Mapping Psychology - Case Study Example

Psychology Part Identity is an area of psychological study that is centrally concerned with understanding people and their every day lives. However, identity is a popular topic of discussion in many contemporary societies, in the media, in several academic disciplines and in everyday talk. Since it is used in a variety of different ways, it is not entirely clear what it means. Therefore, a number of psychological theories of identity have been used to define identity and explain the processes that produce it. This paper will therefore look at one approach to identity and how it can help to explain the identities of people with disabilities. Erikson developed the psychosocial theory of identity from clinical work, naturalistic observations and probably his own experiences (Miell et al 52). He was the first theorist to view identity as psychosocial, implying that the both children's and adolescent's identity is shaped by the community in which they live. Erikson considered identity as a conscious sense of individual uniqueness, an unconscious striving for continuity and solidarity with a group's ideals. In other words, identity involves the development of a stable, consistent and reliable sense of who we are and what we stand for in the world that makes sense for us and for the surrounding community. The core identity gives a sense of continuity with the past and a direction for the future. It is essential for people to feel that their social group views them as the same over time. According to Miell et al (57), Erikson's clinical work with the veterans made him to conclude that when life is going well, identity is normally taken for granted and people tend to be unselfconscious. However, the importance of identity is most obvious and definable when it is no longer possible to take it for granted. Consequently, it increases one's existence and individuals tend to experience themselves as unique. In Erikson's view, identity crisis was common during his era of two world wars which led many people to think about their own mortality, generating identity confusion. Erikson's focus on continuity did not imply that identity did not change once it was achieved, instead he considered achievement of identity as a lifelong developmental process which involved a progressive resolution of conflicts or normative crises between individual needs and social demands and between positive and negative developmental possibilities. He considered the conflicts to be common to most people and hence typical rather than abnormal (Miell et al 62). In reference to Erikson's approach, there are eight stages of identity development involved whereby each stage builds on what has taken place initially, and goes ahead the previous stage to provide the foundation for the next stage. It begins with the infant's developing sense of time and end in old age. Erikson considered that the final period of human life which is the eighth stage as one in which older people struggled to find integrity against the risk of despair caused by problems with body functioning and the prospect of death (Miell et al 78). Despite the fact that Erikson viewed the development of identity as a lifelong process, he also considered it to be particularly important during the fifth psychosocial stage, adolescence, in which the achievement of identity was the major developmental task. According to Erikson, adolescence is the period in which several life decisions require to be made and by the end of which ego identity is achieved. Erikson saw adolescence as a period for psychosocial moratorium since young people could postpone making definitive social choices while working out the various elements of their identity. During this period, the young people try out various identities without commitment before finding their niche in the society (Miell et al 79). Erikson observed that some young people find it impossible to make commitments to adult roles. He argued that it was because they were at war with themselves, hence it was a period characterized by identity crisis. According to Miell et al (80), the nature of identity crisis faced depends on the society and historical period in which young people grow up. Erikson's theory explains why young people are often involved with their social groups. He considered that solidarity with a group's ideals is important in the development of identity. Since adolescent identity crisis is potentially frightening, Erikson argued that young people might temporarily over identify with cliques and crowds. As a defense against feelings of loss of identity, they are particularly nasty to those they consider as outsiders. Erikson also argued that people whom we consider to be very different from ourselves can threaten our sense of identity and that it can lead to aggression. The psychosocial theories of Erikson and Marcia are explicitly concerned with bodily aspects of identity since the body affects the psychosocial issues that are faced. For example, in the old age when the body does not function as it initially used to. Henceforth, the approach can be used to explain the identities of people with disabilities. In recent years many have campaigned for individuals who are not disabled to stop thinking of people with physical impairments as the disabled. According to Allan the phrase disabled is considered extremely objectionable by people with disabilities since it implies that their disability is their identity. In other words, the term disabled treats people with disabilities as less than human. In the decades since Allan indicated this, many people including those with disabilities have decided to use the term disabled people as a positive, collectively agreed, term. The implicit assumption that disability is the only identity possible for people with impairments has been challenged by theorists of disability and by groups for people with impairments. According to Miell et al (84), most psychologists argue that the wide variation between types of impairment and within groups of people who have the same impairments mean that they are not a single group, but have multiple, diverse identities. Therefore, there is no such a thing such as a disabled identity or any one identity shared by people with physical impairments Part 2: Scenario 1 Q1: The use of the most negative images from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS) International Affective Picture System is a scale which has been used in research on emotion over the last ten years. In reference to the study, people in the anger group tend to observe more negative images unlike those in the euphoria category. The negative images normally aggravate anger among individuals hence leading to the development of the real expressions. Q2: Failure to explain the true purpose of the experiment at the enrolment It is common for memory researchers not to tell the their participants in advance what they will be expected to remember during the tasks they are given or even that they are taking part in a memory experiment. This is because telling participants what they will be asked to remember is likely to cause bias and change the way they approach tasks and since this minor deception does not result in harm, psychologists consider it ethically important to reveal any deception that has been used to the participants after the study during a process of debriefing. Q3: The deception involved in the emotion induction procedures The question of deception often raises ethical dilemmas. It is not always ethically defenseless for psychologists to swindle the participants in their studies. Minor deception in research studies do not result in harm, therefore most psychologists advise researchers on its use so as to achieve the desired result. The deception assists the participants to provide the required and appropriate information. Q4: Recommendations to the study The researchers should provide appropriate data to the participants to ensure that they clearly understand what is required of them, inappropriate data may mislead the participants and hence provide wrong or biased information, in their work, the researcher should ensure that they avoid plagiarism or failing to acknowledge other's work or contribution at all level, they should also respect the participant's various differences, which may also entail treating them fairly, obtaining the consent of research from participants and maintaining their confidentiality, including storing information about them in ways that are not to lead to accidental disclosure and lastly they should avoid harming research participants and should take care to ensure that they themselves come to no harm in conducting their research. Scenario 2 Q 1: Four guidelines mostly breached by the study 1. Always put efforts in order to obtain the informed consent of all research participants to whom research contribution is offered. However, according to the study the researcher did not obtain the informed consent of all research participants to whom research participation was offered. In a research study, all the participants should agree with the terms of the study by signing the informed consent to indicate that they agree with the requirements of the study and then go ahead with the study. 2. Make clear statements to the research participants at the conclusion of their participation in order to notify them on the nature of the research, to recognize any unanticipated harm, uneasiness or misconceptions and in order to arrange for help as needed. In reference to the study, the research participants were not debriefed on the nature of the study. In fact, they were not aware as to whether they were involved in the study, since the data was secretly collected and analyzed. 3. Unless informed consent has been obtained, restrict research based upon observations of public behavior to those situations in which persons being studied would reasonably expect to be observed by strangers, with reference to local cultural values and to the privacy of persons who even in a public space may believe they are unobserved. The study breached the above rule, in that, despite the lack of provision of an informed consent to the participants, it went ahead and collected data which infringed on participants privacy 4. Enlighten research participants from the first contact that they may decline to answer any questions put on them. According to the study, the research participants were not briefed on the study, instead the study was carried out secretly without their knowledge. They therefore had no chance to be informed and explained about the study and that they had the right to answer questions put on them Q 2: Steps which would make the study ethically more acceptable The study would be made more ethically acceptable by first creating awareness among the participants in relation to the study and seek for their willingness to participate in the study. This would be done by ensuring that all the participants fill in the informed concepts to indicate that they accept everything involved with the study. It would also be appropriate that the participants are briefed on their rights regarding withdrawal from the study. Incase a participant wishes to withdraw, then he or she can freely do it without any restriction. During the study, data should be collected and recorded appropriately. The study should also avoid infringing the participant's privacy. Q 3: Does the Pilot study conform to current ethical guidelines Considering the ethical guidelines of carrying out the research, the pilot study did not observe the ethical guidelines of carrying out a research study. To start with, not all the participants were informed regarding the interview, instead only half the participants were interviewed and told about the interview. This therefore did not conform to the current ethical guidelines since everyone involved in the study needs to be informed about it. Data was also secretly collected among the men and none of the men knew that they had been observed. This was wrong since they needed to be informed on what was going on. In addition, the information collected was made available to everyone. This was against the ethical guidelines of a research study since information requires to be kept confidential. Reference Miell, Dorothy, Ann Phoenix and Kerry Thomas., ed. DSE212 Mapping Psychology. 2nd ed. UK: The Open University, 2007. 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