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Topic 1 Introduction To Ethics in Psychology
Topic 1 Introduction To Ethics in Psychology
1 to Ethics in
Psychology
LEARNING OUTCOMES
By the end of this topic, you should be able to:
1. Define the concepts of ethics and being ethical;
2. Describe both mandatory and aspirational ethics;
3. Explain the rationale of and needs for ethics codes in psychology;
4. Explain the importance of ethics for conduct as psychologists in
various psychologistsÊ activities; and
5. Discuss the development of ethics in psychology.
INTRODUCTION
To be good is noble, but to teach others to be good is nobler and less trouble.
Mark Twain
Recall the definition and goals of psychology. You probably remember that
psychology is the science of behaviour and mental processes, and the goals of
psychology are not just to describe and understand human/animal behaviour
and mental processes, but to predict and influence/control them. So, psychology
knowledge is useful to influence and control the behaviour and mental processes
of others, but what controls the psychologistsÊ behaviours and activities? Why do
we need to control psychologistsÊ behaviours and activities? What are considered
as ethical and unethical behaviours in psychology? How do we promote ethical
practices among psychologists and prevent disruptive behaviours which may
harm clients, third-parties or the community?
2 TOPIC 1 INTRODUCTION TO ETHICS IN PSYCHOLOGY
This topic introduces ethics in psychology as a tool for controlling and protecting
psychologistsÊ behaviour and conduct. The discussion involves defining
fundamental concepts regarding ethics, describing the types of ethics and some
examples of ethics codes, explaining the rationale for control and importance of
ethics, and discussing the development of ethics in psychology and mental health
professions.
It is important that when you read this topic, you should be able to imagine
yourself as a professional, who provides some psychological services to clients;
and also as a person, who receives some psychological help from psychologists.
Your imagination will contribute to your learning experience!
So, ethics is the tool for guiding practices or for controlling behaviours, and being
ethical is the ability of making an ethical decision by conforming to specific
ethical standards.
Why donÊt you continue reading the following basic definitions of key terms so
that you will at least be able to differentiate between the mandatory and
aspirational ethics and describe the six general principles of aspirational ethics,
which are also known as the basic moral principles to guide decision making
(Corey, Corey & Callanan, 2010).
There are six general principles of aspirational ethics and these are (Corey, Corey
& Callanan, 2010, pp. 19ă22):
(i) Autonomy
Autonomy refers to the promotion of self-determination, or the freedom of
clients to be self-governing within their social and cultural framework. For
example, psychologists must always encourage their clients to grow and
develop within their own socio-cultural context.
(ii) Nonmaleficence
This means avoiding doing harm, which includes refraining from actions
that risk hurting clients. For example, psychologists always strive to benefit
those with whom they work.
4 TOPIC 1 INTRODUCTION TO ETHICS IN PSYCHOLOGY
(iii) Beneficence
Refers to doing good for others and to promoting the well-being of clients.
For example, psychologists strive to take good care of their clients and to
respect their clientsÊ dignity.
(iv) Justice
This means to be fair by giving equally to others and to treat others justly.
For example, psychologists must provide equal access to their services to
everyone regardless of their cultural backgrounds.
(v) Fidelity
This means that professionals make realistic commitments and keep these
promises. For example, counselling psychologists always strive to respect
clientsÊ trust in a counselling relationship and keep their promises to help
the clients.
(vi) Veracity
This means truthfulness, which involves the practitionerÊs obligation to
deal honestly with clients. For example, psychologists must strive to be
truthful to their clients so that the psychologist-clientÊs trust can be
developed and nurtured.
You probably can define and describe these terms now, but why do you think
these ethical principles are needed in psychology? Why must we have some
guidelines or ethical standards for informing our behaviours as psychologists? In
the next section, I will explain the rationale for control and the importance of
ethics from the perspectives of the profession (includes the professional
associations and their members), clients, and the general public or community.
TOPIC 1 INTRODUCTION TO ETHICS IN PSYCHOLOGY 5
SELF-CHECK 1.1
ACTIVITY 1.1
Take a piece of paper and draw a simple mind map of the concepts,
and then try to build a suitable acronym to enhance your recall of the
concepts (e.g., the six general principles = Aku Nak Bantu John F. Vera);
So, besides the law, these professional codes of ethics act as guides or
professional monitoring of practice for members of each professional association.
Having at least a code of ethics in our own profession is good because it helps to
control and monitor our activities and practices. However, the code of ethics
cannot always help us to be ethical all the time because:
TOPIC 1 INTRODUCTION TO ETHICS IN PSYCHOLOGY 7
The ethics codes offered by most professional organisations are broad and
general, rather than precise and specific. These codes do not provide specific
answers to the ethical dilemmas you will encounter, but they do offer general
guidance (Corey et al., 2010, p. 6).
For example, letÊs study the following case and the possible responses from a
counselling psychologist:
Response A: IÊm sorry to hear about your job loss but I canÊt continue seeing
you without payment.
Response D: IÊm sorry to hear about your job loss and I thank you for your
offer. I do understand your difficulty and since you are making good
progress, IÊm willing to continue to see you without asking for immediate full
payment. You just pay whatever amount you can afford and you will pay
your balance fees when your financial situation has improved.
Now, consider the following information extracted from two selected ethics
codes to help you decide on the best course of action:
They:
(a) Make advance financial arrangements that safeguard the best interests
of, and are clearly understood, by all parties to the psychological
service; and
(b) Avoid financial arrangements which may adversely influence the
psychological services provided, whether at the time of provision of
those services or subsequently.
(e) If the recipient of services does not pay for services as agreed, and if
psychologists intend to use collection agencies or legal measures to
collect the fees, psychologists first inform the person that such
measures will be taken and provide that person an opportunity to
make prompt payment. (See also Standards 4.05, Disclosures; 6.03,
Withholding Records for Nonpayment; and 10.01, Informed Consent
to Therapy.)
So, we must be familiar with the standards and guidelines in our existing codes
of ethics for psychologists in order to be ethical in our practice. However, we
exercise our own professional judgement and take into account all relevant
information and factors when providing services to clients. This is indeed a very
challenging task because different professionals have different values and
perceptions.
Coret et al. (2010) propose eight steps to thinking through ethical dilemmas and
these are represented in Figure 1.1.
Please remember each of the steps because we are going to use this model for
further discussion in the upcoming topics.
TOPIC 1 INTRODUCTION TO ETHICS IN PSYCHOLOGY 11
SELF-CHECK 1.2
ACTIVITY 1.2
Study two existing codes of ethics from different countries (e.g., the APA
Code of Ethics 2010 from http://www.apa.org/ethics/code/index.aspx
and the APS Code of Ethics 2007 from
http://www.psychology.org.au/Assets/Files/Code_Ethics_2007.pdf).
(a) What are their similarities?
(b) Can you detect any significant differences between the two ethics
codes?
(c) Why do you think these differences exist?
So, we expect that these codes have limitations. This means that not all issues can
be solely dealt with by relying on ethics codes because of the contextual factors
such as the timing, the cultural considerations, the continued emphasis on the
role of diversity in mental health practice, and the professionalsÊ ability to
translate their own ethical awareness and problem-solving skills into
professional behaviour. Hence, ethics codes evolve and continuously undergo
periodic revisions.
For example, the PERKAMA Code of Ethics was first developed in 1994 but
recently it has been revised to upgrade the quality of its applicability in the
Malaysian context. Similarly, the current ACA (2005) and APA (2010) ethics
codes are results of recent revisions to replace codes from 10 years earlier.
Perhaps the demographic and technological changes in a particular society are
the main factors for making these revisions necessary.
Corey et al. (2010) discuss some limitations and problems that professionals
might encounter when they strive to be ethically responsible in their conduct of
practice (refer to Corey et al., 2010, p.7 for details), while Vergés (2010) proposes
an approach to ethical decision making that highlights the importance of context
TOPIC 1 INTRODUCTION TO ETHICS IN PSYCHOLOGY 13
in developing proactive strategies to solve ethical issues. Both are worth reading
to gain a deeper understanding of the development of ethics codes and the need
to periodically revise ethics codes to address some limitations in their
applicability to a specific cultural groups or contexts.
Overall, we should always remember that this module can only teach students
about ethics in psychology, but it cannot guarantee that students can be ethical
professionals. If you are able to understand the ethical principles for
psychologists, able to appreciate the importance of ethical principles, able to
differentiate between ethical and unethical behaviours, and always strive to
reinforce ethical behaviours in your daily functioning, then you can be an ethical
professional psychologist. Let the journey begin!
14 TOPIC 1 INTRODUCTION TO ETHICS IN PSYCHOLOGY
ACTIVITY 1.3
Ethics is the tool for guiding practices or for controlling behaviours, and
being ethical is the ability of making an ethical decision by conforming to
specific ethical standards.
Ethics are very important for all professionals and this explains why each
major mental health professional organisation has its own code of ethics.
American Counselling Association (2005). ACA code of ethics Retrieved June 10,
2008, from
www.counseling.org/Resources/CodeOfEthics/TP/Home/CT2.aspx
Australian Psychological Society (2007). APS Code of Ethics. Retrieved June 10,
2008, from
http://www.psychology.org.au/Assets/Files/Code_Ethics_2007.pdf
Corey, G., Corey, M. S., & Callanan, P. (2010). Issues and ethics in the helping
professions (8th ed.). Belmont, CA, USA: Brooks/Cole publishing
Company.
Koocher, G. P., & Keith-Spiegel, P. (2008). Ethics in psychology and the mental
health professions: Standards and cases (3rd ed.). New York: Oxford
University Press, Inc.