Ethics and Diversity in Psychology

Part 1
The implicit bias test that I took is based on age. I selected this test because my area of
interest is developmental psychology. Since I have an interest in developmental psychology, I
wanted to know whether I have any bias towards people at a certain age. The test checked on
preference for young people compared to old people. The results showed that I have a strong
automatic preference for young people compared to old people. The score was thirty percent. I
was somewhat surprised by the score. I thought that I would score higher because I consider
myself to be very interested in the development for young people. I find that one is able to shape
their life considerably during their youth. As such, I feel that if young people are helped to
understand their development better, then they can enjoy their youth even as they make
conscious and deliberate decisions about their future.
Further, based on the test, I scored one percent on having a strong automatic preference
for old people compared to young people. Although my preference is strong and leans more
towards young people, I was still surprised to score one percent. I think if I was rating my
preference for old people against that for young, I would rate myself at ten percent. I felt that a
score of one was too low and not representative of how exactly I felt. The results, however, made
me aware of an implicit bias against old people. I realized that I have a very low preference for
people at an advanced age.
The research presented in the article by De Clercq et al. (2021) might be affected by
implicit bias. The researchers had a mono-rater bias. They relied on mothers as their primary
source of data during the process of data collection. The sample was thus only female, and this

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discriminated against male parents. They assumed that only mothers would be able to reliably
provide the kind of data necessary for the study. Consequently, fathers were discriminated
against. For instance, the family dynamics where children are raised only by their fathers were
left out in the study. Thus, the study used a sample that made the generalizable of findings
difficult since it was not representative.
Part 2
One of the general principles is 3.01 unfair discrimination which holds that psychologists
do not engage in unfair discrimination that is based on age, ethnicity, culture, gender identity,
socioeconomic status, national origin, disability or on any other basis as prescribed by law
(American Psychological Association, 2021). I chose this general principle listed on the APA
site because it closely relates to the implicit bias I realized I have after taking the test. The bias I
have specifically relates to age. I have a strong bias for young people, as already identified in
part one. As a psychology professional, an undiscovered bias could potentially cause one to
violate the above principle. This is because having a strong preference for people within a certain
age bracket could indirectly lead to discrimination against others who are outside the said
bracket. For example, I could discriminate against old people because I have a strong preference
for young people. When conducting a study, I may concentrate only on young people even
though the issue under study could be affecting both the young and the old. Additionally, I may
make baized observations when dealing with old people because of the low preference that I
have for them. Evidently, such an implicit bias may hinder objectivity in a study pr when dealing
with a group of people comprising of the old and the young.
A hypothetical situation when age discrimination may occur would be in research when
selecting a sample. A researcher seeking to understand the effects of Covid-19 on people’s social

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life may choose a sample only comprising of young people. The researcher may be biased in
thinking that young people tend to lead more active social lives compared to old people. The
researcher may also make an assumption that since old people are not active in their social life,
the pandemic did not affect much of their social life because it was non-existent even prior to the
outbreak. Thus, since young people had a lot affected, the sample may be made up of only the
youth, locking the old people out. Such a study would provide findings that lock out the old and
that fails to capture an extensive and real picture of the pandemic to people’s social lives. I find
that in psychological research, age discrimination may mainly manifest itself in the selection of
the sample.

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References

American Psychological Association. (2021). Ethical principles of psychologists and code of
conduct. https://www.apa.org. Retrieved 21 November 2021, from
https://www.apa.org/ethics/code/index.
De Clercq, L. E., Dieleman, L. M., van der Kaap-Deeder, J., Soenens, B., Prinzie, P., & De
Pauw, S. S. W. (2021). Negative Controlling Parenting and Child Personality as
Modifiers of Psychosocial Development in Youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A 9-
Year Longitudinal Study at the Level of Within-Person Change. Journal of Autism and
Developmental Disorders, 51(8), 2891–2907. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-020-04761-
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