Field Blog Entry #3 - TOK and Psychology (IB Class)

Ethical Responsibilities and Knowledge Claims

I was able to relate my IBH Psychology course to my Theory of Knowledge class in several aspects. I recently learned about Plato’s Tripartite View of Knowledge in TOK class: justification, truth and belief. Truth is what actually corresponds to the world, belief is a matter of conviction of our knowledge, and justification requires coherence between both truth and belief. I realized that these three types of knowledge could be related to psychology.

There are many ethical issues raised in psychological research that raises the question of “Do knowledge claims in the human sciences imply ethical responsibilities?”

An example of an implication would be a complication of whether a psychological theory is true, believed or justified. A theory could be considered true based on evidence but some people might believe it to be true or justify themselves to make it true. 

Another issue could be raised in a case study involving only one individual because it risks the loss of anonymity and might distress the participant. It is not ethical or moral to make the participant become frustrated or uncomfortable because of the research.

Some research studies raise ethical implications so it is important for us to set several important standards that must be observed in order to protect study participants when conducting a psychology research.

Our knowledge claims might cause ethical implications which requires us to take responsibilities for those issues. The question “Do knowledge claims in the human sciences imply ethical responsibilities?” is very significant to consider in both psychology and TOK.