72 ❯ STEP 4. Review the Knowledge You Need to Score High
Psychologists who conduct research involving other animals must treat them humanely;
acquire, care for, use, and dispose of animals properly; and make efforts to minimize their
discomfort, infection, illness, and pain.
The American Psychological Association (APA) lists ethical principles and code of con-
duct for the scientific, educational, or professional roles for all psychologists. They include
all aspects of the practice of psychology as well as research, teaching, and supervision of
trainees. They also include all aspects of their performance in public service, policy develop-
ment, social intervention, and development and conduction of assessments, to name but a
few. The code applies to all activities whether in person or by phone, social media, or any
other form of transmission or contact. Briefly, they include the following:- Discuss intellectual property frankly. The “publish-or-perish” mindset can lead to
trouble when it comes to determining credit for authorship. The best way to avoid dis-
agreements, according to the APA, is to discuss these issues openly at the start of a work-
ing relationship, even though many people often feel uncomfortable about such topics. - Be conscious of multiple roles. This includes avoiding relationships that could nega-
tively affect professional performance, or exploit or harm others. Participation in a study
should be voluntary, and not coerced or influenced as part of a grade, raise, or promotion. - Follow informed consent rules such as IRBs which ensure that individuals are vol-
untarily participating in the research with full knowledge of relevant risks and benefits.
Participants should be informed of:- The purpose, expected duration, and procedures of the research.
- Their rights to decline to participate and withdraw from the research once it has
begun, as well as consequences, if any, of doing so. - Factors that might influence their willingness to participate, such as possible risks,
discomfort, or adverse effects. - Any possible research benefits.
- Limits of confidentiality and when that confidentiality must be broken.
- Incentives for participation, if any.
- Contact information for response to further questions.
❯ review Questions
Directions: For each question, choose the letter of the choice that best completes the statement or answers
the question.
- Organized sets of concepts that explain phenom-
ena are
(A) independent variables
(B) dependent variables
(C) hypotheses
(D) theories
(E) statistics
Refer to the following and your knowledge
of psychology to answer questions 2 and 3:
Students will be able to read a statement printed
in the Comic Sans font faster than the same state-
ment written in the Lucida Calligraphy font.- This statement is a(n)
(A) hypothesis
(B) theory
(C) replication
(D) operational definition
(E) correlation