| Abstract: | Borgatta (American Psychologist, 1959, 14, 296-297) has correctly noted that psychologists cannot consult for a fee, even though the consultation may be with a firm or agency rather than with individuals. Two considerations were involved in our adoption of this policy. The first was that of public welfare. Recent cases reported to the APA ethics committee indicate that the small industrial firm may be as much at the mercy of the charlatan as is the individual layman. This, added to the difficulty of differentiating between various forms of consultation, convinced us that it was neither desirable nor practical to attempt to control the use of the title in certain kinds of consulting without controlling it in others. APA has adopted its present policies only after states have accumulated experience with several kinds of legislation, including the permissive certification Borgatta advocates. On the basis of this experience we believe certification of the general title achieves the maximum protection of the public consonant with noninfringement upon other professional groups. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) |
