Client welfare in psychologists’ ethics codes

The principle of caring for the client’s welfare is the most pervasive of all the ethical principles in the profession of psychology, recognized in almost all of the psychologists’ ethics codes. Although recognized as an overarching value, the norm of client welfare is not formulated with sufficient precision. Its philosophical background is unclear, and the principle itself is of an aspirational rather than regulatory character. Psychology came a long way from the 1952 American Psychological Association Ethics Code to the 2008 Universal Declaration of Ethical Principles for Psychologists. From the beginning of the 21st century, the European and North American ethnocentrism of Western ethics codes is being increasingly challenged and is gradually giving way to the universalization of ethical principles, based on respect for common human dignity as well as for cultural diversity.