Is Deception of Human Participants Ethical?

[Keny]

ISSUE 1. Is Deception of Human Participants Ethical?

YES: ALAN C. ELMS, FROM “KEEPING DECEPTION HONEST: JUSTIFYING CONDITIONS FOR SOCIAL SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH STRATEGEMS,” ETHICAL ISSUES IN SOCIAL SCIENCE RESEARCH (JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY PRESS, 1982)

NO: DIANA BAUMRIND, FROM “RESEARCH USING INTENTIONAL DECEPTION,” AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGIST (VOL. 40, 1985)

Social psychologist Alan Elms argues that deception is usually justified when the benefits of research outweigh the ethical costs of the deception. Psychologist Diana Baumrind believes that deception is never ethically acceptable. The costs of deception seem to be greater than most social psychologists believe.