Companion Manual Flashcards
- What ethical principle typically has the most weight?
- When should this principle not be given the most weight?
Companion Manual
- Respect for the dignity of persons
2. When there is clear and imminent danger to the physical safety of any person
Can you always rely on the ordering of the principles when engaging in ethical decision making?
Companion Manual
No
What should you do when the weighting of the ethical principles is not resulting in a decision?
Companion Manual
Engage in the ethical decision making process
Explain the role of personal conscience in the ethical decision making process
Companion manual p.21
Personal conscience can be taken into consideration when making an ethical decision, however, you must be able to explicitly demonstrate that your decision was based on deliberation of the ethical principles and your decision should be able to withstand public scrutiny.
What is proactive ethics?
Companion manual
Anticipating and planning for ethical concerns in the future. Doing so encourages individuals to maintain and ethical self awareness and constantly monitor their ethical behaviour.
What is reactive ethics?
Companion manual
Dealing with ethical concerns as they are thrown at you.
Is the Code proactive or reactive?
Companion manual
Both.
How is the Code an umbrella document?
Companion manual p.23
The CPA recognizes that one ethical code cannot be exhaustive of all issues. It is also used to guide the development of more specific ethical codes (e.g. ethics for animal research). Lastly, it provides an ethical framework to decide which behaviours should be enforced.
As a member of CPA, you are expected to commit to a set of behaviours. Describe how you are expected to deal with a colleague who you feel is engaging in unethical behaviour.
Companion manual p.37/CPA Code of ethics ‘Responsibilities of Individual Psychologists’
You are expected to bring the concern directly to the psychologist, when the action appears to be a lack of sensitivity, knowledge, or experience, and attempt to meet a resolution. If needed, take the appropriate formal actions.
When might your personal behaviour become an ethical concern?
Companion manual p.39/CPA Code of Ethics
If your behaviour is so shitty that it is damaging public trust in the discipline, or it raises questions about your personal ability to be a psychologist.
Differentiate legal versus civil rights
Legal: all rights that are protected by law
Civil: legal rights that guarantee citizens equal opportunities
Before having our own Code of Ethics, what did Canadian psychologists use?
Companion manual
The APA Code of Ethics
When was the first code of ethics for psychologists made? (not just in Canada)
Companion Manual p.1
1953
Why were Canadian psychologists dissatisfied with the APA Code of Ethics?
Taken from companion manual
- National pride–everyone else had their own code!
- Canadian culture differs from American-wanted a code to reflect that
- The APA code was viewed to have an inconsistent conceptual framework. The principles were not explicit, lack of understanding of the purpose of each standard, the values were not explicitly explained nor were they tied into the standards
- It was not inclusive of diverse client populations nor was it applicable to new areas of psychology such as community/family therapy.
When was the first CPA code of ethics published?
BONUS! When was the first companion manual published?
1986
Bonus:1988
What are the four goals of an ethical code?
- Help establish a discipline as a profession
- Act as a support and guide to individuals professionals
- Help meet the responsibilities of being a profession
- Provide a statement of moral principles that help the individual professional resolve ethical dilemmas
Define ‘profession’
A public declaration of commitment to goals or values that include, but go beyond, the members of the body of knowledge
Anyone who wants to be a member of a profession is expected to demonstrate competence plus willingness to apply the code to their practice and lives.
List Kohlberg’s stages and sub-stages of moral reasoning
- Pre-conventional
- obedience and punishment
- individualism and exchange (self-interest)
- Conventional
- Interpersonal relationships (social roles)
- authority and social order
- Post-conventional
- Social contract (recognize others have different values; law is contingent on culture)
- Universal principles (obey internal moral principles above the law)
What were the four objectives when making the Canadian code of ethics?
Companion Manual p.7
- Code be conceptually cohesive (better for training, and better understanding of the code itself)
- More inclusive and applicable to developing areas of practice
- Explicit guidelines for solving dilemmas
- Explicitly reflect the most useful rules for ethical decision-making
How does that Canadian code of ethics differ from other ethical codes in how it was developed?
Companion Manual
Many of code of ethics were developed based on the Hypocratic Oath. The Canadian code of ethics was developed based on the collective wisdom of Canadian psychologists.
Describe the methodology used to develop the Canadian code of ethics
Companion Manual p.
To start, 37 ethical dilemmas were developed. Participating psychologists were sent 2 ethical dilemmas; for each dilemma, there were 6 questions to be answered, which gathered info on how the psychologists reached their decision. Based on this data, content analysis was performed which resulted in formation of the 4 ethical principles.
+ The codes of other countries, and relevant ethical literature, were used in the development.
+ The code was sent to various professionals to seek their input and validate the final structure
What are the nine unique features of the Canadian code of ethics?
Companion Manual
- Objectives were based on analysis of international/interdisciplinary literature
- Inclusion of the over-riding ethic of a social contract
- Used empirical methodology in its development
- Code is organized around 4 ethical principles
- Each of the 4 principles has a different ‘importance’
- Inclusion of an ethical decision making model
- Has a place for personal conscience
- Includes minimum and idealized standards
- Code is considered an umbrella document
In relation to the CPA code of ethics, what does having ‘minimum and idealized standards’ mean?
Companion Manual
Many other codes are considered coercive because they offer the bare minimum regarding how to behave in order to not get in trouble.
The Canadian code differs in that it does provide the minimum behaviours one should entail to remain in good standing, but it also provides standards to which all psychologists should aspire to demonstrate.
This is thought to make it easier for professionals to be proactive ethically.
