‘Viewing ethics in a new light’: Students’ reactions to an under-emphasised yet important component of CHIP

Abstract

The British Psychological Society syllabus for Conceptual and Historical Issues in Psychology (CHIP) lists ethical issues as a core component. This includes the origins of ethical debates and the moral foundations of the development of codes and practice. Questions may then be debated about ethics in relation to moral positioning and whether moral neutrality is possible. In addition, a partnership approach (with members of the community) is recommended, to construct ‘ethically responsible practices’. These topics appear to have been neglected in some of the textbooks developed as the basis for the module. For a third-year CHIP module, we have developed material to address ethical topics over a number of years. In this paper, we will outline the way in which a variety of resources have formed the basis of a series of lectures to third-year students at the beginning of semester one, to raise ethical issues for discussion. We will discuss the ways in which we locate the material in the broader social and historical zeitgeist and raise both research and practice issues. We then present a synthesis of students’ qualitative feedback, collected from successive cohorts from the past six years (N=245), in response to the material. These data illustrate students’ views about considering the material at this juncture in their studies, as they design their projects. The findings underline the value of ethics as an important thematic basis for CHIP, potentially enhancing students’ conceptual development and critical thinking. In addition students illustrate increased awareness of the responsibilities of psychologists and gain more insight into psychology as a career. However, the recommendation to consider partnership approaches will be critiqued, and the need to develop students’ sensitivities to language usage and cultural issues will be noted.