Lecture 1 Flashcards
Ethics definition
White (1988) - evaluation of human actions - right/wrong, good/bad, acceptable/unacceptable.
Ethics and philosophy
Ethics come from philosophy. Deontology - very dichotomous. Immanuel Kant (1700s German philosopher) - behave in a way that would be acceptable if everyone acted that way. Doesn’t take into account circumstances. Utilitarianism: John Stuart Mill (1800s English philosopher). Based on major principle that an action is ethically appropriate when it leads to the greatest possible balance of good consequences to the least possible balance of bad consequences in the world as a whole. This is a little more circumstantial.
Psychology ethics history
1892 - APA founded in MA with G. Stanley Hall as the first president. 1938 - formed committee on scientific and professional ethics. 1940 - this committee reported that it was premature to have a formal ethics code, but recommended a standing committee of the APA to investigate unethical practices. Slant was also what people were doing wrong, unethical practices. This has been revised a lot - since 1979 - requiring training programs to teach ethics, but nothing as to how. Current code came out in 2016 but not responsible until 2017. 1947 - said time for a formal code, so APA President appointed a Committee on Ethical Standards for Psychology to make recommendations regarding the formulation of standards for professional practice. Asked members to describe situations they knew of firsthand, in which a psychologist made a decision having ethical implications (critical incident method). Received over 1,000 incidents. Committee identified major ethical themes, drafts were submitted to membership for critique and revision.
Revision dates
1953 - published first formal code of ethics. 10 revisions since: 1959, 1963, 1968, 1977, 1979, 1881, 1990, 1992, 2002, 2010, 2017.
Revisions guided by
express the best ethical practices in the field as judged by a large representative sample of members of the APA, to reflect an explicit value system as well as clearly articulated decisional and behavioral rules, to be applicable to the full range of activities and role relationships encountered in the work of psychology, to have the broadest possible participation among psychologists in its development and revisions, to influence the ethical conduct of psychologists by meriting widespread identification and acceptance among members of the discipline.
Ethical dilemmas
Requires more than understanding, must be able to think ethically. Ethical awareness is a continuous, active process that involves constant questioning and personal responsibility. Rules are rules may not always hold (rules are what you should do, what you believe is moral values, and who you want to be is morals and virtues). Ethical dilemma is when two or more of the core values found in the ethical principles conflict. E.g. confidentiality vs. helping suicidal clients.
Ethics acculturation model
Handelsman et al., 2005. Compared to learning a new culture, integrating own ethics code with psychology ethics code. Integrating is the most adaptive method, retaining own ethics. Low personal ethics of origin identification and low identification with psychology ethics: marginalization (just acting in best interest). High identification with psychology ethics and low identification with personal ethics: separation. High identification with psychology ethics and low identification with personal ethics: assimilation. High on both: integration. Barry’s (2003) acculturation model applied to ethical identity.
Causes of unethical behavior
Incompetence (but there are revised competency benchmarks for professional psychology), lack of knowledge, emotion/behavior problems), unaware or misinformed (didn’t know, but this is hard to use as an excuse), exploitative psychologist (bad people in profession, financial or interpersonal exploitation), irresponsible (not returning calls, doing good work), insensitive (biased, not aware of biases), self-interest (doing what’s best for you), dependence/over-reliance on others (can’t do this too much, even if you’re in authority), slips (everyone makes mistakes), vengeful (getting back at people for complaints), fear (don’t say or do something when someone in authority does something wrong).
Behaving ethically is neither easy nor impossible. It is both difficult and possible.
Recognize you aren’t as ethical as you’d like to be, think you are, or aspire to be. Use this information to be the person that you think you are, that you want to be, and that you can become. Importance of being self-reflective.
