Ethics awareness inventory and its role in psychology practice

Ethics Inventory

The Ethics Awareness Inventory and Psychology

There are few features that will define a person's life, experiences, interactions and self-image as pointedly as will one's ethical orientation. Indeed, the Ethics Awareness Inventory (EAI) is an instrument which allows the individual to effectively characterize his or her own distinct type of ethical orientation. In doing so, it also highlights the permeating relevance of this orientation in the areas of personal, professional, social and spiritual behavior. According to The Williams Institute (TWI)(1995), which issues the instrument, "the EAI presents individuals with a series of questions in a self-scoring inventory to assist them in developing a deeper understanding of their own ethical style, the ethical beliefs of others and some of the challenges they may experience when working with others of a different ethical perspective." (TWI, p. 1) In particular, within the context of the study of human psychology, it is absolutely imperative to be aware of these differences and knowledgeable in the most constructive ways of navigating these. Among other things, the EAI is constructive in helping the respondent determine his or her personal proclivities.

Role of Personal Ethics:

Understanding one's self better in these regards can help to refine one's understanding of the role played by personal ethics in interactions with clients in psychological setting. To this end, I determined through the EAI that my ethical orientation is driven by character, both that within myself and that within those around me. This is essential to the work of the psychology professional, particularly given the primacy of adherence to doctrines of conduct in the field. A professional Code of Conduct should be informed by a certain instinctual comprehension of that which is ethically expected both within one's professional and personal life. As Collack (2007) indicates, those individuals that are driven by character will "tend to look at virtues and ask themselves 'what is good to be rather than what is good to do' (Williams, L.,2002). Thus, we try to achieve moral excellence by concentrating on one's virtues. It is not enough to simply comply with current ethical standards; one must have integrity, honesty, benevolence, justice, honor, and wisdom to be ethical. Simply put, a mere compliance with laws, regulations, and customs does not make anyone ethical. The person must also have a good character and continually strive to be morally good." (Collack, p. 1) This is a standard that is incumbent upon the psychology professional, who must employ his or her personal ethical standards in practice while still maintaining objectivity and professional distance.

Ethics Application to external issues:

The character driven perspective is not just essential to practicing psychology with ethical balance. It also informs the degree to which the professional

Most particularly, this is an orientation that will be of great value in the field of psychology, where the variance of spiritual, social or organizational ethics likely to present in a population will challenge the instincts and sensibilities of the practitioner. To an extent, Valazquez et al. (2010) indicates, there are certain universal notions regarding ethical orientation. Among them, they indicate, "ethical standards also include those that enjoin virtues of honesty, compassion, and loyalty. And, ethical standards include standards relating to rights, such as the right to life, the right to freedom from injury, and the right to privacy." (Valazquez et al., p. 1) However, the text cautions, it is of great importance that one be capable of differentiating between such universals and those behaviors and ethical practices which connect to cultural features instead. Part of achieving an ethical framework for practice is maintaining a correct sense of cultural relativism without overlooking real and pressing ethical trespasses in the subject.

Ethics Application to personal issues:

It is also of value for the practitioner to help draw a connection for the subject between psychological and physical health. Such is to say that there is a connection between the two which is proven sufficiently to justify the practitioner's endorsement of positive practices such as diet, exercise and general lifestyle improvement. It is thus also incumbent upon the psychology practitioner, ethically speaking, to achieve a working and current knowledge of said connections and how best to pursue the lifestyle changes needed to improve this correlation.