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John Lancaster
Prof. Dees
ENC 1102
23 April 2015
The Evolution of Ethics in the APA
The truth is that community is everywhere. People hangout in fraternities, people
contribute to forums, people join clubs, perform music, play sports, bond over teams… People
may join communities for fun or perhaps join for work (or both if they are one of the lucky few).
The point is that community is something that we all inherently strive to be a part of as a social
species. It’s part of the human condition. Many communities utilize a set of genres and a
specified discourse as a fulcrum for their endeavors. These communities are cleverly known as
discourse communities, and as its name implies, discourse, or language, is required and used to
establish a set number of goals that all members of the community have (Swales 216). A
discourse community may strive to promote an idea or enact a change to some facet of society.
I have spent this semester researching a discourse community of interest to me, the American
Psychological Association.
The APA is a professional organization made up of doctorate-level psychologists. They
aim 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 is a very exclusive
organization, only accepting the top professionals in the field of psychology around the United
States. There is a reason for the selectivity, though. The APA is responsible for outlining
stances that the psychological community takes on certain issues, accrediting graduate
universities, and determining the national qualifications that are required to become a
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psychologist. The scientific study of psychology is only about one hundred and fifty years old,
and especially considering the difficulties that psychology had faced in the past regarding
whether it was a real science or not, the APA takes its job extremely seriously. Only the best in
the field can guide the future of psychology in the right direction. This knowledge helps the
APA fit snugly into the confines of what a discourse community is as defined by University of
Michigan professor John Swales (220). A certain specialized knowledge and lexis exists within
the APA due to its exclusive nature. Similar to how medical doctors may talk to nurses or
technicians in an operating room, utilizing measurements and instruments that the general public
probably is not knowledgeable about, psychological doctors may refer to ideas or treatments in
the same way.
As mentioned above, arguably the most important aspect of a discourse community is its
application of discourse. This is usually utilized through a specified set of communicative
genres. The APA’s main communicative genre is their Ethics Code. First drafted and applied in
1953, the APA Ethics Code serves to outline how psychologists should conduct research, treat
patients, and react within the progressively changing society of the United States. The Ethics
Code is always changing and providing each member with the knowledge they need to contribute
adequately to the organization. My work analyzing the discourse community of the APA will
explain how they use their Code of Ethics, additional amendments to the code, as well as oral
rhetoric, to reflect the values that society holds at any given time.
For the last 120 years, the American Psychological Association has been at the forefront
of challenging social issues and stigmas present in American society. The APA has always been
a little more progressive than society as a whole. They elected their first female president in
1905, at a time when most major universities were not yet awarding degrees to women. Despite
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its situational broad-minded ideas, however, it is sometimes easy to see how and why the APA
has to constantly change its communicative genres to better parallel modern society. One such
genre that the APA utilizes at least once a year is the annual presidential farewell address. It is
not a mandatory practice; however it has become a tradition thanks to the precedence set by one
of the first presidents of the APA, John B. Callender. Callender gave his speech right before the
turn of the century at a time when both industrial and sociological progress seemed to be at its
peak. In it he took the time to “extol the upward progression of society, aided by [the APA’s]
efforts to improve human welfare by propagating insane asylums” (Hirshbein 756).
Unfortunately, the idea of an insane asylum for nineteenth century psychologists was quite
different than what today’s professionals might refer to as a far less chilling-sounding psychiatric
hospital. The way that psychologists talk about certain subjects has a lot to do with societal
characteristics of the time. An insane asylum in the 1890s would often incarcerate
psychologically unstable individuals in less-than desirable living conditions and subject them to
medieval-sounding treatments like hydrotherapy or prefrontal lobotomies. Callender and the rest
of the organization that he led agreed that these treatments were necessary and extremely
promising to ensure a better future for generations to come. Looking back on it now, it seems
too easy to pick out all of the flaws in what Callender was suggesting. One hundred and twenty
years ago, though, it was quite alright to suggest these types of things. One must remember that
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. Callender would never have been allowed to promote practices like hormone
therapy or racial segregation within asylums if those ideas were not already accepted by society.
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In this sense, the APA’s stances on these treatments do in fact parallel United States society at
the time.
Today, all of the practices mentioned above are considered both unethical and physically
dangerous, almost the exact opposite of what they believed 120 years ago, and all thanks to the
gradual changing of ideas over time. We can see these changes clearly if we fast forward half a
century to the 1950s. The first APA Ethics Code was written in 1953. Today, the Ethics Code is
regarded as one of the most important textual artifacts that the organization has. The basis of
how to be a psychologist is outlined within its words. How, then, was it written so late? The
APA had been around for over fifty years before any ethical principles were ever put into words.
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 and
every member did have to have a PhD. (Joyce, Rankin 10). For some reason, though, it took
over fifty years for anyone to realize that this wasn’t the case. Again the reason can be
concluded by looking into how the APA uses its genres to mirror societal ideals at the time.
It can be easily argued that the decades following World War II were some of the most
changing times in modern history. The economy never looked better, families began moving
into newly developed suburbs, and perhaps most importantly people were having babies. People
were having enough babies for historians to refer to individuals born between the late 1940s and
early 1960s as “Baby Boomers.” Simply due to the fact that there were so many more children,
more children ended up seeing psychologists around this time. Women were also gaining much
more of a voice in American society. Many wives continued their husband’s work when they
left to fight and thus proved their worth. These two phenomenon combined helps to explain the
increase in reported incidents (members of the APA not behaving themselves during sessions or
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in the workplace, that is) before 1953, and thanks to the baby boomers, children and child safety
became a much more important issue than it ever was before (Joyce, Rankin 15). It is no
coincidence that the first Ethics code was drafted at this time, and that the sub-study of
developmental psychology first began to appear in textbooks and classrooms at this time (Nagy
30). The 1950s are historically known for its radical changes. The APA went through some
radical changes too.
Jill Jansen and Amy Thoftne make some interesting points in regard to the first Ethics
Code as compared to a more modernized one. They point out that in 1953 the APA used much
gendered language when referring to psychologists and researchers (2). That is to say that
scientists were referred to exclusively as “he” or “him” despite the fact that there were women in
the organization. Compared to the amendments made to the code in the 1980s, this gendered
language seems to disappear. Words like “he” and “she” are not used, but instead individuals are
referred to as simply “researchers” or “psychologists” (5). This seemingly small amendment
actually leaps forward exponentially in regard to gender equality. The 1970s saw a huge surge in
the interest in progressing gender equality and women’s rights, as seen in Supreme Court cases
like Roe v. Wade regarding abortion.
The Ethics Code aims to make clear that “psychologists should not engage in unfair
discrimination based on age, gender, gender identity, race, ethnicity, culture, national origin,
religion, or sexual orientation on any basis” (“Ethical Principles”). This excerpt is taken directly
from the actual Ethics Code that members of the APA adhere to today. More specifically, it is
part of the Unfair Discrimination Clause, which is one of the newest and most amended clauses
present in the code. This is for a reason, and can, again, be directly mirrored by society’s most
recent issues. The Unfair Discrimination Clause was added to the Ethics Code in the mid 1970s.
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The 1970s, as well as the decade preceding it, challenged both racism and sexism in American
society. The Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s was perhaps the most radically evolving time
for African Americans of the 20th century (“Bylaws and Association Rules”). Minorities were
not an important part of professional organizations during the first half of the 20th century, but it
is easy to see how the APA saw a dramatic increase in African American membership
throughout the 1980s and 1990s, obviously a byproduct of the Civil Rights Movement (Joyce
13). It was around the mid 1960s that the APA finally altered their views on racial segregation
in psychiatric facilities. Psychiatric hospitals, as well as insane asylums of the early twentieth
century, were always segregated because psychologists of the time thought that having
psychologically unstable white people around black people would only drive them deeper into
their psychoses. American society all throughout the first half of the 1900s was extremely racist.
Segregation was a common practice ranging from bathrooms to schoolhouses. It is not hard to
see why psychologists deemed segregation a good thing at this time. Likewise, it is not hard to
see why the Ethics Code was quickly amended in the 1960s officially deeming segregation in
psychiatric facilities unethical. By the 1970s, racism was waning in America. Thanks to the
strict guidelines set forth by the Ethics Code that all APA members must follow, abolishing
segregation only made the transition into a more progressive, equal future more tangible for the
whole country (Nagy 41).
Homosexuality has been a hot topic for many years. In 1953, when the first Ethics Code
was written, it was included that hormone therapy, sometimes referred to as “chemical
castration,” was a viable and promising treatment to rid the mind of homosexual tendencies and
thoughts. At this time in history, homosexuality was considered a physiological disease, and was
to be treated as such. Doctors and psychologists alike were certain that there was a cure for it.
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Similarly, in some countries around the world, to be gay was considered a crime. People were
still being sent to prison for this ridiculous crime up through the 1960s in England. With these
ideas in mind, the APA’s stance on homosexuality around the middle of the 20th century again
reflected the society in which it functioned. It wasn’t until around the late 1980s that the APA
no longer considered homosexuality a disease, and about a decade before that they deemed
hormone therapy extremely detrimental to one’s health and wellbeing (Jansen). These
realizations came to light within the APA thanks to strides made for gay rights by leaders like
Harvey Milk in the 1970s. Again the APA mirrored society’s stance on gay rights with their
ethical amendments. Today, the APA is investing more time, money and effort into researching
how these people fit into today’s society, as well as attempting to discover more about the causes
of homosexuality, of which no one has a clear understanding (Kaplan 72).
Since the APA Ethics Code was first conceived, it is amended around every six to ten
years, which also coincidentally coincides with the amount of time it takes for a new aspect of
society to change. 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 (Wise 1). We live in a pretty progressive time
right now, especially when it comes to homosexuality and gender identity. Fifty years ago,
gender identity issues were not a big concern to Americans. Today they seem to be. As a result,
the APA amended their Ethics Code to include a section about them. Given that this amendment
was one of the latest, it should reflect the ways that we are handling new situations as a whole,
and it does. This past decade has been the first time in history that gender identity issues are
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being taken into consideration on things like online surveys and applications. I almost never see
just the two options of “male” or “female” when I sign up for something anymore.
Coincidentally, I have noticed these changes taking place within the last five years; exactly the
time that the APA amended their Ethics Code.
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. Thanks to their decades of internal social
reform, they have established an important reputation for themselves as progressive social
activists. This stigma could not have been placed upon the APA without their constant mirrored
image of society ranging all the way back to the 1890s.
Researching the APA all semester has been a very rewarding experience for me. I was
able to take an in-depth look at an organization that I am interested in and see how it fits into a
much larger facet of society rather than simply relying on its own internal functions itself. I had
initially wanted my research question to focus on how members of the APA, as well as American
psychologists outside of the organization, used the written Ethics Code in their everyday
practice. It was not until I discovered the types of articles that I did, which analyzed more of the
genre’s evolution than it did of its current use, that I realized how important a simple piece of
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rhetoric can be to both an organization and a whole society. Ethics are dynamic; they are everchanging 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. Because of this fact, I found it very beneficial to tackle a question that involved the
history and evolution of the APA’s most important genre. Texts change meaning all the time.
Arguably, that it was makes them so important to any society of people through time. That is
also what makes discourse and language so important to any group of people. Because of the
fact that discourse can change, it is possible to look back into a time of history and ask the
questions why or how did these things happen?
I had pretty good idea of how far-reaching these ideas can be through this research, but it
was not until I conducted an interview with a local psychologist here in Florida that I fully
realized the extent to which a discourse community can thrive, which is what the APA is doing
through the changes its Ethics Code goes through. I emailed a question to the APA’s general
email address, hoping that a member would take the time to answer it for me. The question:
How has a written charter of the APA guided you in your practice? Unfortunately, I received a
response saying that the APA cannot give out contact information, proving that it was going to
be hard to make my way into such an exclusive organization. They did, however, provide me
with a website for a “Psychologist Locator,” which is actually run by the APA. Through that, I
was able to make contact with a local psychologist who works at a mental health practice in
Winter Park called Medical Psychology Associates. Though he is not part of the APA himself,
he explained to me that he still refers to and follows the APA Ethics Code because adherence to
the code is expected of all psychologists across the country, not just those who are part of the
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organization. He explained without it, there would be no rules or guidance in the field and
without the changes made to it, psychologists would continue to operate according to outdated
rules and ideas. This was a great point, because if the APA didn’t adapt its principles to reflect
the prevalent ideas within society, who’s to say that the organization would even still be around
today? How long could any organization last operating on ideas that are fifty years, or even a
century old? Through all of my research as a whole, I discovered how far-reaching the textual
genre of the APA Ethics Code really is, and what it means to American psychologists.
It is interestingly frightening to look back on both American society, as well as the
APA, and know that some practices which seem inhumane and ridiculous actually defined us for
a certain amount of time. However, it is also very inspiring to know that we have all worked
toward a better future for all groups of people. Especially now, we are becoming much more
aware and tolerant of all of the differences that are inherently human. The APA does tend to
base their changing views and research methods around the more progressive changes that
society implements itself, and it will continue to do so into a more progressive future. I suppose,
though, that one of the most interesting aspects of all of the history and change that the APA has
gone through is that many of the ideas and practices that were once commonplace are no longer
ethical. It will be interesting to see what practices we deem as beneficial today may also be
labeled as dangerous or unethical fifty years from now.
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Works Cited
1. “Bylaws and Association Rules.” American Psychological Association. American
Psychological Association, 2015. Web. 23 Feb. 2015.
2. “Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct.” American Psychological
Association. American Psychological Association, 2015. Web. 23 Feb. 2015.
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.
4. Jansen, Jill M., Thoftne, Amy K. “A Comparison of Two APA Ethics Codes.”
University of Wisconsin- Eau Claire. (2003). Web.
5. 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.
6. Kaplan, David M. “Can Diversity Training Discriminate? Backlash to Lesbian, Gay,
and Bisexual Diversity Initiatives.” Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal
18.1 (2006): 61-72. Print.
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7. 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.
8. 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.