Chapter 1 provides a good opportunity for introducing ethics.
Discussion may be more productive if you make overheads of tables 1.4 and 1.5.
If you want to discuss ethics in great depth, you may also want to assign Appendix A.
After introducing the basic ethical principles, describe studies and have students determine whether ethical principles were compromised. In addition to describing studies and having students determine whether ethical guidelines were compromised, have students think about times where NOT doing research is unethical. For example, shouldn't prison programs, educational programs, speed limits, or new psychotherapies be researched before we are all subjected to their effects?
Links of interest include
If you want to address the ethics of conducting animal research (see table 1.5), you may wish to follow this link to a set of links from the U.S. government's Animal Welfare Information Center (includes many links, such as links to the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee Training and Learning Consortium). In addition, you may want to assign Appendix A and some of the following:
Coile, D. C. & Miller, N. E. (1984). How radical animal activists try to
mislead humane people. AmericanPsychologist, 39, 700-701.
Feeney, D. M. (1987). Human rights and animal welfare. American Psychologist, 42,
593-599.
Miller, N. E. (1985). The value of behavioral research on animals.
American Psychologist, 40
, 423-440.
You may also want to have students read APA's position on animal research.
Finally, you could order the Committee on Animal Research and Ethics (Care) video. The 14-minute video shows how nonhuman animal research has been useful. It comes with a Teacher's Guide. The video costs 19.95 plus shipping and handling. You can order it over the phone ( department 1-800-374-2721) or via email (order@apa.org). APA requests that you use order number 4050330 when requesting a copy.