Really, Really? The legal profession obviously doesn't have to deal with torturing people [insert joke here which makes my larger point] but, if we are concerned with the reputation of our profession among the public, I don't know that we should be looking to the legal profession as a model.
Dr. Woolf lists as ongoing ethical issues within our profession: "seeing our colleagues diminish the profession either through their work in the entertainment industry, behaving badly in a business setting, sleeping with students, or engaging in torture". I see examples every night on the news of lawyers on the news and on entertainment programs embarrassing their profession (if indeed that is still possible). Ambulance chasing through legal advertising is worse than ever. I seldom see TV ads for psychologists or counselors or any advertising at all beyond a small Yellow Pages ad. I don't know if sleeping with clients is prohibited in the legal profession but the media even portrays lawyers sleeping with witnesses and even legal adversaries. I am not saying media portrayals are any indication of the frequency of these actions in real life. In fact, I am sure they have nothing to do with the rate of real-life ethical violations. I am only saying that the legal profession is not a particularly promising model on which to build the management of the public perception of our profession. In fact, according to Harris Interactive (Aug 8, 2006) at: http://harrisinteractive.com/harris_poll/index.asp?PID=688, the five most trusted professions are: Doctors, Teachers, Scientists, Police Officers and Professors. Many members of this list would count for as many as four of the five of those (if by doctor you include Ph.D. which admittedly most respondents were probably not imagining). Professors are trusted by 75% of people to generally tell the truth. Counselor/psychologist doesn't appear on the list so there is no direct comparison there. However, Lawyers are right above Actors at the very bottom of the list (27% of people would generally trust a lawyer to tell the truth). Rick Dr. Rick Froman, Chair Division of Humanities and Social Sciences Professor of Psychology Box 3055 John Brown University 2000 W. University Siloam Springs, AR 72761 [email protected] (479)524-7295 http://tinyurl.com/DrFroman Forwarding any part of this e-mail to the White House is strictly prohibited. From: Linda M. Woolf, Ph.D. [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Wednesday, August 12, 2009 11:04 AM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: [tips] Mitchell and Jessen: Psychologists implicated in the use of torture At the APA convention, Jonathan Turley (Shapiro Chair for Public Interest Law, The George Washington University Law School) gave the Lynn Stuart Weiss Psychology as a Means of Attaining Peace Through World Law Lecture. In his presentation, he commented about the methods by which the law profession polices its own and how psychology fails to adequately address those within the profession who behave in ways that are unethical, illegal, etc. At lunch, we further discussed this issue and we explained to Jonathan the divide in psychology whereby some in the profession require a license and some do not. We also discussed that membership in organizations such as APA is entirely voluntary and that the Ethics Code for those without state licensing requirements is not enforceable. --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([email protected])
