The importance of ethical decision making

by | May 2, 2022 | ethics

 

 

 

• Outline the importance of ethical decision making and the need for specialized codes of conduct in psychology. Using these, provide an ethical analysis of the dilemma.
The dilemma:
Dr. Grace Jeffery is a clinical psychologist who partly owns a private psychology practice in NSW, Australia. The practice offers a range of psychological services including psychological assessment and counseling, and Grace usually works with couples for relationship counseling. Grace does not normally handle the bookings at reception. However, today, several staff members were in session with clients booked back-to-back and the phones were ringing off the hook. So, as she was walking past she decided to answer a call. She thought her title of “doctor” might put people off, so instead she introduced herself by her first name only, Grace.
On the other end of the line is Adam, a 20-year-old man who immediately expresses a lot of
agitation and anger. He complains loudly about his parents and his girlfriend. A few minutes into the conversation, Grace realizes that Adam is the son of her next-door neighbors. While Adam now lives with his girlfriend in an apartment in town, she remembers him well. She even attended his high school graduation party briefly and paid him to mow her lawn for two years. During the phone call, Adam expresses some homicidal rage toward his parents, particularly in
relation to financial issues and violence perpetrated by his father. Grace thinks he should come in immediately for a more in-depth evaluation. Adam hesitated to have a face-to-face interview at the practice but agreed only if he can talk with Grace. Grace schedules him appointment for early in the evening.

This essay will allow you to demonstrate your understanding of the ethical and legal principles that guide psychologists in ethical professional conduct. You will also apply ethical decision-making processes using an ethical scenario. Ethical decision making is a core skill in the profession of psychology, and it is a skill that we have been practicing in the lab component of the current course. There are many different models that can be applied to ethical decision making. For this essay, it is less important which model you use instead the focus is on practicing the skills you have learnt in the labs using a systematic approach.

Sample solution

Dante Alighieri played a critical role in the literature world through his poem Divine Comedy that was written in the 14th century. The poem contains Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. The Inferno is a description of the nine circles of torment that are found on the earth. It depicts the realms of the people that have gone against the spiritual values and who, instead, have chosen bestial appetite, violence, or fraud and malice. The nine circles of hell are limbo, lust, gluttony, greed and wrath. Others are heresy, violence, fraud, and treachery. The purpose of this paper is to examine the Dante’s Inferno in the perspective of its portrayal of God’s image and the justification of hell. 

In this epic poem, God is portrayed as a super being guilty of multiple weaknesses including being egotistic, unjust, and hypocritical. Dante, in this poem, depicts God as being more human than divine by challenging God’s omnipotence. Additionally, the manner in which Dante describes Hell is in full contradiction to the morals of God as written in the Bible. When god arranges Hell to flatter Himself, He commits egotism, a sin that is common among human beings (Cheney, 2016). The weakness is depicted in Limbo and on the Gate of Hell where, for instance, God sends those who do not worship Him to Hell. This implies that failure to worship Him is a sin.


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God is also depicted as lacking justice in His actions thus removing the godly image. The injustice is portrayed by the manner in which the sodomites and opportunists are treated. The opportunists are subjected to banner chasing in their lives after death followed by being stung by insects and maggots. They are known to having done neither good nor bad during their lifetimes and, therefore, justice could have demanded that they be granted a neutral punishment having lived a neutral life. The sodomites are also punished unfairly by God when Brunetto Lattini is condemned to hell despite being a good leader (Babor, T. F., McGovern, T., & Robaina, K. (2017). While he commited sodomy, God chooses to ignore all the other good deeds that Brunetto did.

Finally, God is also portrayed as being hypocritical in His actions, a sin that further diminishes His godliness and makes Him more human. A case in point is when God condemns the sin of egotism and goes ahead to commit it repeatedly. Proverbs 29:23 states that “arrogance will bring your downfall, but if you are humble, you will be respected.” When Slattery condemns Dante’s human state as being weak, doubtful, and limited, he is proving God’s hypocrisy because He is also human (Verdicchio, 2015). The actions of God in Hell as portrayed by Dante are inconsistent with the Biblical literature. Both Dante and God are prone to making mistakes, something common among human beings thus making God more human.

To wrap it up, Dante portrays God is more human since He commits the same sins that humans commit: egotism, hypocrisy, and injustice. Hell is justified as being a destination for victims of the mistakes committed by God. The Hell is presented as being a totally different place as compared to what is written about it in the Bible. As a result, reading through the text gives an image of God who is prone to the very mistakes common to humans thus ripping Him off His lofty status of divine and, instead, making Him a mere human. Whether or not Dante did it intentionally is subject to debate but one thing is clear in the poem: the misconstrued notion of God is revealed to future generations.

 

References

Babor, T. F., McGovern, T., & Robaina, K. (2017). Dante’s inferno: Seven deadly sins in scientific publishing and how to avoid them. Addiction Science: A Guide for the Perplexed, 267.

Cheney, L. D. G. (2016). Illustrations for Dante’s Inferno: A Comparative Study of Sandro Botticelli, Giovanni Stradano, and Federico Zuccaro. Cultural and Religious Studies, 4(8), 487.

Verdicchio, M. (2015). Irony and Desire in Dante’s” Inferno” 27. Italica, 285-297.

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