Psychologists' Professional Codes of Ethics in Iran, America, Canada, England, and Australia

The present study compares psychologists' pro-fessional Codes of Ethics in Iran, America, Canada, England, and Australia. The study population consist-ed of all countries with professional Codes of Ethics, of which, America, Canada, Britain, Australia, and Iran were purposively selected due to their progres-siveness in the development of professional Codes of Ethics, and their ethical principles and standards were compared. The results obtained showed that with the exception of Iran and America, all codes studied had defined the basic concepts and terminologies af-ter introduction. In addition, they all contained two main sections, namely, general principles and stan-dards. The general principles were almost the same and common in these codes, and included respect for people's dignity, accountability, integrity, no dis-crimination or injustice, philanthropy, and avoidance of harm. The ethical standards in Iran’s and America's codes appear independently from the general prin-ciples. Meanwhile, the standards are presented under relevant ethical principles in the Australian, Canadi-an, and British codes. Iran's standards of ethical codes almost exactly match those of America's, and the only difference is in the order of presenting standards of "Accountability" and "Storing registered information and fees" and the extent of explanations and details. According to the present study, the following changes can contribute to a greater understanding and practi-cability of Iran's Code of Ethics: Providing definitions and explanations for specialized terminologies and general principles, adding more details to standards and considering local culture and religion.