PSC 41 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Informed Consent
• Research = collaboration between the experimenter and the participant
• Instructional Review Board
o A group of researchers at each research institution that reviews proposed
studies
o Each study must have IRB approval each year
o Weigh the risks and benefits
o Consider any long term effects
• Participant rights
o Informed consent = participants have the right to know…
▪ What is being asked of them
▪ What if any risks are involved
▪ What if any benefits are involved
o Voluntary participation
o Participants have the right to stop at any time
• Confidentiality: making sure that no one can identify a particular participant's
performance
o Report group averages rather than individual scores
• Deception: not telling the participants the true goal of the study
o Using confederates to stage an experience
▪ Research assistants act like they're participants
• Debriefing: fessing up at the end of the study
o Giving the participants the opportunity to hear what we were really
interested in and to give us feedback about their experiences
o Treat participants with respect
• Example: self-esteem and love
o Led participants to believe that their romantic partner was rejecting them
o Some participants had high self-esteem; others had low self-esteem
o Measured perceptions of the relationship
o We need love and belongingness but we're vulnerable to rejection
o People with low self-esteem tend to think that they're being rejected even
if they're not
▪ They underestimate how much their partner loves them
▪ They withdraw before they get rejected
o People with high self-esteem more accurately perceive their partner's
feelings
o Method
▪ 65 couples in dating relationships (averaging 17.8 months in length)
▪ Asked to sit back to back, to not talk and to complete questionnaires
about themselves and the relationship
▪ Given a series of questionnaires (one at a time)
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