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Ethics

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Saved by Jeremy Houska
on July 5, 2012 at 11:19:06 am

Ethics in the Classroom

10 Principles for Teaching Ethics (and Lots of Other Stuff)

A Blueprint for Good Teaching Decisions

Professors face lots of decisions about what to teach and how to teach it. Here are ten of my guiding principles that I shared with the students in our graduate course: "Ethics and Professional Issues in Psychology." Most of these principles are suitable for just about any college course.

I reproduce the principles from my syllabus without commentary. See what you think:

Some Guiding Principles For Learning Professional Ethics (and Learning In General)

This is not an exhaustive list, but it does represent major values, assumptions, and applications of research findings that I try to actualize as I design and implement this course.

I have reasons for everything I do. Feel free to ask me why I'm doing what I'm doing.

Ethics is best taught in an atmosphere of trust, support, and aspiration. Fear (of lawsuits, complaints, etc.) doesn't work as well.
Ethics is a knowledge-based set of skills, not a personality trait.
Ethics skills include self-reflection, application, and integration.
Knowledge is relatively easy to attain, skills are not; skills take practice to develop.
The only way to learn is to work at it, and the best way to do work is to play. Play means things like: (a) not worrying so much about being perfect or correct (especially at the beginning), (b) bringing positive emotions into the process, (c) trying lots of ways to approach a problem, (d) expending effort in a positive way, and (e) having a more open mind.
Information from books and other writing is neither simple nor self-evident. Meaning comes from the active processing of information. Thus, we must construct knowledge and meaning-we cannot passively absorb them.
Reading with the intent to learn and to write is different—and more productive—than reading with the intent to finish reading.
Writing is a form of thinking and constructing knowledge.
Having thoughts doesn't really matter if you cannot communicate them effectively.
In higher education, significant learning takes place outside of class; class time can be used to practice skills and test out what we've learned.

(Content above originally published on February 16, 2012 by Mitchell M. Handelsman, Ph.D. in The Ethical Professor)

Movies to Demonstrate Ethical Dilemmas

See complete ToPIX Movie List here

Concept	Movie Title (Year)	Director	Link to Movie Description	Contributor	Contributor Comments
Ethical dilemmas in therapy	Good Will Hunting (1997)	Gus Van Sant	http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119217/plotsummary	Liz Nelson	Therapist is violent with client. Therapist self-discloses.
Ethical dilemmas in research	Ghostbusters (1984)	Ivan Reitman	http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087332/plotsummary	Liz Nelson	At the beginning of the movie: experimenter violates principle of fairness. Lies when attractive female answers incorrectly and not shocked. Male shocked when answers correctly.

Sources on Ethics

Keith-Spiegel, P., Whitley, B. E., Jr., Balough, D. W., Perkins, D. V., & Wittig, A. F. (2002) The ethics of teaching: A casebook (2nd ed). Mahwah, NJ: LEA. (Claudia J. Stanny via PsychTeacher listserv)

Whitley, B. E., Jr., & Keith-Spiegel, P. (2002). Academic dishonesty: An educator's guide. Mahwah, NJ: LEA (Claudia J. Stanny via PsychTeacher listserv)