The Social Value Misconception in Clinical Research

• Published in: American journal of bioethics Vol. 25; no. 8; pp. 61 - 77
• Main Authors: Earl, Jake, Dawson, Liza, Rid, Annette
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Taylor & Francis 03.08.2025
• Subjects: Altruism; autonomy; Biomedical Research - ethics; clinical research; Comprehension; Decision Making - ethics; Ethics, Research; Humans; Informed Consent - ethics; misconception; participant decision-making; Personal Autonomy; Research Subjects - psychology; Social value; Social Values; study enrollment; Therapeutic Misconception - ethics; autonomy; participant decision-making; altruism; clinical research; Social value; study enrollment; misconception
• ISSN: 1526-5161; 1536-0075; 1536-0075
• DOI: 10.1080/15265161.2024.2371119

Clinical researchers should help respect the autonomy and promote the well-being of prospective study participants by helping them make voluntary, informed decisions about enrollment. However, participants often exhibit poor understanding of important information about clinical research. Bioethicists have given special attention to "misconceptions" about clinical research that can compromise participants' decision-making, most notably the "therapeutic misconception." These misconceptions typically involve false beliefs about a study's purpose, or risks or potential benefits for participants. In this article, we describe a misconception involving false beliefs about a study's potential benefits for non-participants, or its expected social value. This social value misconception can compromise altruistically motivated participants' decision-making, potentially threatening their autonomy and well-being. We show how the social value misconception raises ethical concerns for inherently low-value research, hyped research, and even ordinary research, and advocate for empirical and normative work to help understand and counteract this misconception's potential negative impacts on participants.