Ethical considerations in using sensors to remotely assess pediatric health behaviors
Am Psychol. 2024 Jan;79(1):39-51. doi: 10.1037/amp0001196.ABSTRACTSensors, including accelerometer-based and electronic adherence monitoring devices, have transformed health data collection. Sensors allow for unobtrusive, real-time sampling of health behaviors that relate to psychological health, including sleep, physical activity, and medication-taking. These technical strengths have captured scholarly attention, with far less discussion about the level of human touch involved in implementing sensors. Researchers face several subjective decision points when collecting health data via sensors, with these decisions posing e...
Source: The American Psychologist - January 18, 2024 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Alexandra M Psihogios Sara King-Dowling Jonathan A Mitchell Meghan E McGrady Ariel A Williamson Source Type: research
The use of GNSS technology in smartphones to collect sensitive data on human mobility practices: Ethical challenges and potential solutions
This article examines how such research raises novel ethical concerns. To do so, we outline two research projects: one based in Northern Ireland (The Belfast Mobility Project) and the other in Chile (The Norm-Contact Mobility Project), drawing concrete examples of the ethical challenges encountered throughout both projects, which used global navigational satellite systems as a tool for data collection. We discuss new threats to participant confidentiality and anonymity, problems of "unanticipated" data collection and exploitation, emerging difficulties in achieving properly informed consent, and concerns regarding the repr...
Source: The American Psychologist - January 18, 2024 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Roberto Gonz ález Siugmin Lay Jonathan Huck John Dixon Source Type: research
Attitudes among the Australian public toward AI and CCTV in suicide prevention research: A mixed methods study
Am Psychol. 2024 Jan;79(1):65-78. doi: 10.1037/amp0001215.ABSTRACTResearch is underway exploring the use of closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras and artificial intelligence (AI) for suicide prevention research in public locations where suicides occur. Given the sensitive nature and potential implications of this research, this study explored ethical concerns the public may have about research of this nature. Developed based on the principle of respect, a survey was administered to a representative sample of 1,096 Australians to understand perspectives on the research. The sample was aged 18 and older, 53% female, and 9...
Source: The American Psychologist - January 18, 2024 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Rebecca C Hardy Kate Glastonbury Sandersan Onie Natasha Josifovski Adam Theobald Mark E Larsen Source Type: research
A framework for language technologies in behavioral research and clinical applications: Ethical challenges, implications, and solutions
Am Psychol. 2024 Jan;79(1):79-91. doi: 10.1037/amp0001195.ABSTRACTTechnological advances in the assessment and understanding of speech and language within the domains of automatic speech recognition, natural language processing, and machine learning present a remarkable opportunity for psychologists to learn more about human thought and communication, evaluate a variety of clinical conditions, and predict cognitive and psychological states. These innovations can be leveraged to automate traditionally time-intensive assessment tasks (e.g., educational assessment), provide psychological information and care (e.g., chatbots),...
Source: The American Psychologist - January 18, 2024 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Catherine Diaz-Asper Mathias K Hauglid Chelsea Chandler Alex S Cohen Peter W Foltz Brita Elvev åg Source Type: research
On conducting ethically sound psychological science in the metaverse
Am Psychol. 2024 Jan;79(1):92-108. doi: 10.1037/amp0001211.ABSTRACTAs the next generation of the internet, the metaverse is an immersive three-dimensional (3D) world that incorporates both physical and virtual environments. The metaverse affords numerous advantages for advancing our theoretical and practical understanding of human cognition, emotion, and behavior, as well as shaping our methodological approach to conducting psychological science. However, undertaking research in a world that merges the physical and virtual, also presents new and unique ethical challenges that are not addressed by current ethical guidelines...
Source: The American Psychologist - January 18, 2024 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Tracey Cockerton Ying Zhu Mandeep K Dhami Source Type: research
Visual digital data, ethical challenges, and psychological science
Am Psychol. 2024 Jan;79(1):109-122. doi: 10.1037/amp0001192.ABSTRACTDigital visual data afford psychologists with exciting research possibilities. It becomes possible to see real-life interactions in real time and to be able to analyze this behavior in a fine-grained and systematic manner. However, the fact that faces (and other personally identifying physical characteristics) are captured as part of these data sets means that this kind of data is at the highest level of sensitivity by default. When this is combined with the possibility of automatic collection and processing, then the sensitivity risks are compounded. Here...
Source: The American Psychologist - January 18, 2024 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Mark Levine Richard Philpot Sophie J Nightingale Anastasia Kordoni Source Type: research
Expanding the role of justice in secondary research using digital psychological data
Am Psychol. 2024 Jan;79(1):123-136. doi: 10.1037/amp0001190.ABSTRACTSecondary analysis of digital psychological data (DPD) is an increasingly popular method for behavioral health research. Under current practices, secondary research does not require human subjects research review so long as data are de-identified. We argue that this standard approach to the ethics of secondary research (i.e., de-identification) does not address a range of ethical risks and that greater emphasis should be placed on the ethical principle of justice. We outline the inadequacy of an individually focused research ethic for DPD and describe unad...
Source: The American Psychologist - January 18, 2024 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Jonathan Herington Kevin Li Anthony R Pisani Source Type: research
Persons or data points? Ethics, artificial intelligence, and the participatory turn in mental health research
This article identifies and examines a tension in mental health researchers' growing enthusiasm for the use of computational tools powered by advances in artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML). Although there is increasing recognition of the value of participatory methods in science generally and in mental health research specifically, many AI/ML approaches, fueled by an ever-growing number of sensors collecting multimodal data, risk further distancing participants from research processes and rendering them as mere vectors or collections of data points. The imperatives of the "participatory turn" in mental he...
Source: The American Psychologist - January 18, 2024 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Joshua August Skorburg Kieran O'Doherty Phoebe Friesen Source Type: research
Award for Distinguished Scientific Applications of Psychology
Am Psychol. 2023 Dec;78(9):1029. doi: 10.1037/h0101921.ABSTRACTThe Award for Distinguished Scientific Applications of Psychology is presented to a person who, in the opinion of the Committee on Scientific Awards, has made distinguished theoretical or empirical advances leading to the understanding or amelioration of important practical problems. The 2023 recipients of the APA Distinguished Scientific Contribution Awards were recognized by the 2022 Board of Scientific Affairs and selected by the 2022 Committee on Scientific Awards. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).PMID:38166261 | DOI:10.1037/h010...
Source: The American Psychologist - January 2, 2024 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Award for Distinguished Scientific Applications of Psychology: Michelene T. H. Chi
Am Psychol. 2023 Dec;78(9):1030-1032. doi: 10.1037/amp0001271.ABSTRACTThe APA Distinguished Scientific Award for the Applications of Psychology honors psychologists who have made distinguished theoretical or empirical advances in psychology leading to the understanding or amelioration of important practical problems. "For foundational contributions to the cognitive and learning sciences. Michelene T. H. Chi's work has led to new conceptualizations of the nature of expertise and of the nature and structure of children's knowledge. Her work on deep understanding of complex concepts has highlighted the importance of generativ...
Source: The American Psychologist - January 2, 2024 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Awards for Distinguished Scientific Early Career Contributions to Psychology
Am Psychol. 2023 Dec;78(9):1033-1035. doi: 10.1037/h0101922.ABSTRACTThe Early Career Awards, given for the first time in 1974, recognize the large number of excellent early career psychologists. Recipients of this award may not have held a doctoral degree for more than nine years. For purposes of this award, psychology has been divided into 10 areas: animal learning and behavior, comparative; developmental; health; cognition/human learning; psychopathology; behavioral and cognitive neuroscience; perception/motor performance; social; applied research; and individual differences. Five areas are considered each year, with are...
Source: The American Psychologist - January 2, 2024 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Award for Distinguished Scientific Early Career Contributions to Psychology: Michael J. Arcaro
Am Psychol. 2023 Dec;78(9):1036-1037. doi: 10.1037/amp0001281.ABSTRACTThis award recognizes excellent psychologists who are at early stages of their research careers. "For showing that the fundamental organizing principle of the primate brain, including humans, is map-based. Showing that the brain is map-based, topographically organized, and interconnected links huge swaths of otherwise unrelated findings about different parts of the brain. Most people regard the brain as divided up into distinct areas that each have their own unique function, which evolved to perform this function. Michael J. Arcaro's work instead shows t...
Source: The American Psychologist - January 2, 2024 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Award for Distinguished Scientific Early Career Contributions to Psychology: Anu Asnaani
Am Psychol. 2023 Dec;78(9):1038-1040. doi: 10.1037/amp0001263.ABSTRACTThis award recognizes excellent psychologists who are at early stages of their research careers. "For her groundbreaking work in the area of cross-cultural psychology and anxiety disorders. Anu Asnaani has been tackling clinically important and scientifically challenging questions using sophisticated statistical procedures and experimental designs. Her studies range from analyses of large epidemiological databases to carefully designed experimental investigations on the physiological effects of different emotion regulation strategies on anxiety in differ...
Source: The American Psychologist - January 2, 2024 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
What role can (and should) clinical science play in promoting mental health care equity?
Am Psychol. 2023 Dec;78(9):1041-1054. doi: 10.1037/amp0001217.ABSTRACTHealth inequities have persisted in scientific examination and subsequent efforts related to prevention, detection, and, particularly, treatment of mental health disorders and symptoms over most of the history of our field. In the past decade, the tide has been slowly turning to make the promotion of mental health care equity across all segments of the population more mainstream, and the momentum to do so has further accelerated in the past 5 years. This review provides a brief summary of what we currently know about mental health care inequities (across...
Source: The American Psychologist - January 2, 2024 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Anu Asnaani Source Type: research
Award for Distinguished Scientific Early Career Contributions to Psychology: Erin S. Calipari
Am Psychol. 2023 Dec;78(9):1055-1057. doi: 10.1037/amp0001267.ABSTRACTThe APA Distinguished Scientific Awards for an Early Career Contribution to Psychology honor early career scientists for contributions in the first 9 years post-PhD. "For innovative and outstanding research on the neural control of complex behavior. Erin S. Calipari's work has used an impressive array of multidisciplinary approaches to link neural function and dysfunction directly to behavior and decision making. By combining techniques to record from and manipulate precise circuits in the brain with computational approaches, her work has defined exactly...
Source: The American Psychologist - January 2, 2024 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
