The general principles act as tools which inspire psychologists when undertaking their professional task. In general, these principles represent ethical goals that anyone should pay attention to as far as ethics is concerned. Mostly the general principles are concerned with the improvement of professional conduct mostly paying attention to the person who receives the services. such as working on various subjects of research and other parties who seek these services.
1.10 Beneficence and Nonmaleficence
Beneficence refers to the ability of a psychologist to benefit others. According to this principle, psychologists work hard to benefit those who are involved in their works. In this case, psychologists seek to advance the status of those whom they relate with in their terms of work and any other party which may be affected while in the psychologists working environment (Harriss Alasdair MacSween, and Greg Atkinson.pg 789). On the other hand, nonmaleficence call for the person to cause no harm. In case of a conflict arises, the principle illustrates the procedure on how the conflict can be resolved in a responsible manner through minimization of harm. This principle propels the professionals to use their scientific and professional knowledge to influence the lives of the other people positively in every aspect of life.
1.11Example of Beneficence and Nonmaleficence
A good example of the beneficence principle includes encouraging a person to stop a bad health practice such as eating junk food in order to benefit his health in the long run. Since psychologists can be aware of the negative effects which are brought about by eating junk, he can utilize this knowledge to advise a person about the dangers of this act and the procedure to follow to realize a positive outcome. In an agency, this principle can be applied through giving the smoker adequate knowledge in order to move him to a higher ground of ethical standard. On the other hand, an example of nonmaleficence includes stopping a certain medication that the professional has proved to be harmful to the public. Through this principle, the benefits go directly to the people through the utilization of psychologists’ knowledge.
Ethical standards are principles that their main concern is to promote various values such as trust, fairness, and kindness. Although they are not a consistent set of values. Each organization can freely develop standards that it feels bear a certain meaning as far as their organization is concerned (Lefkowitz, Joel 90). Due to their characteristic of enforceability, they are frequently defined and also open to various interpretations.
1.21Example of ethical standard
1.22Misuse of psychologists work.
Good conduct in a place of work constitutes to the highest level of ethical standards (Kasser, Tim 789). To illustrate an example, in this case, we take an example of a professional doctor who operates a certain private healthcare facility. If a patient comes to visit and after several meetings, the patient declares her romantic feelings to the doctor, and he takes advantage of being intimate with the lady whom he heartbreaks later, he will definitely have violated the rules of conduct since the professional had more power between the two parties. To utilize this principle in ethics, the doctor should protect the welfare of the patient since he bears more knowledge about the patient.
Lefkowitz, Joel. Ethics and values in industrial-organizational psychology. Routledge, 2017.
Harriss, D. J., Alasdair MacSween, and Greg Atkinson. “Standards for ethics in sport and exercise science research: 2018 update.” International journal of sports medicine 38.14 (2017): 1126-1131.
Kasser, Tim. “Integrating psychobiography into psychology’s mainstream: Introduction to the special section.” American Psychologist 72.5 (2017): 430.