Ethical Standards of Psychologists
The first code of ethics was created in 1953—60 years after the founding of the American Psychological Association (APA). As early as 1938, a Committee on Scientific and Professional Ethics was formed, but this committee only acted informally, as no formal ethics code yet existed. It took more than a decade after the committee’s formation for it to propose the creation of a formal, written code.
The APA’s Council of Representatives (the organization’s legislative body) provisionally approved the Ethical Standards of Psychologists as the association’s official ethical policy in 1952. Three years hence, the APA membership voted to make the principles permanent. Since then, the ethical code has undergone 10 revisions (with its most recent revision occurring in 2010).
For this Discussion, examine the Ethical Principles, Standards, and Codes of Conduct from the American Psychological Association and the other non-APA organizations listed in the Learning Resources for this week. Choose a non-APA organization’s Code of Ethics/Principles and compare it to the APA Code/Principles, assessing the similarities and differences in the codes/principles.
Post by Day 3 a brief analysis of two similarities and two differences in the codes you selected and provide an explanation for why these (similarities/differences) might exist.
