Ethical Considerations for Psychologists Taking a Public Stance on Controversial Issues: The Balance Between Personal and Professional Life

Abstract

Previous literature has documented the general issues psychologists often face while balancing their personal and professional lives. The struggle stems from attempting to satisfy the need to maintain a life outside of work while having the professional obligation to follow the American Psychological Association’s (APA’s) Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct (Ethics Code) to prevent their personal lives from interfering with their professional roles and relationships. The present paper analyzes the subject of psychologists taking a public position on controversial public issues. Although the APA Ethics Code does not restrict how psychologists conduct themselves during their personal time, taking a public stance on a controversial issue could potentially strain professional relationships and inadvertently reflect negatively on the profession. The present paper examines ethical issues that a) should be taken into account before psychologists take a public position on a controversial issue, and b) are in conflict with APA’s Ethics Code or current research.

The Development of Social Media Guidelines for Psychologists and for Regulatory Use

“…It has been suggested that it is not a realistic expectation for professionals to “imagine that their personal engagement in social media cannot or will not in any way be linked to their professional” roles (Slobogian et al 2017 ). Further, Haeny ( 2014 ) discusses that while psychologists “might like their personal lives to be independent from their professional lives, the reality is that their identity as psychologists may never be detached, even outside of a professional context, for those familiar with the psychologist’s line of work.” In essence, like other professionals, psychologists rightly or wrongly do not have the luxury of “fully removing their psychologist’s hat”.…”

Ethical and legal issues in psychedelic harm reduction and integration therapy

“…Finally, some boards have guidelines that prohibit activities that may lead to negative perceptions of the profession by the public. For example, psychologists in the USA who are taking public positions on controversial issues are encouraged to consider potential negative consequences that may result from public perception of their profession [ 58 ]. As a parallel, the personal conduct of US medical physicians is also considered to be relevant to their professional role and reflective of the field in general [ 59 ].…”

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“…Such advocacy or activism is not about being partisan or engaging in political governance; rather, it is about the implicit nature of identity politics. In fact, it is important for us to think more intentionally about how we take a public stance on issues while balancing the personal and professional spheres (Haeny, 2014). We have had numerous issues surface in the last year that have highlighted the damaging effects of national and institutional policies as well as the discriminatory and marginalizing impact of these policies.…”

“…We have seen different perspectives put forward on the SCP listserv as well as in discussions off the listserv. The question that frequently arises is that of being “objective,” “neutral,” and “nonjudgmental” (Haeny, 2014; p. 5). However, how can we be neutral and objective when we are not “uninvolved observers”?…”