Readability of readers.

The Flesch count readability formula was applied to general readers in psychology intended to be used in combination with regular psychology tests. Results indicate that "… the books are of about the same degree of difficulty, all being difficult according to Flesch's standards… . Some of the most readable work was done by such writers as Kohler, Freud, Munn, Murphy, James McKeen Cattell and Lashley." Among the more difficult to read are Lewin, Pavlov, Carmichael, and Cruze. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Report of the executive Officer: 1961.

Psychologists "must continue to speak to college students, and with greater effectiveness than may be true at present." American Council on Education evidence "suggests that psychology, against the index year of 1955, may be losing ground proportionately as an undergraduate major field… . If we fail in creating an adequate perception of psychology among college students, we may mortgage our future beyond redemption." In governmental affairs "psychology's voice… is not as clear nor its message as self-assured as the voices of other scientists and scholars." The factors influencing processes in which the APA Central Office becomes involved are considered briefly. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relationships between psychology and psychiatry: the hidden issues.

The "… underlying bases of friction between professions of psychology and psychiatry" are explored. Friction emanating from psychiatry stems from the medical pretense of omniscience, an elevated regard for the M.D. degree, and the psychiatrist's position as "… low man on the medical totem pole." Activities of psychologists entering private practice represent "… an economic threat to psychiatrists." The "psychiatrist's theoretical dogmatism… can be attributed to lack of training and sophistication in the content and methods of psychology." Friction emanating from psychology stems from a claim to omniscience, an elevated regard for the degree in psychology, and psychologists trained in areas other than clinical becoming clinical psychologists "… by fiat alone… ." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A study of human behavior: The clinical psychologist.

The psychologist "has derived some benefit by the mixture of being a doctor but not being identified with the mentally ill person." By reviewing personal and cultural forces the attempt was made to establish the variety of emphases current in clinical psychology. "Nearly every adjustment pattern observed among clinicians has occurred as a result of training and experience in some university, school or clinic. As yet, no completely satisfying or dominant component of needs has been discovered for the training and role of the clinical psychologist… . But it is a backward step to discard special curricular requirements for clinical psychologists." A prime requirement for a profession is "a disciplined and recognizable training program." The public that supports us will demand "a real and inexorable service contribution that we have implicitly promised… . We evolved on the impetus of service need." A number of current conflicts of the clinical psychologist are indicated. "The only way professional psychologists can hold to a responsible place is by partial separation from the academic, basic science psychologists." Leaders in clinical psychology should "be more than 80% in real clinical work with ill patients." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A personal view of some issues facing psychologists.

"First of all, I am concerned that the general climate of American psychology today does a great deal to discourage original and creative thinking, and little to foster it." "A second concern which I feel is in regard to the risk of becoming parochial. There appear to be strong forces at work in our field to narrow psychology." A third area "… which I feel troubled about is the trend in psychology. It seems to me that there is, in our profession, a real fear of thinking about the meaning of what we are doing." These issues are briefly discussed, questions are raised regarding the issues, and some suggestions are made for resolution of the problems. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The school as a psychological laboratory.

"Current training opportunities leading the graduate student of psychology to real understanding of children are… extremely limited… . Perhaps as good an explanation for the profession's neglect of such an important aspect of its field [child psychology] is to be found in the swings of academic fashion." To date, the public schools as settings for practicum experiences and internships have not been much exploited. Large city school systems present exciting possibilities. Courses of the Department of Psychology at the University of Chicago have used the Chicago public schools since the 1930s. Typical research studies in which the Chicago schools have made facilities and subjects available are enumerated. "On the employment side, the positions for school psychologists in the Chicago schools jumped from 66 in 1957 to 90 in 1958." Psychological work in the schools requires thoughtful preparation. "Psychology must sell its wares to skeptical, if not openly hostile, teachers and administrators." Psychologists "must drop their supercilious attitude toward some of the basic tasks of school psychology… . The tremendous potential of the schools as a laboratory for research and training in almost all phases of psychological study must be more fully realized." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Community psychology: Impressions of the Boston conference on the education of psychologists for community mental health.

Mental health "is shifting from the amelioration of illness to preventive intervention at the community level… community psychology is more than a by-product of clinical… it depends upon and interacts with all the basic areas of psychological knowledge. Particular emphasis [is] given to the contributions of social psychology, group dynamics, and child development." The Conference recommended that "some permanent organizational medium be established… to facilitate communication among psychologists with vital interest in community psychology." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The mystery-mastery complex in contemporary psychology.

This "complex… is one of the major forces interfering with our understanding of the nature of human personality… . The complex… consists in the simultaneous pursuit of 2 objectives: (a) to keep the nature of human personality from being understood, to preserve it under a cloak of mystery and (b) to master, or predict and control, the behavior of human beings." 5 different but related features characterize a good deal of contemporary research enterprise: (1) The scientist-S distinction. (2) The definition of psychology as the study of behavior. (3) The choice of lower animals, particularly domesticated animals, as Ss-of-choice in research. (4) The specification of the aim of research as the discovery of "laws." (5) The cultural norm that research consists of the testing of preconceived hypotheses. Each is separately discussed. We "need to be more aware of the factors associated with the knowledge-getting processes." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Philosophical embarrassments of psychology.

Philosophers "can fulfill a useful auxiliary role… in collaborating with productive scientists… as critics and catalysts." Theories "so conceived as to be irrefutable by any sort of evidence" constitute a methodological embarrassment for psychology. "The quest for certainty, the craving for infallibility, has produced the embarrassments of emptiness and circularity." The "most painful philosophical embarrassment of psychology" is "the definition of its very subject matter… . The embarrassment of unanswerable questions can be avoided if we do not introduce absolutely unconfirmable entities into our theories." In theory construction psychology's embarrassment is a methodological one. "The time has come to emancipate ourselves from the radical empiricism of the operationists and the behaviorists. A more liberal view of the nature of scientific theory will help us more adequately and clearly to assign to psychology its proper place in the uniting sciences and to remove many of the philosophical embarrassments that have stood in the way of scientific progress." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Explorations in ecological psychology.

The "great diversity of coupling between psychologists and psychological phenomena can be divided into 2 types which produce data of crucially different significance for the science of psychology." (1) Psychologists as Transducers—T Data: The psychologist transforms data and in effect is a translating machine. (2) Psychologists as Operators—O Data: The psychologist "achieves control which allows him to focus upon segments and processes of particular concern to him, via data that refer to events which he, in part, contrives." Psychologists "as operators and as transducers are not analogous, and… the data they produce have fundamentally different uses within science. A central problem of our science is the relation between ecological events (the distal stimuli) at the origin of E-O-E [environment-organism-environment] arcs and the succeeding events along these arcs." There "are a number of reasons for avoiding the role of transducer in psychological research… . The skills and personality attributes required of a successful transducer are different from those of a successful operator… . The techniques of the transducer are in many respects more difficult than those of the operator." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The psychology of 1975: An extrapolation.

In 1975 "our motive in studying psychology will continue to be primarily the fact that we have cognitive needs… . The creativity excitement of today will be geometrically expanded… because even the creativity abstraction is itself an exciting abstraction." The "new realm of knowledge to which Freud above all, has led… . [and] the huge legacy of Ivan Pavlov and our Soviet colleagues" will be utilized. Outrageous hypotheses are desirable tools. Advances in 4 fields will "make major impacts upon psychology: genetics, neurophysiology, perception theory, and ecology… . It is perfectly plain that among all the behavioral sciences psychology is central." Major sections are: Prediction Models, Radar into the Future, The "Specious Present," Biological Vistas, Outrageous Hypotheses, and New Psychologies? (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychology as a general social science course.

Acourse entitled "An Introduction to the Sciences of Human Behavior" which "… represents a serious effort to coordinate and integrate the data of… " psychology, anthropology, and sociology is described. "The orientation is toward problem solving in a scientific sense, but not in the sense of applied science." Research indicates that "… freshmen in the inter-disciplinary course learn as much psychology as sophomores in the traditional course." The course is organized around three lectures and one discussion session a week. A brief resumé of the major psychology topics considered in the course is presented. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relation of congitive-dissonance theory to an aspect of psychotherapeutic practice.

"The present paper is designed to link dissonance theory with one practical reality-oriented aspect of the process of psychotherapy with emotionally troubled individuals—namely, the charging of fees." Freud stated that "money matters are treated by civilized people in the same way as sexual matters—with the same inconsistency, prudishness, and hypocrisy. It is… avowed… that in order to accomplish any significant therapeutic work the patient must be charged a fee that is somewhat painful and discomforting." Dissonance theory "would predict that if a person paid nothing for something that he believed was worth nothing he would not experience cognitive dissonance. Rather his cognitive world would be in a state of harmony in this regard. My main purpose has been to stimulate greater clinical interest in the possibilities of employing general psychological theories, developed in the more traditional academic areas of psychology, to shed light upon seemingly complex issues in the field of clinical psychology." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Convention publicity: should it grow?

"The question of what sort of public information program the APA should have generally starts a lively discussion." A principal obstacle "… that impedes the flow of a tremendous amount of psychology to the public… calls for the professional skills and intuitions of a public information specialist… ." The "… APA can get constructive publicity, in quantity, in all the mass media, not only at convention time, but throughout the year… " and the author believes "… that the APA should want it." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychology: The socially indifferent science.

Psychology "is a science without social content… . I believe that psychology has been and ought to be mainly interested in the properties and processes of individual organisms… . Psychology… has been so far the science which deals with the abstract, universal, culturally contentless features of behavior which in almost all cases—and surely all the most interesting cases—are socially tagged, but which are analyzed as properties of individual organisms… . I am arguing that the formulations which psychologists have made and ought to continue making do not and need not contain explicit social or cultural terms to satisfy the relevance of psychology for understanding social behavior." From Psyc Abstracts 36:02:2AD32L. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Internships for doctoral training in clinical psychology approved by the American Psychological Association.

"On the recommendation of the Committee on Evaluation, the Education and Training Board with the concurrence of the Board of Directors of the American Psychological Association has approved the internships for doctoral training in clinical psychology which are offered… " by various agencies listed (see 25: 6647). "All of these agencies provide supervised experience in the three activities of diagnostic work, psychotherapy, and research… ." The "list is complete for those agencies which had been evaluated by November 1, 1957… . The list… includes only independent agencies, that is, those agencies accepting interns from more than one university." The 45 institutions listed are in 23 states and the District of Columbia. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Professional education in industrial psychology: A statement of policy.

"The industrial psychologist should be a broadly trained psychologist… . Education in industrial psychology should provide grounding in psychological theory… . The curriculum should provide knowledge of the problem areas of industrial psychology… . Education in industrial psychology should include knowledge in other areas important in business and industry… . The student should become familiar with a very wide variety of research tools, methods, and procedures… . The education of an industrial psychologist should be realistic… . The education of industrial psychologists should include discussion of the ethical problems likely to arise in industry." The stated principles "should be interpreted in a flexible rather than a rigid fashion." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

And Esau was an hairy man.

Attention is focussed on "certain aspects of the professional behavior of industrial psychologists… . It is within the realm of possibility for legitimate PhDs in the profession of psychology to exhibit various shades of professional behavior under various levels of motivation. Both inside and outside the profession of psychology, alarms have arisen about the potential misuse of behavioral sciences in the control of human behavior." Attributes of professional and nonprofessional occupations are distinguished. What can be done to preserve our present status as professionals and also insure true professional behavior on the part of industrial psychologists? Realistic ethical codes will only guide the way. "Industrial psychology cannot operate under the rules of the open market. Either we develop acceptable rules of professional service to society or society will define the conditions of psychological practice by legal restrictions. The choice is up to us as to who will shape the future of industrial psychology. Smooth men or hairy ones." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A terminal course for psychology majors.

A special course for senior psychology majors "… in which one step has been taken in the direction away from the conservative tradition of lecturing and examining" is described. The students' first assignment is to list "… the ten most persistent and pressing problems of personal and social living… " and the second is to "… select the ten concepts, laws, or principles which you believe to be the most significant… ." From these the "… subject matter of the rest of the term is established." There is "… frequent and favorable reaction from students… ." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Criteria for what?

Criteria are in the key position of determining how tests are to be interpreted and used. Many different kinds of validity can be and are classified in varying ways. "Validity for industrial psychology has largely consisted of… 'utility' and has been banned from the validation universe entirely." Psychologists have not yet paid enough attention "to the processes by which we use our criteria to establish predictive relationships. The difficulties of defining criteria for the many hypothetical attributes of factors found in our test files today and of setting up situations in which they can be observed are admittedly great. However, the attempt might, in and of itself, have a healthy effect upon the thinking of many of our test constructors." Knowledge "of the validity of a test for 1 criterion in 1 job aids us little, if at all, in building a predictor for another job or even a different criterion in the same job." Apparently "industrial psychology, particularly as it relates to selection, appraisal, and training procedures, is approaching Armageddon." We must expand our thinking about criteria and validity beyond the point of utility alone. The "answer to the question 'Criteria for What?' must always include—for understandingp" (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)