Persuasion and ethics in psychology research article review

Article review:

1.
Persuading others is not an easy task. This is mainly because it mainly involves in making an individual agree with what one is telling them. A number of communication skills are important in ensuring that one can persuade others. For example, in their line of work sales people are tasked with the job of persuading people to buy their product. Thus, the sales people must employ certain skill sets that will allow them to convince others. The first is being confident. In order to be able to persuade people one needs to be confident. Confidence is synonymous with delivering a persuading and compelling argument. People tend to believe a confident individual since it appears that he or she knows what they are talking about. In addition, the unparalleled sense of certainty is important when it comes to convincing people.
Second, the sales person must remain consistent in their argument. Consistency is key to persuading others to believe in what one is saying. A sales person must be consistent in what they are saying. Lack of consistency may lead to the listener thinking that the sales person does not know what they are talking about. In addition, the listener will lose trust in the sales person hence it is not possible for them to be persuaded. It is important to note that when trying to convince an individual, inconsistencies will be easily noticeable by the listener. This means that persuasion will not be possible. Lastly, efficient communication skills are important. It is important to be able to judge the listeners mood through their body language. This will provide one with an idea of how the listener is responding to the speaker.
2.
Yes, it is acceptable to utilize deception of the subject in order to obtain information in a psychological study. Some studies may require deception due to the nature of the research being carried out. For example, a study may aim at determining the reasons that students cheat in examinations. In this study, deception would be an important tool since by asking students why they cheat directly may result in inaccurate results of the study. This is mainly because the respondents would be forced to provide inaccurate answers since cheating is viewed as illegal in institution. Some of the students may also fear retaliation. Thus, such as study would be constructed such that the participants are deceived into cheating.
According to the American Psychological Association’s (APA) Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct, deception is acceptable in a number of cases. The first is that deception can only be used if it has been determined that the use of deception is justified. In the case of the cheating study, it is justified to use deception since the results will be affected if the students are not deceived. Secondly, the code of ethics states that deception can be used if the study can cause any emotional distress or physical pain. In the example provided above, it is clear that deception can be used since it will not cause the students any emotional or physical distress.
Lastly, the code of ethics states that deception can be used if the participants are made aware of the deception and are allowed to retrieve their results. In this case, it would be allowed to use deception if the students are notified about the deception before conclusion of the study.

References:

Goodwin, C. J. (2009). Research in psychology: Methods and design. John Wiley & Sons.
Widener, C. (2008). The art of influence: Persuading others begins with you. New York: Doubleday.