Social sensitivity

• What is social sensitivity?


  Any theory or study where there are potential social consequences for the group of people represented in the research
• What are ethical implications?


  The conflict between the need of the psychologist to gain valid results and the need to preserve the dignity and rights of the participants
• Who came up with guidelines for research with social consequences?

  Sieber and Stanley
• What do we need to consider about the research question?

  Will it add to any current prejudices?
• What must we consider about the methodology of socially sensitive research?


  Participants must be kept anonymous and their results confidential
• What must the researcher be aware of?

  How the data will be used
• What must we think about?

  How the data will apply to the real world
• What are some good examples of socially sensitive research?

  Eye witness testimony - less miscarriages of justice
• What happened with Yerkes’ IQ test?

  Yerkes devised an IQ test for the US military. The test relied on the participants understanding of American culture, so when non-Americans got a low score, they mistakenly attributed it to low IQ, rather than it being ethnocentric
• What happened with Burt and IQ?


  Brut said there was an 0.8 correlation between MZ twins for IQ. This led to the creation of the 11+ exam, which determined whether someone went to a grammar or secondary modern school

  These results were fabricated to show IQ is genetic
• What are the benefits of social sensitivity?

  • Studies underrepresented groups so may reduce prejudice
  • Can lead to positive outcomes like improvement of EWT
• What are some issues with socially sensitive research?

  • Leads to prejudices as groups are misrepresented
  • Current ethical guidelines (CCARDS) don’t consider all points made by Sieber and Stanley