Do Research Intermediaries Reduce Perceived Coercion to Enter Research Trials Among Criminally Involved Substance Abusers?
Ethics Behav. 2011;21(3):252-259
Authors: Festinger DS, Dugosh KL, Croft JR, Arabia PL, Marlowe DB
Abstract
We examined the efficacy of including a research intermediary (RI) during the consent process in reducing participants’ perceptions of coercion to enroll in a research study. Eighty-four drug court clients being recruited into an ongoing study were randomized to receive a standard informed consent process alone (standard condition) or with an RI (intermediary condition). Before obtaining consent, RIs met with clients individually to discuss remaining concerns. Findings provided preliminary evidence that RIs reduced client perceptions that their participation might influence how clinical and judicial staff view them. This suggests that using RIs may improve participant autonomy in clinical studies.
PMID: 22081751 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
The Influence of Temporal Orientation and Affective Frame on use of Ethical Decision-Making Strategies.
Ethics Behav. 2011 Jan 1;21(2):127-146
Authors: Martin LE, Stenmark CK, Thiel CE, Antes AL, Mumford MD, Connelly S, Devenport LD
This study examined the role of temporal orientation and affective frame in the execution of ethical decision-making strategies. In reflecting on a past experience or imagining a future experience, participants thought about experiences that they considered either positive or negative. The participants recorded their thinking about that experience by responding to several questions, and their responses were content-analyzed for the use of ethical decision-making strategies. The findings indicated that a future temporal orientation was associated with greater strategy use. Likewise, a positive affective frame was associated with greater strategy use. Future orientation may permit better strategy execution than a past orientation because it facilitates more objective, balanced contemplation of the reflected-upon situation, and minimizes potential self-threat associated with past behavior. A positive affective frame likely improves strategy execution because it facilitates active analysis of the experience. Future directions and implications of these findings are discussed.
PMID: 21572582 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Moral Credentialing and the Rationalization of Misconduct.
Ethics Behav. 2011 Jan;21(1):1-12
Authors: Brown RP, Tamborski M, Wang X, Barnes CD, Mumford MD, Connelly S, Devenport LD
Recent studies lead to the paradoxical conclusion that the act of affirming one’s egalitarian or pro-social values and virtues might subsequently facilitate prejudiced or self-serving behavior, an effect previously referred to as “moral credentialing.” The present study extends this paradox to the domain of academic misconduct and investigates the hypothesis that such an effect might be limited by the extent to which misbehavior is rationalizable. Using a paradigm designed to investigate deliberative and rationalized forms of cheating (von Hippel, Lakin, & Shakarchi, 2005), we found that when participants had credentialed themselves (versus a non-close acquaintance) via a set of hypothetical moral dilemmas, they were more likely to cheat on a subsequent math task, but only if cheating was highly rationalizable. When cheating was difficult to rationalize, moral credentialing had almost no impact on cheating.
PMID: 21503267 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
