Ethics in psychology refers to a set of regulations that govern decision-making process in psychology practice. The American Psychology Association (APA) ethics code gives professional behavior standards used by members APA and other psychology bodies like provincial and state psychological associations ( APA, 2013). Some states use Ethic codes to issue licenses to psychologists. The licensing board can withdraw the license as a form of disciplinary action in case the ethical codes are violated. Law refers to a set of regulations that govern the actions of psychologists. Psychology professionals have ethical and legal responsibility to offer services to their patients and clients in a confidential and honest manner. Besides performing their duties in an ethical manner, psychologists are supposed to be acquainted with any law revisions that could influence their work. This research paper will discuss the differences between ethical and legal codes, their purpose, ethical decision-making process, and how laws of God and laws of man are addressed by the scriptures.
Legal codes offer the psychologists and their clients a legal protection. They are rules and regulations designed by the government with the purpose of protecting the public. These laws are put in place to control the use of psychology. They cover most ethical issues that arise from the psychology field. Legal codes enable the psychologists to know their rights and observe the rights of their clients ( Greene & Heilbrun, 2013). For instance, in hospitals, the informed consent law dictates that patients should be informed about their diagnosis, treatment process and the risks associated with the treatment and should take the treatment willingly. The patients have the right to refuse to be treated. It is illegal for a medical practitioner to force such a patient to be treated.
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Clients have the right to informed consent, integrity, confidentiality, and protection against psychological harm. Violation of these rights by a psychologist would mean a breach of legal codes. Security rule, for example, is a legal code that protects the confidentiality of the electronic transmitted patient information in hospitals.
Ethic codes include the ethical principles and codes of conduct outlining the duties of psychology professional. The purpose of ethical codes is to determine the acceptable and unacceptable codes of conduct in the field of psychology. These codes must be adhered to by psychologists for them to maintain their license and protect the interest of their clients. For instance, in the field of research, researchers should not deceive their participants to participate in a research that would cause them pain and psychological harm. The ethical codes protect the public as well as the psychologists from being abused for mishandling a case. These codes also protect financial, physical and emotional situations. The conflict of interest regarding both the client and psychologist is covered by ethical codes. A psychologist should not compromise a patient’s treatment in favor of a friend or family member. The interaction between the client and psychologist should be personal. Ethic codes protect both the psychologists and clients from a violation of conduct that may lead to psychological harm.
Decision making in psychology requires a review of ethical and legal codes to ensure that they are not violated ( Ford & Richardson, 2013). In reference to Rational and Retrospective decision model, decision-making process involves assessing the problem, planning, implementing and evaluating the decision ( Koocher & Keith-Spiegel, 2008). Assessment of the problem involves identifying the issue and determining it is ethical, and applying ethical codes and other psychology guidelines to establish definite ethical issues, In case of a clinical issue, explaining clinical elements clearly, Establishing legal issues that may affect the decision, identifying personal issues that may violate ethical codes such as discrimination and influence the decision, analyzing the vulnerabilities, rights duties of all the people involved, comparing notes on involved legal, personal and ethical issues with trusted supervisor or colleague, determining if your team members should be part of the decision making process so as to engage them.
Planning involves listing all possible solutions, analyzing to remove those that are obviously inappropriate, illegal or unethical and analyzing the consequences of the options left. Implementing involves, deciding on the right line of action. Evaluating involves analysis of the process, the decision and the result. Decision-making models are used in identifying and establishing the right solution for a problem. The rational model uses classical strategy to understand the process of decision making. It involves establishing clear problem, objectives, ethical issues, consequences, alternatives and making rational decisions. Retrospective model justifies an intuitively made decision to convince oneself that the made decision is logical, rational and reasonable.
For both psychologists and other helping professions, ethical codes determine what is morally right or wrong. Ethical codes govern the decision-making process for both. For both, violation of legal codes does not attract legal action but legal codes are applied in addressing behavior issues of psychologists and other helping professionals. Ethical codes for all helping professionals are used to protect the integrity, privacy, and confidentiality of clients except in cases where upholding confidentiality may lead to harming the client and other parties involved. Ethical codes for both address the informed consent ethical issue. All helping professionals have the obligation to provide services to their clients without discrimination. Ethical codes for all helping professions require them to be acquainted with any revisions of law that may influence their practice.
The ethical codes for psychologists are governed by American Psychology Association (APA) and other psychological bodies. When these ethical codes are violated, a disciplinary action may be taken against the psychologist. But in other helping bodies, ethical codes may not be governed by any organization and violation may not attract any disciplinary action ( Remley & Herlihy, 2014). In psychology, some licensing firms use the ethical codes to issue a license to professional psychologists. The license can be withdrawn in case the codes are violated. But some helping professions may not need any license. Understanding the professional codes of conduct for other helping professions helps in informing the decision-making process for a psychologist. It helps in understanding the ethical issues that may arise in providing a solution for a certain problem. Moreover, decision-making process involves understanding ethics for other people so that they do not violate them, therefore, understanding ethical codes for such people is paramount. Other helping professions deal with different cultures, as a psychologist, it is important to understand their ethical codes so as to consider them while making a decision for different cultural groups.
According to the scriptures, Gods laws were established by God for the benefit of Christians. It teaches the Christians how to conduct themselves according to the will of God. The ten commandments cover most laws of God but there are other laws throughout the scripture. Just like any other nation, the kingdom of God has laws that the citizens choose to obey. If they do not obey, they are bound to pay for their disobedience. The laws of God refer to the regulations of God's kingdom and Gods manner of life. The laws are divine and their intention is perfect. According to Paul in Romans 7:12,14, God's law is just, holy, good and spiritual. In Psalms 19:7-11, Gods law is perfect. The scripture further describes the law of God as beautiful and soul converting. Gods laws consist of Gods commandments, judgment and statutes that were established to be obeyed by everyone created by God.
The laws of God outline sin and righteousness. To Christians, the laws of God are not oppressive. According to Judges 21:25, the laws of God have to be there to guide Christians for without them everyone would act according to his/her desire. The greatest law in the kingdom of God is love and this clearly shows the objective of God laws is love. Besides the ten commandments, there are other laws of God throughout the Bible. They include marriage law that defines Gods purpose for marriage and the responsibilities of both spouses, clean and unclean meat laws, ceremonial laws, and Gods festivals. Obedience to the laws of God shows one’s love for God.
Throughout the scriptures, there is a law of man. Romans 13:1-14 states that everyone should submit to the governing administration. In the Bible, the authorities are established by God and disobedience to them shows disobedience to God. Men who are judges are advised to evaluate themselves first for God is the supreme Judge and will still judge them. According to 1John3:4, committing a sin implies a violation of the law. The law of man is against the sins of flesh which include impurity, sexual immorality, sensuality, sorcery, idolatry, strife, fits of anger, drunkenness, murder, stealing among other sins. Violation of laws of man is punishable by both man and God. Jesus came to fulfill the laws but not to abolish them. Everyone created by God is a citizen of both the earthly kingdom and Gods kingdom and therefore should subject to the authorities of both Kingdoms. Obedience to the earthly authorities means refusing to sin.
References
American Psychological Association. (2013). Guidelines for psychological evaluations in child protection matters. The American Psychologist , 68 (1), 20.
Greene, E., & Heilbrun, K. (2013). Wrightsman's psychology and the legal system . Cengage Learning.
Ford, R. C., & Richardson, W. D. (2013). Ethical decision making: A review of the empirical literature. In Citation classics from the Journal of Business Ethics (pp. 19-44). Springer, Dordrecht.
Remley, T. P., & Herlihy, B. (2014). Ethical, legal, and professional issues in counseling . Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
Koocher, G. P., & Keith-Spiegel, P. (2008). Ethics in psychology and the mental health professions: Standards and cases . Oxford University Press.
