Ethical standards and codes are usually the principles that are advocated for in a particular setting or discipline and when they are adhered to, they act as instruments or tools for promoting good values, for instance trust, fairness and equality and general good conduct or behavior in the process of carrying out various duties and responsibilities in an individual’s day to day life.
They advocate for maintenance of morals in all practices. There exist various ethical standards and codes that govern the practices and activities of various professions for instance teaching, medicine, law and psychology among other disciplines (Bianca, 2010).
This piece of work looks at the APA’s moral codes and standards examining its influence on the (professional) practice in the field of psychology.
The American psychological association (APA) is an essential and well known professional organization that is formed by the people in the field of psychology in the United States of America. The APA ethical principles and code of ethics are very essential to all psychologists and should be adhered strictly in their practices.
The APA’s ethical standards and codes influence the professional practice of the people involved in the various areas in the field of psychology through the outlining of the ethical principles and standards to be followed by the professionals in their work.
Some of the principles stipulated in the codes of ethics include; justice in term of access to the psychology services by everyone, integrity which involves honesty and accuracy in all the activities involved, dignity which touches on aspects of treating all people in a human manner and at the same time safeguarding the co-employees and client’s privacy and confidentiality as well as their self determination bearing the fact that breaking of any of the above could lead to loss of trust that would interfere with the work of the psychologist, fidelity, and accountability which entails the responsibilities of the professionals to the society and beneficence and no malfeasance, which entails safeguarding the welfare of the clients and respect for all (Fisher, 2003).
Apart from the above principles the American psychological association code of conduct also stipulates some standards that should be adhered to by the professionals in the field of psychology in their day to day work.
Some of the standards include; competence, human relation, proper record keeping including accountability for instance in terms of the fees charged to the clients for the services offered, provision of education and training services, indulging in research in the field of psychology and producing reports, provision of assessment and therapy services, maintaining privacy and confidentiality, competence, resolving ethical issues that may arise and general human relations among others (Herron, 2010)..
The American psychological association standards and code of ethics influences the work of the psychologists through the above named principles and standards which help the psychologists to remain focused in their practices and avoid any deviance as they take the APA document and the contents therein as a guide towards carrying out their procedures.
The American psychological association code of ethics is a document that should never be underemphasized as it has been a resource in the field of psychology. It however has not achieved much and it still has a long way to go in regard to ensuring that the ethical standards and codes are strictly maintained by all individuals in their professional practices.
Reference List
Bianca, A. (2010). APA Ethical Code of Conduct. Web.
Fisher, B.C. (2003). Decoding the Ethics Code: A Practical Guide for Psychologists. New York: Sage publishers. Web.
Herron, R. (2010). Psychology Code of Ethics. Web.