. Why is this an ethical dilemma? Which APA Ethical Principles help frame the nature of the dilemma?
The ethical dilemmas are primarily centered around Leo and his behavior towards other students and supervisors. Leos behavior also presents ethical dilemmas as it relates to race relations, racial and psychological biases towards minorities. To begin, the most apparent ethical dilemma relates Leos intentional deception of supervisors. Within the case, Leo consistently and intentionally misled the externship supervisors regarding the merits of other students. Here, the case notes that Leo, described these clients in glowing terms just to satisfy his supervisors stupid liberal do-good attitudes. This is very misleading and presents an ethical dilemma as it misrepresents the merits of certain clients. Supervisors therefore have incomplete information to make their own assessment and evaluations as Leo provided inaccurate information. The next ethical dilemma is how Leo treats and interacts with minority candidates within the program. He first appears to have an inaccurate and negative perspective of minorities by the way he portrays them during his role-playing exercise. The case notes the Leo is slumping in his charge and using negative rhetoric, implying that minority students misbehave and have poor manners. Although some minorities due exhibit this behavior, so do individuals in other cultures and social-economic classes. Leo further insults the mental aptitude of minorities through his belief that minorities are unable to grasp many of the more complex topics in class. This presents an ethical dilemma as an externship supervisee. His treatment of minority students and individuals relative to other counterparts presents an obstacle for minority candidates to overcome. Here, minority candidates within the classroom setting must combat negative stereotypes and behaviors that could ultimately impact their overall grade and evaluation within the course. These issues are compounded as Leo clearly sees minority individuals as inferior to other through his harassing of African-American waitresses at local bars using racial slurs. Even more alarming is the fact that the course is related to therapy. As a therapy course, Leos behavior is alarming as his beliefs towards minorities can be detrimental and harmful to clients. His political views also present an ethical problem as Leo often reacts negatively to individuals who disagree with political beliefs and values. Leos misleading behavior and outright lies may signal a personality disorder and a severe lack of integrity. This lack of integrity presents a challenge to minority candidates, particularly if Leos overall course evaluation is favorable despite all the information presented to the contrary. For example, the students presented their disdain for Leo personally and behavior to Dr. Vaji directly....
The course, as unit, describe Leos inappropriate behavior toward minorities and those with differing political beliefs. If Leo, despite his transgressions, still received favorable scores in the class, it presents an ethical issue for the remaining students who exhibit integrity and high moral standards throughout the entire process. Finally, as a potential therapist, Leos behavior is unbecoming of the position of
power he could potentially wield over the lives of others. His lack of integrity can potentially do harm not only to himself, but to the profession overall if left unpunished.
2. How are APA Ethical Standards 1.08, 3.04, 3.05, 3.09, 7.04, 7.05, and 7.06 and the Hot Topics Ethical Supervision of Trainees in Professional Psychology Programs (Chapter 10) and Multicultural Ethical Competence (Chapter 5) relevant to this case? Which other standards might apply?
Standard 1.08 Pertains to unfair discrimination against complainants and respondent. This is directly applicable to the students who raised their overall concerns to Dr. Vaji about Leos racist and unethical behavior. The student can make a...
…role-playing
exercise along side minority candidates. It is obvious from the case, that the minority students have been thoroughly offended by Leos behavior over the course of the semester. Leos racial slurs and mannerisms show a natural and deep disdain for minority students. In addition, Leo has shown a severe lack of integrity throughout the role-playing exercise. He has disregarding the basis principles of integrity through his behavior which may indicate a mental issue of his own. His use of derogatory ethnic labels to describe his externship clients and his bragging about putting one over on the site supervisor shows a sever lack of
judgement of Leos part. These behaviors not only undermine the activity but causes other students to question the
validity of the exercise. In order to create an environment conducive to learning Dr. Vaji should remove Leo from all role-playing initiatives immediately.
In addition to removing Leo, Dr Vaji must also have a thorough and personal discussion with Leo regarding his behavior. He must first make it clear that any racist behavior will not be tolerated within the program and if he continues with the behavior he will be punished severely. He must also ask Leo to apologize to tall the minority students that he offended with his derogatory remarks. Finally, Dr. Vaji must discuss with Leo his ethical standards and make him aware that his current standard is unacceptable.
4. What steps should Dr.Vaji take to implement his decision and monitor its effect?
Dr. Vaji should first elect a student in secret to monitor Leos behavior to see if any change has occurred. If not, the student should be empowered to document any occurrences that are not aligned with the discussion that Dr. Vaji had with Leo. In addition, Dr. Vaji should have periodic meetings with Leo to assess…
