Sample response

One ethical consideration is the use of deception. Deception is when a participant is not made fully aware of the purpose of a study or is intentionally misinformed. Deception is often used by researchers to hide the true aim of an experiment. Often if the participants knew the aim of the experiment they would demonstrate demand characteristics – either trying to give the researchers what they wanted or trying to behave in a way that made them look their best, something known as social desirability effect. Deception is problematic because it undermines the concept of “informed consent.” It violates the trust between a researcher and a participant. In addition, it increases the chance that a participant will withdraw his/her data after the experiment. Therefore, debriefing is an important part of any experiment with deception. It is important that the deception is justified and that the participant is allowed to withdraw data. In addition, debriefing is a chance for the researcher to make sure that there was no harm done as a result of the deception.

A classic study that used deception was Loftus & Pickrel's Lost in the Mall study. The aim of the study was to see if participants would “create memories” of a biographical event that never happened to them. Participants were given four short stories describing childhood events, all supposedly provided by family members, and asked them to try to recall them. Relatives had provided the stories. One of the stories, describing a time when the participant was lost in a mall when he/she as a child, was false. In the study, 25% of the participants said that they remembered this event even though it never actually occurred. They often described the event in great detail. Loftus concluded that being asked to recall something that didn’t happen, but that they thought their parents said happened, can lead to the creation of false memories.

Upon revealing the deception, participants may have felt like they looked foolish. However, Loftus could not do a study on false memory by first revealing the actual aim of the study. Although the deception was justified, the experiment is still problematic from an ethical standpoint.

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