Ethical Issues in Psychology: A Critical Introduction

Ethical Issues in Psychology: A Critical Introduction offers readers a clear review of current ethical practices and ideas in psychology and goes on to challenge some of the agreed wisdom on ethics.

Ethical issues within psychology are not easy to resolve, and debates continue as we encounter new dilemmas. This book introduces ethics and their importance, and uses examples from psychological research to consider key ethical issues; ethical principles and guidelines for psychologists, including BPS guidelines; ethics in practice in psychology; ethical problems within psychology, such as racism; and methods for ethical research, including socially sensitive research, internet-mediated research, and the use of animals in psychological research. Fully up to date, this book considers recent challenges for researchers and teachers, including privacy and consent dilemmas in the use of social media for psychological research, the rise of the open science movement and an awareness of research misconduct and fraud, and the narrow focus of psychological research that positions itself as objective and scientific while sitting in a European, and therefore predominantly White, context.

Offering a comprehensive examination of ethical issues in psychology across a wide range of fields, the book encourages readers to consider the ethics-related questions they should be asking when undertaking their own research. The book is essential reading for undergraduate and pre-undergraduate students of psychology and related subjects.

Philip Banyard is Emeritus Professor in the Department of Psychology at Nottingham Trent University, UK. He was a Chief Examiner of a Level Psychology for many years and has written more than 20 texts.

Cara Flanagan is a freelance academic author and lecturer. She has published a wide range of books covering general topics in psychology as well as research methods and ethics. She is senior editor of Psychology Review, a magazine for A level students.