Individual Moralities and Institutional Ethics: Implications for the Canadian Code of Ethics for Psychologists

Abstract

Since the creation of the Canadian Psychological Association's Canadian Code of Ethics for Psychologists in 1986, there has been serious debate about the rank ordering of the ethical principles contained therein, despite a general consensus that the code itself represents a great leap forward in conceptualizing issues in professional ethics, and making its content available to its constituents in the most useful form possible. However, new research regarding the psychology of morality has painted a much more diverse landscape of human moral functioning than is reflected in the current rank ordering of principles within the code. This paper will examine “the new synthesis in moral psychology” and apply its findings to the Canadian Code of Ethics for Psychologists. Three primary arguments are advanced. First, Canadian psychologists as a profession are more liberally oriented than the Canadian society they seek to serve, and their code of ethics reflects this bias. Second, as the Code of Ethics reflects a social contract with Canadian society generally, Canadian psychologists have a duty to acknowledge moral biases and to understand the ways in which systems of morality differ in peoples of different cultures and political orientations. Finally, in order to address these concerns, it is argued that the rank ordering of ethical principles in future revisions of the Code be dropped in favour of a format that includes raising awareness about the ways in which moralities differ across groups, cultures, and individual political orientations.