Ethics

Question 1

How does the Oxford dictionary define ethics?

Answer 1

• Moral principles that govern a person’s behaviour or the conducting of an activity.
• The branch of knowledge that deals with moral principles.

Question 2

In most situations when we refer to unethical behaviour, we mean one of four things. What are these 4 things?

Answer 2

1. Behaviour that is dishonest
2. Compliance with ethical standards
3. Consistency with personal and social values
4. Impact on others

Question 3

Give a case study where the Psychology Board of Australia has taken action against a person:

Answer 3

Khosrow Shahinper.
Mr. Shahinper engaged in a sexual relationship with his client. Cancellation of his registration, disqualified from applying for registration for 3 years, has to pay the Boar’s costs and incidental to these proceedings, or failing agreement to be assessed on the district court scale.

Question 4

Ms Milnes, a psychologist, had phone conversations with the mother of a child who was her client. She did not document any of the phone conversations. She made claims in her report to the court that the father had sexually abused the daughter. She made statements in court about child development, sexual abuse, memory , recall and reporting that were not accurate. She made statements to the police, carried out an investigations, advocated for the client and the client’s mother. She made a diagnosis of PTSD without any clinical assessment. What were the key issues here that made Ms Milne unethical?

Answer 4

• She did not record the phone conversations anywhere
• Made statements that were not accurate
• Made a diagnosis without any clinical assessment
• Breached professional boundaries by advocating for the client outside of what was appropriate for a therapist

Question 5

What does research suggest are the top 10 areas of complaint? (first 5)

Answer 5

1. Clinical Care
2. Boundary violation
3. Documentation
4. Health impairment
5. Communication

Question 6

What does research suggest are the top 10 areas of complaint? (second 5)

Answer 6

6. Behaviour
7. National law breach
8. National law offence
9. Other (conflict of interest, discrimination etc)
10. Informed consent

Question 7

Who makes the majority of complaints to APS?

Answer 7

Most are made by clients, relatives or other practitioners

Question 8

APS receives _____ requests for ___ ___ each year.

Answer 8

Over 5000

Ethical assistance

Question 9

Over a 30 year career, about __ out of every 100 psychologists can expect to be the subject of a complaint from the public and of these, __ will receive a serious misconduct complaint.

Answer 9

20

2

Question 10

What are some reasons as to why psychologists might slip up?

Answer 10

They could become complacent after practising for a while, don’t follow procedures, rely too heavily on memory.

Question 11

If we start with the assumption that most people who become psychologists are generally good people, how do we end up being reported for unethical conduct?

Answer 11

Because we aren’t perfect - we might underestimate how we will respond in certain situations, forget procedure.

Question 12

What are some reasons as to why people can be led to make unethical decisions?

Answer 12

Heightened emotional states, stress, the idea that nothing bad will come from the occasional slip up in procedure.

Question 13

What are the 4 key drivers of decision making (as per the youtube video).

Answer 13

1. Unconscious thoughts (heuristics)
2. Unthinking custom and practise (absorbing family beliefs without questioning)
3. Ethical decision making profile (how we process ideas)
4. Reflective practise (conscious decision making)

Question 14

What are the shortcuts mechanisms called that we have to process the huge amounts of information we receive?

Answer 14

Heuristics.

Question 15

What is the negative side effect talked about of heuristic ways of thinking.

Answer 15

It can distorts our thinking, as some heuristics lead us to biases. We can ignore things automatically if it doesn’t fit into our way of thinking.

Question 16

We’d like to think that ____ is what is primarily guiding our decision making. However, it is probably actually more driven by the ____.

Answer 16

Reflective practise

Other 3 modes

Question 17

According to Steinman et al., what is the first ethical trap?

Answer 17

“The commonsense, Objectivity” trap.
The belief that commonsense, objective solutions to professional ethical dilemmas are always easy to come by because helping professionals are basically ethical people who will use this characteristic as a satisfactory guide when they face any ethical dilemma.

Why it’s a trap:

1. some decisions are guided by law
2. Objectivity in real life situations is hard to achieve

Question 18

What is ethical trap 2, and when do people tend to fall into this trap?

Answer 18

The “values” trap.

When practitioners allow their personal values to influence and potentially brach their professional ethical codes.

Question 19

What is ethical trap 3, and why is it a trap?

Answer 19

The “circumstantiality” trap - the belief that there are no “right” or “wrong” answers to any ethical questions. Behaviour is right or wrong according to professional ethical standards.

Question 20

What is ethical trap 4?

Answer 20

The "who will benefit" trap. 
Though it's often not recognised, one thing that frequently turns a situation into an ethical dilemma is that the decision may result in both a "winner" and a "loser". One hierarchy suggested to use when determining the order of benefit is:
1. The professional 
2. Society 
3. The individual

Question 21

Since 1995, APS have argued that all courses should include:

Answer 21

Ethics modules.

Question 22

Instead of learning by ‘osmosis’, what should some formal ethics training include?

Answer 22

• Ethical principles and reasoning
• Examination of one’s own personal and professional values
• Decision making

Question 23

Less than what percentage of ethics training is included in undergraduate programs?

Answer 23

25%

Question 24

What percentage of ethics programs teach ethics in years 4-7?

Answer 24

90%

Question 25

Ethical concerns are central to the professional psychological practice because it involves:

Answer 25

Trust, power, caring.

Question 26

Understanding of ethical codes and frameworks is ___ but not ___ for exercising ethical responsibility.

Answer 26

Necessary

Sufficient

Question 27

The latest version of the code of ethics was released in what year

Answer 27

2007.

Question 28

The APS code of ethics are the ___ expectations to what is regarded as professional conduct.

Answer 28

Minimum.

Question 29

The code of ethics must be interpreted with reference to:

Answer 29

Law

Organisational rules and procedure.

Question 30

What are some of the APS core capabilities for registration.

Answer 30

• Knowledge of the discipline
• Ethical, legal and professional matters
• Psychological assessment and measurement
• Intervention strategies
• Research and evaluation
• Communication and interpersonal relationships
• Working within a cross-cultural context
• Practice across the lifespan

Question 31

What are the 4 things required to practise in an ethical manner?

Answer 31

1. Engagement in a continual, active process of ethical awareness
2. Realising that an understanding of ethical codes and legal frameworks is necessary, but not sufficient for exercising ethical responsibility
3. The ability to see ethical implications in specific situations and choices
4. The ability to critically evaluate ethical dilemmas and identify options for resolution

Question 32

How does O’Gorman define ethics?

Answer 32

As two meanings.
One to do with ethics as a branch of philosophy concerned with the systematic study of moral life and the other with a set of principles that govern behaviour.

Question 33

The first code was developed by APA in the:

Answer 33

1950s.

Question 34

Francis (1999) provided a thorough analysis of the content of the APA, BPS, and APS ethical codes as well as those of professional associations in New Zealand, Canada and Europe. On the basis of his analysis and a consideration of the wider literature on ethics, Francis proposed six first-level principles to guide the ethical conduct of psychologists. What were these?

Answer 34

1. Dignity
2. Equitability
3. Prudence
4. Honesty
5. Openness
6. Goodwill

Question 35

What is a dual relationship?

Answer 35

Where there is a preexisting or developing relationship with a client that could reasonably be seen to compromise the professional’s judgement or ability to put the interests of the client first.

Question 36

With the term ‘reasonably compromise’, in a dual relationship sense, what is meant by ‘reasonable’ according to O’Gorman?

Answer 36

If a person was to be given just the facts and external to personal bias, what would they conclude?

Question 37

The Code of Ethics is set out under 3 overarching principles. What are these

Answer 37

A. Respect for the rights and dignity of people and peoples
B. Propriety
C. Integrity

Question 38

Read through the code of ethics!

Answer 38

Read through and become familiar with the code of ethics!

Question 39

Why do you think dual relationships should be avoided?

Answer 39

Because not only does it compromise therapy and the therapeutic relationships, but also is unethical on the grounds of power and the client/counsellor dynamic.

Question 40

What are 7 steps for ethical practise that are good to keep in mind? (1-4)

Answer 40

1. Know relevant ethical codes
2. Know applicable state and federal laws
3. Know the rules and regulations of the setting in which you work
4. Learn to identify situations with potential ethical problems

Question 41

What are 7 steps for ethical practise that are good to keep in mind? (5-7)

Answer 41

5. Learn to identify potential ‘ethical traps’
6. Learn a method for problem solving ethical dilemmas in complex situations
7. Be prepared to consult senior colleagues who are knowledgeable about ethics and engage in continuing education in ethics.

Question 42

One of the interesting findings from research on ethical decision making is that people do not:

Answer 42

act in the way they know they should.

Question 43

go through topic 2 activities.

Answer 43

go through topic 2, exploring the code activity.

Question 44

What are the first 1-6 steps of the ethical decision making procedure? (1-6)

Answer 44

1. Problem identification
2. Facts, what is relevant, what else do we need to know, .
3. to whom are we obligated,
4. what sources are available to us, consult with supervisor, peers
5. What ethical principle/standard is being invoked?
6. Does there appear to be a breach?

Question 45

What are the first 7-11 steps of the ethical decision making procedure? (1-6)

Answer 45

7. Frame a preliminary response (intuitive, critical evaluative, applying code, ethical guidelines)
8. Consider consequences
9. Consider our values/morals
10. What ethical trap possibilities are relevant?
11. Prepare an ethical resolution. Get feedback from peers. Take action and follow up