American Psychological Association Ethical Code in Relation to Ethics and Religion/Spirituality

Abstract

The purpose of this research paper is to define clearly the Ethics Code as outlined in the American Psychological Association. A code or set of ethics are special guidelines intended to outline suitable behavior for each individual within an organization, group or profession. These Ethics Codes will be discussed in relation to religious, ethical and spiritual areas of psychology. Furthermore, three scholarly articles regarding ethics, religion and spirituality will be thoroughly discussed, and conclusions will be matched with the guidelines set up by the APA. The fields of counseling and clinical practices, teaching, researching supervision, public service, social interventions etc all come under these Ethics Code, and it can be said that the field of psychology is governed by such rules as they outline the basic requirements of the profession.

American Psychological Association Ethical Code in Relation to Ethics and Religion/Spirituality

Introduction

A code or set of ethics are special guidelines intended to outline suitable behavior for each individual within an organization, group or profession (Campbell, 2010). Organizations form a code of ethics in order to govern their specific areas of interest, especially for sensitive subjects like psychology, medical care, cross cultural interactions etc. Such codes start by setting out the purpose, goals and aspirations of the organization (Campbell, 2010). The American Psychological Association or commonly referred to as APA are an organization which sets out the ethical principles for psychologists and an Ethics code (APA, 2012). It has three main areas, a preamble or simply an introduction, general principles and some specific ethical standards. Although the introduction and general principles are non-enforceable rules, the ethical standards are to be followed strictly by psychologists as they set out a clear code of conduct for them. However, they are broad rules, open to application depending ...