Course for international guest/part time students

Faculty

Faculty of Education and Psychology

Organization

PPK Institute of Psychology

Code

PSYB19-129

Title

Psychological Ethics and Legal Issues

Usual semester

Autumn

Published semester

2026/27/1

ECTS

3

Language

en

Learning outcomes

The purpose of the course is to provide general philosophical and ethical guidance, and to cover all situations encountered by professional psychologists. The evolution of moral behaviour, history of professional psychologists’ ethical codes, fundamental ethical principles of psychologists, relationship between legal and ethical issues, and evaluative procedures and corrective actions in case of complaints about unethical conduct will be covered by lectures. Problems and dilemmas emerging in the practical application of professional ethics will be discussed in seminars.

Course content

Topics of the course the evolution of moral behaviour basic concepts and a short history of ethics ethics and professional ethics, a short history of psychological ethics basic ethical principles of psychologists in Europe and in the USA ethical principles and problems of psychological research and publication ethical principles and problems in school psychology, counselling and psychotherapy publicity in psychology: the social responsibility of the profession.

Assessment method

2 HW requirements /essays/ during the semester Ethical code review find the ethical code for your country, describe how it evolved, how does it compare to the APA ethics code, are there any unique aspects. Research ethics - choose one option Find an unethical psychological study / experiment, preferably with its original publication. Shortly introduce and describe it (max 1 page), point out the unethical elements, if possible, offer and alternate solution in line with ethical guidelines. Find a retracted psychological study / experiment preferably with its original publication. Shortly introduce and describe it (max 1 page), point out the problems with it, if possible, offer and alternate solution in line with ethical guidelines. You can use this site or other sources: http://retractionwatch.com/category/by-subject/clinical-study-retractions/psychology/ Format in both assignments: 2-3 pages long essay: should be 6-8000 characters (+reference list), Times New Roman, 12pt, 1.5 distance between the lines, give links to the codes, use the APA style in the reference list. Shortly summarize your opinion as well!

Bibliography

APA Ethical code in psychology https://www.apa.org/ethics/code National Codes of Ethics. Pope, K. S., & Vetter, V. A. (1992). Ethical dilemmas encountered by members of the American Psychological Association: A national survey. American Psychologist, 47(3), 397. Bersoff, D. (2003). Ethical conflicts in psychology. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. Koocher, G., & Keith-Spiegel, P. (1998). Ethics in psychology (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Oxford University Press. Nagy, T. F. (2005) Ethics in plain English: An illustrative casebook for psychologists (2nd ed.). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Programmes of the course