Ethics and the practice of psychology: Regulating, educating and selecting the ethical practitioner.

The ethics of psychological practice is a challenging and often controversial arena. This is perhaps particularly so when the regulation, monitoring, education and selection of future practitioners is considered. The three presentations of this symposium outline empirical and qualitative evidence concerning ethical behaviour. The first paper examines the occurrence of unethical behaviour in psychological practice and the profession's requirement to react to such behaviour. The second paper raises questions concerning the efficacy and impact of teaching professional ethics when individual psychological differences between students in terms of moral orientation are considered. The final paper pursues the notion of individual differences in ethical propensity by presenting research conducted with applicants to medical schools from which three 'traits of morality' have emerged and thus the possibility of assessing and selecting future practitioners of psychology. Audience participation in discussion will be particularly welcome for this challenging topic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]