Human rights and psychology: codes of conduct and common themes

Abstract

This article which focuses on psychology and human rights starts with a discussion of psychologists’ codes of conducts in 6 different continents. It is argued that human rights are defined in different ways in different countries although some similarities are visible. Some of the codes take into account the possibility that the law and human rights principles can be incompatible, but more elaborate discussions are necessary. The discussion includes a set of key questions and common themes on the intersection of psychology and human rights. It is observed that unlike the first impression, psychologists conducted lots of research on human rights areas; however they rarely theorize and present them in such terms. That is why, this article invites psychology researchers to be more holistic. As a case in application, in what ways psychology is relevant for human rights and social institutions is presented. Human rights perceptions research was briefly discussed in the article. Finally, official psychological discourse is questioned from a human rights perspective.