Violation of Telephone Directory Guidelines among Psychologists: Group Practice versus Individual Listings

Summary.-This study examined the frequency of violations of telephone directory guidelines under the heading of "Psychologists" in a metropolitan area Yellow Pages based upon the findings of an ethicsccommittee of a local psychological association. In accordance with expectations derived from research involving the factors of anonymiry, diffusion of rnponsibility and risky shift, the mean number of violations per listing was significantly grearer for group practice listings relative to the listings of individual practitioners. Theoretical and applied implications of this finding were briefly noted. Buys (1978) concluded in an overview of research in social psychology that groups generally have a destructive effect upon human behavior. The present study examined the role of group involvement on the ethical behavior of psychologists by investigating the frequency of violations of telephone directory guidelines for psychologis;s in a metropolitan area Yellow Pages as a function of listings with group practice titles versus listings of individual practitioners. Since the factors of anonymity, risky shift, and diffusion of responsibility may lead to increased anti-normative behavior and irresponsibility among chose in groups, it can be expected that group practices may be more prone than individual practitioners to violate guidelines in their directory listings. The data in this study were based totally on naturally occurring events. The propriety of the listings under rhe heading of "Psychologists" in the 1977-78 Greater Miami Yellow Pages was reviewed by the Ethics Committee of the Dade County Psychological Association. This procedure is one of the routine functions of the Ethics Committee composed of five clinical psychologists.' The chairperson of the committee initially waluated the listings in accordance with the telephone directory guidelines employed by the Ethics Committee. The telephone directory guidelines used by the Erhics Committee during the period in which the listings were compiled and published were based upon rhe American Psychological Association (1969) guidelines for telephone directory listings and the srate code of ethics which was incorporated in the state's licensing law. Each listing which the chairperson considered to be in violation of these guidelines was presented to the committee for discussion to obtain a consensus on whether the listing was a violation. There was unanimous agreement that each of these listings was in violation of the telephone directory guidelines. In some cases two violations were present in a listing. The committee also reviewed as a group the entire "Psychologists" listings to determine if there were any further violations not detected by the chairperson. No additional violations were found. There were 78 individual practirioners and 16 lisrings with group practice titles under "Psychologists." Few of the violations were considered flagrant and the most frequent transgression of guidelines included the use of bold type print, and self-aggrandizement in the listing of specialties. In accordance with expectations, the mean number of violations per listing was significantly (t = 2.71, df = 92, P < .01) greater for group listings (M = .50, SD =