The Ethics Awareness Inventory Essay

Awareness of ethical actions may be evaluated with a help of the Ethics Awareness Inventory. This instrument also evaluates the person’s ability to make and implement ethical decisions.
The process of evaluation is organized in the following way: the person under evaluation receives a few possible variants of answers for certain situations and he/she has to choose the most and the least ethical options of this situation’s solutions. The Ethics Awareness Inventory provides the narrative results interpretation as well.
The Ethics Awareness Inventory actually an important instrument of learning of the ethical perspectives in psychology. Students are able to learn the process for making ethical decisions like in real life situations.
The ethical perspective of person’s character
Having good moral principles should be the most important characteristic of the ethical perspective of character. Persons with strong moral principles and features like honesty, wisdom, and integrity, make corresponding actions, a set of moral rules reflects in their personal growth, health, and development.
Even under the most complicated circumstances the person with this kind of a character will be able to make a correct ethical decision. And on the opposite, a person who doesn’t possess a strong character will not be able to demonstrate ethical solution for sure.
Ethics: basic principles
In general, ethics is a study of the principles and standards of human conduct. Right and wrong are defined by religious authorities, law is defined with legislative acts, and good manners are defined by the social culture.
Moral principles are universal and they may be applied to practical action and behavior. One may assess actions as right, wrong or neutral, as well as the consequences of behavior, and the character. (Pettifor, 1996)
Personal ethics in psychology
Ethical behavior is very complex issue, because nature of good and evil was looked for by the humankind over the centuries. It’s really hard to determine the right and wrong in human behavior.
There is a history of development of psychology codes of ethics and conduct. Through the years, various events and values, including philosophical and religious, have a great impact on psychology’s codes.
Values, external pressure, social rules and the combination of these factors influence the ethical behavior of psychologists nowadays.
Challenges of modern life require a full package of moral principles in order to discover correct strategies and set appropriate targets.
Ethics doesn’t allow the specialist to engage in any situation that would prove harmful. Of course it’s impossible to achieve a perfect and pure observance of ethics, it’s not realistic.
The concept of personal individual ethics needs to be extended to the social and cultural environment, because the environment influences the ethical behavior of psychologists; a morally responsible perspective includes a political role for psychologists which encompass strategies to shape that environment. (Rest and Narvaez, 1994)
The Code of Conduct for Psychologists
A history of developing codes to guide and regulate psychologists’ behavior has began not so long ago, in the 20th century.
The Codes of Ethics for Psychologists exist in many countries, for example in the US and Canada. Code describes psychologists’ moral behavior and principles in the context of their work. It doesn’t matter what are individual’s personal beliefs as long as they do not bring discredit to the psychology. (Dunbar, 1992)
These codes concentrate on control of an unacceptable behavior, but it’s very hard to make rules that cover all possible situations which psychologists may face.
The code usually provides a moral or ethical framework and a decision – making model to guide psychologists (scientists, teachers and practitioners) in their everyday conduct. The code advocates the practice of both proactive and reactive ethics, and serves psychologists individually and collectively as members of a discipline which does business with the larger society. Each ethical principle is followed by a values statement describing the principle, and by the specific ethical standards which are governed by this principle. (Dunbar, 1992)
No matter what, but all codes should have a foundation in moral principles.
The American Psychological Association’s Ethical Principles in the Conduct of Research with Human Participants was first adopted in 1973, and its latest review was in 2002.
Advantages of psychology as a professional path
Modern psychologists use a value-neutral model that is also used by science. What I enjoy about psychology is that it’s a science and at the same time it’s an instrument of helping people.
Psychologists are acting like scientists, they are sure that in order to get to the truth of a person, their beliefs and judgments should be excluded from this process.
The main goal of psychology is a definition, understanding and explanation of the purpose of helping the person “to adjust”. Persons’ mental health is studied on the basis of how well this person was adjusting to the world around. (Jordan and Meara, 1990)
Psychologists should obey the moral standards in order to be suitable for their profession and they consider human weakness as forgivable, understandable, and, in principle, curable thing.
Modern psychology’s part in a pluralistic, turbulent, and cynical society will depend on effectively proving it’s worth, and on practicing politics for the greater good. The essence of behaving ethically is in being an ethical person who is caring in personal and professional relationships and who is able to survive and to navigate among conflicting interests and pressures. (Lowen, 1993)
Conclusion
Psychology is a discipline that includes scientific and practice components and is ruled by the professional ethic. Psychologists should be conscious and proactive about their values definition, and their major virtues have to be compassion, caring, and service for the benefit of others. In my opinion, both psychology and its professionals have to be valued and recognized by our society. At the same time psychology should always be friends with ethics, because personal ethics is a crucial condition for this science’s functioning and development.