hurt etc.