Lancaster 1
John Lancaster
Prof. Dees
ENC 1102
26 February 2015
The Evolution of Ethics in the APA
For the last 120 years, the American Psychological Association has been at the forefront
of challenging social issues and stigmas present in American society, whether it be gender
equality, racial equality or even how the organization treats patients and research subjects. The
APA elected their first female president in 1905. At the time, she didn’t have a college degree
because Harvard refused to present diplomas to women. It is their use of their own respective
genres and attention to societal changes as a group that make the APA so important in regards to
progressive ideas.
The APA is a professional organization made up of doctorate-level psychologists that
aims to set guidelines and rules regarding psychological work, as well as act as an outlet for
research and publications to be shared amongst its members. The APA and all of its members
follow an ethics code, first written in 1953, and amended whenever the views of the organization
change or society deems it necessary, which usually ends up being every six to ten years. The
Ethics Code is the most important document within the professional psychology community, as it
lays the groundwork that every member must follow. It provides guidelines on using research
subjects, relationships between doctors and patients, and prohibits the use of discrimination in
the workplace when treating clients or engaging with coworkers (“Ethical Principles of
Psychologists”).
The sources below help to explain how the APA uses their Code of Ethics, and the
amendments to the code, to reflect the values that society holds at any given time. Ethics are
Lancaster 2
dynamic; they are every-changing with the social conduct of the time. As times change, and
society progresses, the discourse community’s purpose shifts, and as that purpose shifts to better
accommodate the values of the present, more progressive attitudes can be spread across the
world through science and ethics.
“Bylaws and Association Rules.” American Psychological Association. American
Psychological Association, 2015. Web. 23 Feb. 2015.
The Bylaws act as the APA’s constitution, and all members must adhere to them. They
were drafted and put into effect in 1953, when the first sets of rules and laws were written
down by the organization. The Bylaws outline the objectives of the APA, as well as the
qualifications that each member must obtain before joining, and what one has to go
through in order to get a work published. Amendments can be made to the bylaws by a
member vote only. The Association Rules refer to what the APA expects of its members
in regards to ethics, procedures and handling internal affairs. These rules change
frequently with the times and usually serve as a reflection of society’s values, but every
member is required to follow what is written. For example, while the APA was
established in 1892, the Office of Ethnic Minority Affairs was not founded until 1979.
Minorities were not a big part of professional organizations during the first half of the
twentieth century, and it is easy to see how it would take until the 1970’s, the decade
after the Civil Rights movement had reached its height, to finally recognize them as part
of the psychological community.
“Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct.” American Psychological
Association. American Psychological Association, 2015. Web. 23 Feb. 2015.
The APA Ethics Code is the most important piece of writing within the professional
psychology community. It outlines what is and is not ethically and morally right when it
comes to treating patients, performing experiments and publishing works. The Unfair
Discrimination clause, which describes that “psychologists should not engage in unfair
discrimination based on age, gender, gender identity, race, ethnicity, culture, national
origin, religion, sexual orientation, disability, or socioeconomic status on any basis,”
(3.01) is a fairly new addition to the code, especially the mention of “gender identity,”
which was just added as part of the 2010 amendments. The oldest and most stressed
ethical principle regards doctor-patient confidentiality as well as refraining from forming
any intimate relationships between doctors and their patients. After all, the APA’s main
goal is to help people.
Lancaster 3
Hirshbein, Laura D. “History, Memory, and Profession: A View of American Psychiatry
through APA Presidential Addresses, 1883–2003.” American Journal of Psychology 161:10
(2004): 755-763. Print.
The President of the APA has a lot of control over the organization, as well as a
nationally recognized platform on which to share the thoughts and ideas of the
association he leads to the rest of the world. Again analyzing the rhetoric of the APA (or
in this case the president of the APA), the way that psychologists talk about certain
subjects has a lot to do with societal characteristics of the time. The first president of the
APA to give a farewell address to the public, John B. Callender, took the time to “extoll
the upward progression of society, aided by the association’s efforts to improve human
welfare by propagating insane asylums” (755). Though at the time the most universally
accepted way of treating people with mental illness was to throw them into an asylum to
be treated whatever way psychologists at the time saw fit, no president would ever
recommend that type of action be taken today. We now know how detrimental insane
asylums can be on a suffering person’s wellbeing. Likewise, there was a time that the
APA openly supported the practices of racial segregation and hormone therapy in an
attempt to rid the mind of homosexual tendencies, a practice that is known today to be
very unhealthy.
Jansen, Jill M., Thoftne, Amy K. “A Comparison of Two APA Ethics Codes.” University of
Wisconsin- Eau Claire. (2003). Web.
Jansen and Thoftne analyze two APA Ethics Codes, the first one, drafted in 1953, and an
amended one published in 2002. Comparing and contrasting similarities and differences
between the two documents, it is easy to see again the influence society had on the
rhetoric chosen at the respective times in history. The language used in 1953 is very
gendered, referring to every psychologist or scientist as “he” or “him.” The 2002 version
corrects this by completely removing all gendered language, neither referring to anyone
as “he” nor “she.” Also mentioned:
 The 1953 code is very vague when it comes to deception and informed consent in
regards to test subjects. The 2002 code clearly states that a test subject must
know exactly what is being tested before he agrees to assist the researcher.
 Multiple relationships between doctors and patients are outlined much more
clearly in the 2002 code.
 The 1953 code permits psychologists to use their own personal judgment or
feelings to define ethical standards, which makes it easy to see why so much was
changed within the following decades.
Lancaster 4
Joyce, Nicholas R., Rankin, Thomas J. “The Lessons of the Development of the First APA
Ethics Code: Blending Science, Practice, and Politics.” Department of Counseling
The University of Akron 20.6 (2010): 1-17. Print.
It proves alarming to realize that the first APA Ethics Code was so vague and allowed so
many practices that would seem appalling by today’s standards. Joyce and Rankin point
out what that first code taught future generations of APA members, as well as why the
code was written the way it was in the first place. What is most interesting is that the
APA was established in 1892, however the first Ethics Code was not implemented until
1953, over a half-century later. The most plausible excuse for this is that the members of
the organization all trusted each other, as well as themselves, to practice psychology
ethically since they were all professionals. Every member is required to have a Ph.D.
Surprisingly, it took over fifty years for anyone to realize that this wasn’t the case.
Multiple complaints from the early fifties are cited as the starting points for the Ethics
Code that eventually evolved into the one around today. The politics of the times also
play a big role in what is added to the code. For example, gendered language was
removed from the document following the women’s movement of the 1970’s, and more
accepting attitudes regarding minorities in society as well as part of the APA were
established after the Civil Rights movement of the 1960’s.
Kaplan, David M. “Can Diversity Training Discriminate? Backlash to Lesbian, Gay, and
Bisexual Diversity Initiatives.” Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal 18.1 (2006): 6172. Print.
This article brings up an interesting dilemma that many people forget to think about
whenever new ideas are brought into the workplace. David M. Kaplan focuses
exclusively on lesbian, gay and bisexual diversity initiatives within the workplace over
the last ten years. He mentions that when companies and organizations force these
initiatives on their employees or members, there could be a serious issue of backlash.
After working a certain way for so long, it can be hard to accept change, especially when,
in some instances, that change can directly contradict some religious beliefs. This article
was written in 2006, and the APA amended its bylaws four years later to change its
official stance on homosexuality, as well as to make it a main goal of the organization as
a whole to further lesbian, gay and bisexual equality across the country. This includes
investing more time, money and effort into researching how these people fit into society,
as well as trying to discover more about the causes of homosexuality, of which no one
has a clear idea about. The APA is still adjusting to these changes, but it reflects how the
group as a whole is combating an issue by using its specific genre of research and moving
forward with it into the future.
Lancaster 5
Nagy, Thomas F. “A Brief History and Overview of the APA Ethics Code.” Essential ethics for
psychologists: A primer for understanding and mastering core issues. Ed. Thomas F. Nagy. Palo
Alto: American Psychological Association, 2011. 29-48. Print.
Nagy begins by talking briefly about what the original 1953 Ethics Code was like, and
what it strived to accomplish. He outlines what it did and did not do right, by today’s
standards at least, and then shortly takes the reader through some of the other
amendments made to the code between its inception and the last time that it was amended
in 2010, again, realizing that the changes taking place are always reflecting society’s
social changes.
Wise, Erica H. “Social Responsibility in the 1992 and 2002 APA Ethics Codes.” National
Register of Health Service Psychologists. 17.2 (2002): 1-2. Print.
Psychology as a profession is really half part science, and half part helping others. This
means that Psychologists are expected to use their careers and research to further society
into a more progressive future, never to go backwards. This idea presents every
psychologist with a social responsibility. In 1992, the Ethics Code was amended so to
put a lot more emphasis on the “notion of social action and social relevance” (1). That is,
to make strides in social progress and not to dwell on issues that have already passed.
The commitment to social responsibility was emphasized more in the 2002 code, and in
recent years, psychologists belonging to the APA have expanded their genres to more
political platforms. They testify on certain practices, and on what they have determined
to be discrimination or not.