3-1 Discussion With Responses: Origin of the APA Code of Ethics

Identify your career goals and describe the path you will take to achieve these goals. Feel free to include a visual representation (such as a flowchart or a photograph of a sketch) depicting your career goals.

My career goals are to continue working in a high school and become a school psychologist!

If you choose to include a visual, be sure to include a caption to describe the career goals illustrated by your visual. Explain how you believe the APA Code of Ethics will apply to your future career.

Take a look at your instructor’s biography on the My Instructor announcement (attached). How do you think the APA Code of Ethics has applied to his or her career as a psychology professional?

To complete this assignment, review the Discussion Rubric document (attached).

Please also respond to the following two students discussion posts in regards to this same topic. Please respond with a minimum of 1-2 paragraphs.

Student one:

See attachment for my career goals as the flow chart wouldn’t upload well via this discussion board.

The APA code of ethics will absolutely assist me in reaching each stepping stone of my career goals in the HR world by providing most of the framework for my position. In my profession of HR especially, there are many rules and regulations which need to be met at all times. Ethical codes such as language, professionalism, value, confidentiality, unbiased, and record keeping are all standards which need to be upheld to be considered credible and reliable (Koocher & Keith-Spiegel, 2008). As I move closer and closer to my end goal, the more well versed I will be with many of these standards and will be able to teach and pass these ethical morals down to my other managers. I want my colleagues and coworkers to think of me as being fair, credible and accurate. Without the code, I don’t think I could reach the appropriate level of such behavior.

As a clinical psychologist and professor, Dr. Achim must uphold high ethical standards in his practice and in school, which I believe he does an excellent job of. Ethical standards such as confidentiality, responsibility, integrity, and respect. I think back to just last week with our discussions of multiple role relationships and that is probably a somewhat common occurrence in the clinical field when seeing a number of patients. Maintaining confidentiality with his patients along with maintaining professionalism and integrity with his students are two aspects of the code of ethics which help accredit Dr. Achim with such high standards and respect. As we can see, regardless of the profession I think the code of ethics can be related in so many ways.

Reference

Koocher, G.P. and Keith-Spiegel, P. (2008). Ethics in Psychology and the Mental Health Professions: Standards and Cases. Appendix A. New York: Oxford University Press.

Student two:

I would like to get my Ph.D. in psychology and become a clinical psychologist. To realize this goal, I will need to go through a process. First, I will need to get my M.S. in psychology from SNHU. I will then need to prepare for and take the psychology GRE test. Upon enrolling in a Ph.D. program, I will learn the skills that I need to succeed as a psychologist. I will spend a year of this time as an intern at a psychology clinic. After obtaining my Ph.D. in clinical psychology, I will spend another year as a post doctorate fellow at another clinic. I shall then look for employment. I will treat a variety of individuals, although I am particularly interested in adults with anxiety and depression.

The APA Code of Ethics will be most important to me when I become a clinical psychologist. In particular, I will rely on Section 3 of the Code of Ethics, which gives directives concerning harm, harassment, exploitation, and conflicts of interest (www.apa.org, 2017). I will need to treat my clients in a manner that will lead to healing. Healing is hindered by biases and distractions that stem from unethical behavior.

Dr. J (Dr. Achim) (You wanted me to pick on you): You have worked (and possibly still working) with children and the elderly. As such, you were/are bound by the standards of the APA. Hence, you must avoid exploiting the elderly and families of children. I will be bound in a similar manner when I become a clinical psychologist. For example, I could not overcharge an elderly lady for therapy when I become a clinical psychologist. When you worked performed forensic and assessment duties, you had to be honest. You were not allowed to ignore results that contradicted expectations and hopes. I will also be bound by the same expectations of honesty in the future. Finally, if a student asked you to go out for lunch, you would have to decline his or her offer; it could lead to future expectations and illusions of favoritism (I did this a long time ago with an older male student, but it ended well. It was not wise, however. He was a kind gentleman).

American Psychological Association. (2017). Ethical principles of psychologists and code of conduct (2002, Amended June 1, 2010 and January 1, 2017). Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/ethics/code/index.aspx

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