Legal & Ethical Issues in Psychology & Education

• Legal cases and laws address discrimination, testing fairness, confidentiality, and ethical standards in psychology and education

Legal Cases & Laws

• Albemarle Paper Company v. Moody (1975) strengthened job-related test requirements under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, ensuring validity and non-discrimination
• Debra P. v. Turlington (1981) addressed minimum competency testing in schools, stipulating tests be fair and non-discriminatory
• Griggs v. Duke Power Company (1971) established the disparate impact doctrine, requiring employment tests to be job-related and non-discriminatory
• Hobson v. Hansen (1967) challenged tracking systems in schools, asserting IQ tests unfairly placed minority students in lower educational tracks
• Jaffee v. Redmond (1996) established therapist-client privilege in federal courts, ensuring confidentiality in psychological treatment
• Larry P. v. Riles (1979, 1986) prohibited the use of IQ tests to place African American students in special education classes in California due to racial bias
• Tarasoff v. Regents of the University of California (1976) established the duty to warn principle, mandating psychologists to warn potential victims of a client's threats
• Truth-in-Testing Legislation ensures test-takers can access information about standardized tests, including scoring and purpose
• Public Law 105-17 (IDEA 1997) reauthorized the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), guaranteeing free and appropriate education for students with disabilities
• HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, 1996) protects patients' privacy and security in healthcare, including psychological records
• Affirmative Action involves voluntary and mandatory efforts by federal, state, and local governments, private employers, and schools to combat discrimination and promote equal opportunity in education and employment
• Sputnik (1957) resulted in major educational reforms in the U.S., marking increased emphasis on IQ testing and STEM education

Ethical Principles & Testing Guidelines

• Code of Fair Testing Practices in Education provides ethical guidelines for test use in education to ensure fairness and accuracy
• Code of Professional Ethics governs the ethical responsibilities of psychologists, including confidentiality, informed consent, and assessment integrity
• Privacy Right protects individuals' personal information legally and ethically, especially in psychological testing and treatment
• Privileged Information gives legal protection of confidential communications between a psychologist and a client
• Confidentiality is the ethical obligation of professionals to keep communications confidential, although professionals may disclose information under court order or extraordinary conditions

Key Figures in Psychology & Psychological Assessment

• Alfred Binet developed the first intelligence test, which later influenced modern IQ tests
• James McKeen Cattell pioneered psychological measurement and introduced the term "mental test."
• Charles Darwin's theory of evolution influenced psychological studies on individual differences
• Francis Galton, a cousin of Darwin, studied intelligence and founded eugenics
• Henry H. Goddard advocated for intelligence testing in education and the classification of individuals with intellectual disabilities, and introduced the term "moron"
• Christiana D. Morgan & Henry A. Murray developed the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT), a projective test measuring personality
• Karl Pearson was a Statistician known for developing the correlation coefficient, essential in psychometrics
• Hermann Rorschach created the Rorschach Inkblot Test, a projective test for personality assessment
• David Wechsler developed the Wechsler intelligence scales (WAIS, WISC) widely used in intelligence testing
• Lightner Witmer founded the first psychological clinic and introduced the concept of clinical psychology
• Robert S. Woodworth created the Woodworth Personal Data Sheet, one of the first personality tests
• Wilhelm Wundt, the father of experimental psychology, established the first psychology lab

Terminology

• Culture : Socially transmitted behavior patterns, beliefs, and products of work of a particular population, community, or group of people
• Culture-Specific Tests : Tests designed for use with people from one culture but not from another
• Disparate Impact : The consequence of an employer's hiring or promotion practice that unintentionally
• Disparate Treatment : The consequence of a hiring or promotion practice intentionally devised to yield some discriminatory result or outcome
• Eugenics : The science of improving qualities of a breed through intervention with factors related to heredity
• Hired Gun : A professional paid to aggressively advocate for a client, sometimes regardless of ethics
• Individualist Culture : A culture placing value on traits such as autonomy, self-reliance, independence, uniqueness, and competitiveness
• Informed Consent : Permission to proceed with service based on knowledge about the service and its risks and potential benefits
• Laws are rules for society; contrast with ethics
• Litigation are laws resulting court-mediated resolution of legal matters of a civil, criminal, or administrative nature
• Minimum Competency Testing Programs: Formal evaluation program in basic skills to aid in educational decision-making
• Privacy Right : The freedom to choose whether to share or withhold personal beliefs, opinions, and behavior
• Privileged Information : Data protected by law from disclosure in a legal proceeding
• Psychoanalysis : A theory of personality and psychological treatment originally
• Quota System : A selection procedure using a fixed number or percentage of applicants regardless of other factors
• Self-Report : The process wherein an assessee supplies personal information in forms such as responding to questions
• Standard Of Care : The level at which the average professional would provide diagnostic or therapeutic services
• Truth-In-Testing Legislation: Gives test takers a way to learn the criteria

The Right of Testtakers

• Right to informed consent
• Right to be informed in test findings
• Right to privacy and confidentiality
• Right to least stigmatizing label