Article archive / December 1, 2010
Originally published: . Volume 2, No. 4. Source pages: 9.
Among items on their October 20th agenda, the members of the psychology board discussed changes needed to adapt administrative law rules for psychologists to the new APA ethics code.
In changes effective June 1, 2010, APA added the language:
“Under no circumstances may this standard be used to justify or defend violating human rights.” They made specific changes to certain sections of the code (1.02, Conflicts between Ethics and Law, Regulations, or Other Governing Legal Authority; 1.03, Conflicts Between Ethics and Organizational Demands).
The following sentence was deleted: “If a conflict is unresolvable via such means, psychologists may adhere to the requirements of the law, regulations, or other governing authority.”
The change was in part prompted by the recent controversy surrounding military psychologists and methods of interrogation.
The APA amended the code in an attempt to address potential conflicts that psychologists could encounter when caught between professional ethics, organizational demands or legal authority.
The LSBEP discussed amending the rules to reference the current APA code, thereby making future adjustments unnecessary.
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.