Ethics and the Invisible Psychologist

Psychologists have historically conducted research, taught, and provided human services directly with and for people who could readily identify the providers as psychologists. Increasingly, psychologists find themselves engaged in supplying consulting services that affect the lives of many people but take place without public scrutiny or identification. In these situations, the client may be a nonprofit agency, corporation, or government entity, but the effects of the psychologist’s work may have rippling consequences that affect many individuals’ lives profoundly. The ethical responsibility of such invisible psychologists may extend to members of the public not typically considered clients of the psychologist and raise particular concerns when the net result has adverse consequences for individuals or society.