ethical guidelines

Agree or disagree with below student post and why

When pertaining to certain sections of the APA Code of Ethics, there is a connection made that many aspects of the written code are incorporated into law and other legal proceedings. Decisions that seem ethical often inspire the creation of some laws (McGowan & Buttrick, 2015). However, there are some instances, such as this one, where ethical issues arent considered when formulating the rules and regulations that govern our society. While every distinct section of the Code of Ethics was established for a reason, some ethical issues can be seen as more important to the law if an individual is susceptible to harm. This is not to say that people cannot be harmed through incompetent and dated teachings in the field, but being misled or given outdated information will misinform students, and they cannot use their information beneficially, and subsequently, performance is affected (American Psychological Association, 2017). Additionally, similar problems can arise through research and licensure. Continuing education as a professional is necessary to stay up to date with developments within the field, and this information also heavily reflects into teaching (Koocher & Keith-Spiegel).

In spite of this, none of the aforementioned ethical issues are well-established in law. As previously stated, this could be because there is a lower chance that an individual could somehow be harmed by incompetent teaching and other psychology practices. There should be regulatory actions taken by a teacher or practitioner in this circumstance. Referring to research, the only person prone to harm is the professional themselves, but oftentimes, their actions are intentional, and they do not purposely seek to hurt themselves. Because there are rgarely legal repercussions due to a lack of laws related to practice, licensure, and teaching of psychology, it does become more difficult to enforce ethical guidelines. Despite this fact, there are still segments of the APA Code of Conduct that allow a psychologist, or even a colleague, to report an unethical professional to ethics committees (American Psychological Association, 2017).

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