Editorial: Psychology in the Public Forum.

With this issue, I am pleased to announce a new section of the American Psychologist entitled "Psychology in the Public Forum," with Patrick H. DeLeon as the associate editor for this section. Psychology in the Public Forum intends to provide psychologists with perspectives concerning the public arenas in which psychology must exist. Such a forum approach should aid our understanding of those public issues that both affect psychology and provide opportunities for psychologists to bring their expertise to bear as scientists, as practitioners, and as educators. I am very pleased to have two quite distinct articles appearing this month to inaugurate this section. Senator McGovern provides a broad-ranging view from a 20- to 30-year perspective of a number of intertwined issues that have in his view influenced the course of our society, and Mary G. Hager covers science and health in the Washington area for Newsweek magazine. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Introduction to testing and the use of test results in public schools.

Reviews the book, "Introduction to testing and the use of test results in public schools," by Arthur E. Traxler, Robert Jacobs, Margaret Selover, and Agatha Townsend (see record 1954-01580-000). This book is designed to serve as a "practical, down-to-earth handbook for schools beginning the use of objective tests, for teacher discussion groups, for in-service training programs, for persons who have had experience with tests but who desire to brush up on the simpler fundamentals of testing, and for introductory classes in tests and measurements." This brief, nontechnical book should be distinctly useful to the groups of readers toward whom it is directed. Despite its title, the revision seems equally appropriate for public and independent schools. From the standpoint of the former, the more detailed discussions of test selection and program planning included in the revised edition should be of particular interest. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

More on public servants: A reader's response.

Pettifor's (see record 1982-10595-001) timely and provocative column on the politics of expediency stimulated some reminiscence on the part of the present writer. Although not feeling that any easy resolutions are at hand to the dilemmas portrayed, further comment is warranted. The title "Public Servants as Servants of Power" and what followed seem to imply that the power served is not that of the entire public, but of some smaller and relatively faceless segment thereof. Pettifor points out the demands and possible conflicts that may be imposed on the public servant attempting to meet service needs of the public, by employment requirements, on the one hand, and professional, ethical codes on the other. The issues of professional and personal integrity become muddied in the interplay of organizational structures of the professions, governments, unions and the law. Dr. Norton's comments focus on an understanding of things as they are, while the author tries to focus on conscience raising and feeding the aspirations and actions for change. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

History, Politics, and Transformational Change in Canadian Health Care: A Rejoinder.

Our rejoinder addresses two common themes raised in the responses by Arnett et al (see record 2004-17185-005), by Hunsley and Crabb (see record 2004-17185-006) and by Mikail and Tasca (see record 2004-17185-007) to our article (see record 2003-09748-001) concerning the potential role of psychological services in the future of public health care in Canada. The first concerns the current system's capacity to evolve beyond the medical-hospital illness model of the 1960s to incorporate psychological treatments aimed at illness prevention and health promotion. This would be more likely if psychologists were to participate directly in primary-care and home-based mental health-care reform. The second theme is the presumed negative role of "politics" rather than scientific evidence in decisions concerning public coverage or subsidy. We argue that democratic decision-making is the proper basis upon which decisions concerning public coverage are made, but it need not be in opposition to evidence-based decision-making. As recommended in the final report of the Commission on the Future of Health Care in Canada, the Health Council of Canada along with applied research institutes can make politicians and policy-makers more aware of the growing body of evidence supporting the efficacy of psychological treatments relative to the alternatives. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychology and public service.

Psychology has a special opportunity to contribute to the public interest, because the training of psychologists makes them well suited for this role. After briefly stating some reasons why public service is difficult for psychologists, the author reviews why psychologists' training prepares them to assume public service responsibilities: crossover skills include applying their body of knowledge in different settings, identifying relevant questions and translating principles into language the public can understand, integrating and combining ideas that seem disconnected at first glance, balancing different approaches and acting despite multiple and complex perspectives, and establishing and maintaining a level of excellence, even when standards are unclear. The author reviews how these principles have been imbedded in his psychology training and experiences and also discusses the important mentors who taught him how to apply these principles. Psychologists can make important contributions in the public domain if they set high standards and are persistent in their pursuit of them. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Association for the Advancement of Psychology: 1984.

The Association for the Advancement of Psychology (AAP) serves as the public policy arm of the American Psychological Association (APA). This article discusses the AAP's public policy activities as well as providing recognition for psychologists in public law and information on AAP internal affairs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Public education outreach and the use of the media: A springboard to making psychology a household word.

Have you considered participating in a public education campaign? What are the personal, professional, organizational, and overall benefits of participating? Have you thought of using the media, but feel unsure of what to do or even if it is worthwhile? This article tells the story of how a local group of psychologists used the American Psychological Association's public education campaign as a springboard to the completion of a variety of successful projects. Particular attention to the use of the media is given. Strategies and resources for developing a public education campaign that utilizes the media are presented from a perspective of benefit to the individual psychologist. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Public Image of Psychology.

Comment on the public image of psychology. It is suggested that an alarming and distasteful image of psychologists is in the process of being formed as a by-product of the Era of the Corruption of Things Psychological. This era has been ushered in by our neglect of public relations, by the Sunday-supplement popularity of the mysteries of the mind, and by the discovery that psychological means of influencing behavior are a highly salable commodity in the nonacademic market place. As psychologists expand and refine their techniques for control of human behavior, the urgency of this problem of public relations will increase accordingly. This demands something more than the tranquilizing effect of an APA symposium on the Ethics of the Application of Psychology or the soporific of a prestige-laden committee to define the nature of the problem. We would be well-served by a simple tithing of the time, energy, and resources we now devote to the internecine conflicts with other helping sciences. Ideally, the perception others have of us ought to be a prime order of business for the leaders of every division of psychology, and participation in a design for public education ought to be as automatic a contribution to our mutual well-being as the paying of annual dues. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychologists in public service and the public.

"In the opinion of many, the most serious difficulty facing psychologists [in public service] is the attempt to subject professional work to close and minute administrative control." "Our job is not only to give service, but to improve the society we live in. This should be the major contribution of the psychologist in public service." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychologists in Schools of Public Health: Current Status, Future Prospects, and Implications for Other Health Settings.

The deans and departmental chairs of the 22 schools of public health were asked in 1981 to list all psychologists holding full-time faculty appointments and the names of courses with a substantial behavioral/psychological content. Responses were received from 98% of the departments. The psychologists were then sent a survey concerning their backgrounds, job responsibilities, and satisfaction/dissatisfaction with their positions. There was an 80% response rate. Psychologists accounted for 5.7% of the approximately 1,300 full-time faculty in schools of public health. Psychologists represented a larger percentage of the faculty in departments of behavioral science than in departments of epidemiology, biostatistics, environmental health, and so forth. Public health psychologists were active researchers and publishers, with average totals of 2.5 articles and 26.9 citations for a three-year period. The primary advantages of employment in a school of public health had to do with an appreciation of the public health perspective, an interdisciplinary orientation, and research opportunities. The primary dissatisfactions cited were financial insecurity, isolation from psychology, and lack of appreciation among public health colleagues of the contribution of psychology to public health. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The 2005 White House Conference on Aging: Psychology and the aging boomers.

I report on the 2005 White House Conference on Aging (WHCoA), describing the process and results with a focus on mental health and psychology, and ending with the implications for public service psychologists. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychological tests and public responsibility.

"A testing program of any scale, much as we might like to view it as a purely technical device, is a social force as well." The National Merit Testing program incurs public responsibility in several general ways—by choice, by imposition, and inherently. Major sections are: National merit and public attitudes. Interests of co-operating agencies. Predictive factors and social values. "The National Merit program is primarily a nationwide search for talented students." It selects 1650 scholarship winners from among nearly 800,000 students taking the NMS Qualifying Test. In developing predictive factors more closely related to postcollege success rather than determining curriculum-oriented factors, lies the greatest future exercise of the public responsibility which the National Merit Scholarship Corporation bears. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

搞好招标工作 促进工程建设

结合济钢工程建设的实际 ,根据不同情况 ,分别采取提前招标方式、设备与安装调试组合招标方式、设计单位和施工单位组合招标方式、工程总包性质的招标方式等 ,满足了工程建设需要。     

Association for the Advancement of Psychology: 1982.

News and issues related to the Association for the Advancement of Psychology, the advocacy arm of American psychology in the public policy arena. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Public opinion and propaganda.

Reviews the book, Public opinion and propaganda edited by Dorwin Cartwright, Samuel Eldersveld, Daniel Katz, Alfred McClung Lee (see record 1955-02380-000). The Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues has produced an excellent book of readings on public opinion and propaganda. In keeping with its interdisciplinary orientation, a wide range of the relevant literature in political science, history, anthropology, sociology, economics, and psychology has been culled to provide a selection of readings (74 in all) showing the possibilities of the empirical approach to problems in the area as well as the societal context, the political structure, and the social-psychological dynamics of opinion formation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Should the science of adolescent brain development inform public policy?

One factor that has contributed to confusion in discussions of the use of adolescent neuroscience in the development of public policies affecting young people is a blurring of three very different issues that need to be separated: (a) what science does and does not say about brain development in adolescence; (b) what neuroscience does and does not imply for the understanding of adolescent behavior; and (c) what these implications suggest for public policy. In this article, the author argues that a good deal is known about adolescent brain development, that this knowledge has in fact been useful in shaping our understanding of adolescent behavior, and that neuroscience, like behavioral science, can usefully inform policy discussions. He cautions, however, that nonexperts may be unduly swayed by neuroscience evidence and thus that such evidence should be presented with special care. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Report of the Policy and Planning Board: 1958.

The Policy and Planning Board provides this report to the members of the American Psychological Association (APA) on its activities in 1957. The board met twice, in Chicago: November 8, 1957 and April 2-3, 1958. This year the board put aside any major questions about the organization of the APA--a matter that has occupied much of our time in the past two years. The board turned its attention, rather, to the kind of a role the APA ought to play in the public and professional life of our time. In addition, we acted on a number of limited issues which are summarized in this report. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Award for Distinguished Contributions to Psychology in the Public Interest: Michael J. Saks.

The Awards for Distinguished Contributions to Psychology in the Public Interest recognize persons who, in the opinion of the Committee on Psychology in the Public Interest Awards, have advanced psychology as a science and/or profession by a single extraordinary achievement or a lifetime of outstanding contributions in the public interest. Michael J. Saks, one of the 1987 recipients, is recognized for successfully bringing psychological knowledge to bear on a wide range of legal and public policy concerns. Through his empirical research and creative applications of basic psychological research and theory, he has contributed to our knowledge of psychosocial assumptions in diverse areas of the law. As one of the rare psychologists who thinks like a lawyer, he has helped to increase the social sensitivity of the legal community and the legal and ethical sensitivity of the psychological community, with tremendous benefit to the public interest. In addition to the citation, a biography and selected bibliography of Saks' work are presented. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)