Ethical Deception in Research & Multi-Store Memory Model

Ethical Considerations in Psychological Research

One ethical consideration in psychological research is the use of deception. Deception occurs when a participant is not made fully aware of the purpose of a study or is intentionally misinformed. Researchers often use deception to hide the true aim of an experiment. If participants knew the aim, they might demonstrate demand characteristics, either trying to give the researchers what they want or behaving in a way that makes them look their best, a phenomenon known as the social desirability effect.

Deception is problematic because it undermines the concept of informed consent. It violates the trust between a researcher and a participant. Additionally, it increases the chance that a participant will withdraw their data after the experiment. Therefore, debriefing is a crucial part of any experiment involving deception. It is important that the deception is justified and that the participant is allowed to withdraw their data. Debriefing also allows the researcher to ensure that no harm was done due to the deception.

Loftus & Pickrell's "Lost in the Mall" Study

A classic study that used deception was Loftus & Pickrell's "Lost in the Mall" study. The aim was to see if participants would create memories of a biographical event that never happened. Participants were given four short stories describing childhood events, all supposedly provided by family members, and asked to recall them. One story, describing a time when the participant was lost in a mall as a child, was false.

In the study, 25% of the participants said they remembered this event, even though it never 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 foolish. However, Loftus could not have studied false memory by first revealing the actual aim. Although the deception was justified, the experiment remains problematic from an ethical standpoint.

The Multi-Store Model of Memory

One model of memory is the Multi-Store Model. This model was the first to separate memory into sensory, short-term, and long-term memory. The model posits that we are bombarded with sensory stimuli. When we pay attention to these stimuli, they pass through sensory memory and into short-term memory. There, the information is held until either other information displaces it or, if we rehearse it, it is moved to long-term memory. When we remember something, we move that information from long-term memory back into short-term memory so it can be used.

Glanzer and Cunitz Study on Memory

A study by Glanzer and Cunitz supported this model. The researchers read a list of 15 words to participants and asked them to recall the words in any order. Before this, they randomly allocated participants to one of three conditions: immediate recall, a 10-second delay, or a 30-second delay. During the delays, participants counted backward from 100.

• Immediate Recall: Participants remembered the first few and last few words, demonstrating both the primacy effect (rehearsal moved early words to LTM) and the recency effect (later words still in STM).
• Delayed Recall: Participants only remembered the first few words. Counting backward displaced information in STM, eliminating the recency effect but not the primacy effect.

This study provides evidence for the Multi-Store Model, suggesting that long-term and short-term memories may be stored in different places and that information in STM can be displaced.