Psychology for Sale: The Ethics of Advertising Professional Services

Canadian Psychology, May 2004 by Shead, N Will, Dobson, Keith S

In summary, there has been a general decrease in the restrictions that psychologists, in both the United States and Canada, have been required to use in advertising services. As noted above, the removal of these prohibitions reflected the FTC's stance that American professions could no longer claim that they were trying to maintain "professional dignity" or "uniformity" by restricting advertising practices (Koocher, 1994). Several advertising practices are still generally avoided by psychologists. It is argued here that these can be used while keeping "professional dignity" intact. In particular, these practices include: 1) claims of unusual, unique, or one-of-a-kind abilities, 2) claims of the comparative desirability of one service over another, and 3) the use of statements appealing to a client's fear and anxiety if services arc not obtained. Each advertising practice is presented in more detail below.

Claims of Unusual, Ubique, or One-of-a-kind Abilities

In keeping with the ethical principle that psychologists should adhere to "professional rather than to commercial standards," the traditional practice among psychologists has been to advertise availability rather than to advertise for the purpose of recruiting clients (Koocher, 1994). Modesty, caution, and accuracy are widely considered the paramount aspects of advertising by psychologists and simple factual statements are normally seen as the most appropriate format to use (Pryzwansky & Wendt, 1987).

The current preponderance of these traditional values is reflected in the fact that listings under the heading "psychologists" in the fellow Pages are dominated by advertisements that still follow the template recommended by the APA almost half a century ago. This format, which only includes identifying information and a factual description of the services offered, provides no opportunity for the advertiser to describe the unique attributes of the service provider(s).

When the FTC began its investigation of professional associations, it was particularly critical of blanket policies that prohibited claims of uniqueness (Koocher, 1994). However, the APA had traditionally taken the stance that psychologists should promote psychology as a field of professionals with universal competence and thus banned advertisements that described unique aspects of the service providers. The APA (1967) even suggested that although each psychologist has something unique in his or her approach to a task, it stated that "one competent psychologist, faced with a complex industrial assignment, is likely to achieve results having a final usefulness to the client not spectacularly different from the results achieved by other competent psychologists" (p. 76). Clearly, this traditional view is at odds with new ethical standards that allow claims of unusual, unique, or one-of-a-kind abilities.

For naive individuals seeking psychological services, the current process of choosing a psychologist from the Yellow Pages may be likened to blindly throwing a dart at a target. An individual using a telephone book to seek the services of a psychologist after experiencing the loss of a loved one, for example, must choose from a listing of all service providers that offer "counseling" for loss or grieving. The practitioner's credentials would be the only helpful information in making an informed decision about the quality of services available. Rut perhaps this individual would prefer a certain "brand" of therapy that is unique to a particular school of psychology. Maybe he or she feels tired of grieving and does not want to talk about the experience, but would prefer a psychologist who tends to encourage his or her clients to "push on." Of course, such relational factors may not seem easily communicated via print advertisements. However, a short description of specific interviewing style, general interaction style, or theoretical orientation within the telephone advertisement would be especially useful in helping this individual choose a psychologist.