Ethics Awareness Inventory Paper

Ethics Awareness Inventory

PSYCH/660

Ethics Awareness Inventory

People may question how they should live, whether they aim for happiness, knowledge, virtue, or the creation of beautiful objects. If happiness is chosen, will it be one’s happiness or the happiness of society? Can living in opulence be justified when elsewhere in the world people are starving? Questions such as those are what ethics deal with; we need to know what are our obligations, if any, to future generations of the human species and the other species that we share our planet. Ultimately, ethics is the discipline concerned with what is good morally and anything bad, right, or wrong (Ethics, 2014).

The Williams Institute for Ethics and Management developed the Ethics Awareness Inventory as a tool for developing ethical competency in professional settings. This paper will serve to briefly discuss the results from my personal Ethical Awareness Inventory alongside the role and importance of personal ethics in psychology, principles, and the code of conduct. Also, the paper will also examine how values can affect how psychological principles are applied to personal, spiritual, organizational, and social issues and evaluate how ethics affect psychological knowledge and principles related to health, development, and personal growth. Concisely, this paper will explore advantages of psychology as a choice in degrees and how ethics perform a role in deciding to pursue an education in psychology.

Ethics Awareness Inventory

The numeric results of the Ethics Awareness Inventory were confusing and understanding what the numbers represented was complex. Further, into the results, I could realize that my ethical perspective is based on the results or consequences of my actions. The results from my ethical perspective state that I believe “conduct should be directed toward the promotion of the greater good for the largest number of persons. In assessing whether an individual’s actions are ethical, I look for concrete substantiation.” (Ethics Awareness Inventory, 2011). I could not agree more with the results as I am less likely go to off a person’s words, rather their actions make more of an impact on me. My ethical style believes that “each of us has the moral right to experience the good life” (Ethics Awareness Inventory, 2011). I focus mainly on improving the well-being of society because happy people bring on a happier effect on societies moral which influences ethical behavior.

Importance of Personal Ethics in Psychology

Throughout one’s lifespan, the personal ethics develop. It is important in psychology because they affect one’s professional ethics. Professional ethics shape the foundation of professional behavior in psychology, which is why the American Psychological Association (APA) formed an ethics committee in the 1930s, and developed its first set of ethical principles in 1953 (Fisher, 2013). Protecting the well-being of clients is what the ethics code of conduct and ethical principles intends to do, the APA developed the ethics code of conduct and ethical principles by outlining the responsibilities of a psychologist to ensure that anyone obtaining services is subjected to nothing that would harm them. The broad lines of the code of conduct stand to educate on the type of actions and behaviors are acceptable and unacceptable in the field of psychology.

Effects of Ethical Application

According to the Ethical Awareness Inventory (2011) results, how I will apply psychological principles to personal, spiritual, organizational, and social issues is influenced by my increased awareness. I scored higher on result-oriented policies related to the consequences of actions taken; thus, following the ethics code of conduct and principles are exceptionally likely in all aspects of life because to me, positive results are exceedingly important. Mainly, my goal is always to do what is good and right for the people by focusing on positive results in any situation.

Ethics Effect on Personal Growth, Health, and Development

A theory on stages of moral development, developed by Lawrence Kohlberg, shows how ethics affect personal growth, health, and development, due to ethical behavior growing as individuals advance through the stages of development. Personal development is influential on ethics because an individual displays responsible behavior by obtaining knowledge and learning new skills (Fisher, 2013). During personal growth, the individual grows, and their attitudes begin to change positively. Positive attitudes are good for people; their health is better because there is less stress with daily tasks and altercations. Ethics allow a person to accomplish certain things, which boosts self-confidence, in addition to that, there is an increase in one’s development by learning from each of the experiences.

Psychology as a Degree

Clinical Psychology, Industrial/Organizational Psychology, and Forensic Psychology are just a few of the doors that can open in a variety of fields when pursuing a degree in psychology. Pursuing a degree in psychology is a terrific way to learn more about other human beings along with learning about one’s self. Studying psychology allows for individuals to obtain a better perceptive of human nature and why and how they think, behave, or feel about certain things. Ethics play a vital role in individuals deciding to work with a degree in psychology; most people with robust standards want to help those around them and psychology is the field that focuses on lending that helping hand to those around us.

Conclusion

The results of the Ethics Awareness Inventory are used to assess the personal ethics, principles, and moral judgment of individuals given any situation. The results also give an ethical perception grounded on the answers postulated. Personal values can have a direct inspiration on professional behavior, thus their importance and the development of the code of conduct by the American Psychological Association. The code of conduct offers protection to the client’s well-being, ensuring that a psychologist will not allow their personal views to affect the services they provide based on personal judgment (Ethics: What is right? [Video file], 2004). The benefits of attaining a degree in psychology boast many career elections; however, the most detrimental of all is the knowledge of what motivates an individual’s behavior.

References

Ethics. (2014). Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/194023/ethics

Ethics Awareness Inventory. (2011). The Williams Institute for Ethics and Management.

Ethics: What is right? [Video file]. (2004). Retrieved September 3, 2017, from https://fod.infobase.com/PortalPlaylists.aspx?wID=18566&xtid=32706
Retrieved from http://www.ethics-twi.org/public/home/index.cfm

Fisher, C.B. (2013). Decoding the ethics code: A practical guide for psychologists (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.