Relational Ethics

Commitment to act on behalf of persons with whom one has a significant relationship is central to ethical decision making, attention to power imbalances and supporting efforts to promote equality for marginalized groups.

Ethical Absolutism

adopts the universal perspective of the deontic position, rejects the influence of culture on the identification and resolution of ethical problems

Ethical Relativism

Denies the existence of universal or common moral values characterizing the whole of human relationships, proposes that how ethical problems are identified and resolved is unique to each culture.

Ethical contextualism

assumes that moral principles should be universally valued across diverse context and cultures, but the expression of an ethical problem and the actions to resolve it can be unique to the cultural context.

Communitarianism

right actions derive from community values, goals, traditions, and cooperative virtues - support ethical decisions that support health and welfare of community

Utlitarianism/Consequentialism

Prioritizes the consequences of an act over the application of universal principles, ethical decision making governed by a risk-benefit calculus.

Deontology/Kantian Ethics

Ethical decision making is the rational act of applying universal principles to all situations irrespective of specific relationships, contexts, or questions.

Virtue Ethics

Provides psychologists with a more personal approach to ethical issues

Ethical Committment

A strong desire to do what is right because it is right

3 document forms of the Ethics Code

1. aspirational code2. educational code3. enforceable code

Revisions of the Ethics code were driven by...

1. establishing integrity2. education and professional socialization3. public trust4. enforcement value