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Course unit type
Introductory
Education activities
Ethical issues in psychology
Content
Each psychologist will be confronted in his work with ethical dilemmas. If he is a scientist, he will have to think about the ethical aspects of his research. An occupational psychologist must think about the far-reaching consequences about his advice (not) to hire an employee. A psychotherapist can be confronted with dilemmas about confidentiality, role confusion or difficult decisions about interventions or ending of a therapy.
Even a student can experience ethical dilemmas during his internship. What do you have to do if you do your internship in a ward of a psychiatric hospital and someone you know personally is hospitalized in this ward?
During this course we will focus on ethical dilemmas. The students will get to know the ethical codes of their country, while the starting point will be the metacode of the European Federation of Psychologists' Associations (EFPA). One of the methods of getting to know the ethical codes is to analyze cases with other students. The students learn to reason ethically in a methodical way, while staying aware of the complexity of the situation.
Main topics of the course are:
- Three main approaches to ethics: consequentialism, Kantian ethics and virtue ethics
- The ethical codes: main principles of the EFPA code, codes of different countries, what happens if someone files a complaint?
- Confidentiality/professional secret
- Psychotherapy and ethics
- Scientific research and ethics
- HRM and ethics
- Methods of ethical decision making
- Optionally (if there is time enough): Moral psychology: psychological research about the question: when do people behave (un)ethical?
Study goals
| Category |
Competency |
Core |
| Intellectual and cognitive capacities |
The student can reason logically with regard to profession-specific matter. |
Yes |
| Acquisition and processing of information. |
The student can look up, analyze, summarize, handle and acquire profession-specific information. |
Yes |
| Critical reflection |
Reflecting critically on profession-specific functioning. |
Yes |
| Communicative competency to communicate information, ideas, problems and solutions, both to specialists and non-specialists: |
The student is able to explain and justify the basic principles and the working methods. |
Yes |
| Capacity for teamwork. |
The student can work in a team in an international, intercultural or multidisciplinary setting. |
No |
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Profession-specific competencies
| Main category |
Category |
Competency |
Level |
Core |
| Organizer and communicator |
Carrying out a plan of action |
The student carries out the plan of action in a structured way, observing the psychological and ethical guidelines. |
Insight |
Yes |
| Intercultural worker |
Awareness of diversity |
The student sees each psychological intervention in a broader perspective and pays attention to factors and processes leading to prejudice. |
Insight |
No |
| Intercultural worker |
Interpersonal sensitivity |
The student sees, cares for and respects the feelings and opinions of the client and has a tolerant and positive attitude regarding differences in needs and points of view. |
Insight |
No |
| Professional teamplayer |
Professional cooperation |
The student cooperates on different levels with colleagues inside and outside of his profession to reach team goals. He supports colleagues and shares information with them. He acts with an open, respectful and constructive attitude that stimulates the personal and professional development of the team members. |
application |
Yes |
| Reflector |
Self-evaluation |
The student can look back on situations and analyze his actions and their consequences. He can think of alternative actions for similar situations in the future. |
application |
Yes |
| Reflector |
Empathic appraisal of self and others |
The student can estimate his actions and thoughts in various situations and has insight in his strengths and weaknesses. He also tries to estimate the behavior of others and the needs of himself and others to function well in an organization. |
insight |
No |
| Reflector |
Critical analysis |
The student is prepared and able to examine his past, present and future in order to develop his personal and professional functioning. He also questions the near and further environment in which he functions. |
insight |
No |
Prerequisites
- Previously required competencies
The course presupposes a basic knowledge in psychology and the ability to communicate in the English language.
Educational tools
- Type
Learning material will be published on Toledo
Notes made during lectures
- Obligatory educational tools
The attendance of discussion seminars.
Teaching methods
- Lectures
- discussion seminars
Assessment
- Paper (12/20)
- Exam (questions with the paper as starting point (8/20)
Teaching support
There is a possibility for questions or feedback via e-mail: koen.korevaar@lessius.eu.
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- Semester: 1
- ECTS: 3
- Teaching language: English
- Code:
- Subject coordinator: Koen Korevaar
- Teachers: Koen Korevaar
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