Ethics and Standards of Professional Psychology - Essay Example

Ethics and Standards of Professional Psychology The American Psychologists Association (APA) code of conduct was not a one-night project. It was made for over fifty years by experiencing new things, developing and reviewing the code of ethics to come up with one that muses over the ambitions and viability of standardizing ethical conclusions made by psychologists. When the first code of ethics was adopted in 1952, it was not quite a rough draft, neither was it a final one. The latest amendments to the APA code of ethics became effective on the first day of June 2010 (Knapp & Vandecreek, 2005).

The committee on Ethical standards for psychologists was created in the year 1947 and it took them close to 5 years to develop the first ethics code, and a further one year to have them published for use. Between the years of 1992 to 2003 was when the latest version of the code of ethics dubbed the “Ethical Principles and Code of Conduct” was in place (Fisher, 2003). The code of ethics does not only govern psychologists. Students and student affiliates are also governed by these standards.

The principles applied by the code of ethics apply to all roles of the psychologists, be it academic, scientific or professional, but it exempts their personal lives (Bersoff, 2008). This is a reaction paper to Celia B. Fisher’s book, “Decoding the Ethics Code: A practical guide for psychologists”. . I think that the author was excited in writing the book and that it was out of this spirit that we have a masterpiece that every psychologist should have. The author was involved in the demanding undertaking that is revising the code of ethics and was the knowing and skillful leader of a large group which was devoted to formulating a standard of ethics, principles, ambitions and practical advice which help to safeguard the integrity and rights of patients, those involved with research and customers (Knapp & Vandecreek, 2005).

I feel that there is no weakness in the piece of writing delivered by Celia B. Fisher. The book, however, has many strengths. In the book, I see that the author has demystified the APA code of ethics and the purpose of having it. The author states four key purposes of the code of ethics. One is ‘establishing the strength of a profession’. Here, the author states that the code is there to assist to lay down and keep the realism of the work of psychologists. The code of ethics establishes the profession of psychology as a society with a similar function and instills trust by the public in the individuals that are educated and groomed to uphold the ethical standards for the profession.

The second reason for the code of ethics is that it is a document that shines light on the values and criteria of the profession and gives the psychologists a template of what should be expected of them. The third function of the code, according to Celia B. Fisher, is that it instills public trust. It does this by portraying psychologists as individuals who belong to a respect-worthy line of work with high standards. The last function of the code of ethics is the value of fending off external pressure and/or regulation by enforcing themselves (Fisher,