Doctoral Programs in Psychology, 1957-1958.

Each fall the APA Education and Training Board sends to every graduate department with an approved program in clinical or in counseling psychology a detailed questionnaire. This questionnaire asks for information about the number of faculty members in the graduate training program, the number of full-time and part-time graduate students, the number of persons admitted to candidacy for the PhD, the number of PhDs granted the preceding year, and the number of graduate students admitted. This article presents a summary of the data obtained via these questionnaires. The authors suggest that for more precise information, a more complete questionnaire with carefully defined categories of training areas or subject matter would need to be answered by graduate departments, including both those with approved programs and those without them. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Professional ethics for graduate students in psychology.

Results of 2 independent questionnaires concerning the availability of courses on ethics for graduate students in psychology sent to various schools offering graduate work in psychology are combined. "Very few departments offer a course solely on professional ethics in psychology though several expressed plans for one in the future." "Ethics is handled best on a graduate level, in a seminar or colloquium, preferably on a required basis for all students, and definitely so for clinical students." "The APA code of professional ethics and journals are preferred sources of reference." "Professional training in ethics is a recent phenomenon coinciding with the APA research in this area and with the rise of clinical psychology." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The buck stops here: A survey of the financial status of PhD graduate students in psychology, 1966–1987.

Results of a survey of 454 graduate PhD candidates in psychology (1966–1987) suggest that current graduate students must assume a greater proportion of the cost of their education. Several strategies for increasing graduate student stipends are presented. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychologists’ attitudes and ethical concerns regarding the use of social networking web sites.

Most psychologists seek to control self-disclosures they make to patients, but the Internet’s rapid development and widespread use over the past decade have introduced new problems for psychologists trying to avoid inappropriate disclosures. A total of 695 psychology graduate students and psychologists were surveyed about their current use of social networking Web sites (SNWs), opinions regarding regulation of online activities by the American Psychological Association (APA), and interactions in clinical work as a result of online activities. Established psychologists seldom use SNWs and may lack the experience to provide relevant supervisory guidance. No consensus about the need for APA guidelines emerged. Historically, APA has not issued guidelines in technological areas of rapid change. Thus, graduate training and continuing education should address the ethics of SNWs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Graduate training of scientist–practitioner-oriented clinical psychologists: Where we can improve.

To improve psychology graduate programs, the training provided by scientist- or practitioner-oriented graduate programs in clinical psychology is evaluated from the perspective of a director of clinical training in an American Psychological Association-approved internship. Areas in which graduate training may be improved are divided into knowledge, supervision, research, and professional development. Specific training deficits are enumerated, and suggestions for their remediation are offered. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The role of the master's degree in doctoral training.

The committee "would attempt to produce a scholarly psychologist well grounded in scientific method, theory, knowledge, and critique, as these pertain to the pursuit of a career in either scientific or applied psychology." They believe that "psychology can serve society best by reducing the amount of specialization at the predoctoral level and by training the PhD… . A psychologist so trained will be able to adapt to the changing situation in a dynamic society." Major sections are: Implications for Psychology, Articulation of Nondoctoral and Doctoral Graduate Programs, and Recommendations. The APA Education and Training Board should have an annual article in the "American Psychologist" providing pertinent information on graduate training programs, graduate selection standards, and philosophy of graduate training. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Predicting managerial success of Master of Business Administration (MBA) graduates.

Made predictions of the annual compensation of 136 alumni of a graduate management program by using years of work experience, graduate grades, and data obtained prior to graduate school admission. Stepwise multiple regression analyses revealed that work experience was more predictive of staff than line compensation. After adjusting for the effect of work experience, graduate grades were significantly correlated to both line and staff earnings, though the incremental predictive validity was much higher for line managers. Several pregraduate academic and nonacademic variables were also significant predictors. Results support the ability to predict managerial compensation prior to career and graduate school entry. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A Reexamination of GRE Scores.

Comments on a recent article by A. R. Marston (see record 1972-11620-001), which discussed the use of Graduate Record Examination (GRE) scores for selection of graduate students. The conclusion that GRE scores as a selection device should be re-examined was supported by data collected with a restriction of range on these scores. There is precious little linear relation between GRE scores and normal criteria for graduate success. Once a person is admitted to graduate school, his/her GRE scores should be burned, never to be used again. This, of course, still leaves the question as to whether GRE scores are an appropriate selection device for graduate students. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Issues in the education and training of women in Canadian psychology.

The high attrition rate of female students in graduate programmes in psychology is documented. Some of the literature (largely American) on the problems of female students is explored for possible reasons for this high rate. The problem areas identified are: admissions practices, financial support, inflexibility of graduate programmes, faculty attitudes toward graduate students, scarcity of female role models, and psychology as a "masculine" discipline. Recommendations for action by the Canadian Psychological Association are made in each of the problem areas with a special plea for the inclusion, in both graduate and undergraduate psychology programmes, of courses on the female experience. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Toward a typology of mentorship dysfunction in graduate school.

Researchers, writers, and practitioners of mentoring relationships have traditionally avoided discussion of the dark and dysfunctional side of mentoring. Student-faculty mentorships in graduate settings are sometimes characterized by dysfunction stemming from such varied sources as faulty matching, boundary violations, incompetence, conflict, and cross-gender or cross-race concerns. In this article, a typology of dysfunctional graduate school mentorships is offered for the purpose of bolstering theory development, research, and both departmental and individual prevention efforts. The article concludes with several strategic recommendations for both graduate program administrators and individual faculty members who find themselves in problem mentorships with graduate students. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psi Chi/APA Edward B. Newman Graduate Research Award.

Presents a citation and biography for the 2002 recipient of the Psi Chi/APA Edwin B. Newman Graduate Research Award (Micheal E. Shafer). The Psi Chi/APA Edwin B. Newman Graduate Research Award is sponsored jointly by Psi Chi, the national honor society in psychology, and the APA. The award is presented annually to the psychology graduate student who submits the best research paper that was published or presented at a national, regional, or state psychological association conference during the past calendar year. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Graduate neuropsychology training: A later look.

Surveyed 113 American Psychological Association (APA)-approved clinical programs to determine (a) the nature and extent of graduate neuropsychology training; (b) the extent that existing training programs meet the requirements of training models proposed to APA by the International Neuropsychological Society (INS) Task Force; (c) whether current training was required of clinical graduate students; (d) how much time was devoted to theory, research, and practice during training; (d) and the extent that the Luria-Nebraska Neuropsychological Battery (LNNB) and the Halstead-Reitan Neuropsychological Test (HRNT) Battery were included in such training. Questionnaires returned by 65% of the schools revealed neuropsychology training in 88% of them. The structure of such training is generally not geared to the training models proposed by the INS Task Force, mostly because schools that offer neuropsychology training only require clinical graduate students to take a course or seminar in about 20% of those schools. Time devoted to theory, research, and practice varied widely, as did the types of training that schools planned to add to their programs. The LNNB was taught in 54% of the schools, and the HRNT was taught in 88%. (2 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Graduate admissions criteria of leading psychology departments.

As a follow-up to a previous comment by J. E. Purdy et al (see record 1988-02765-001), the authors present the responses of 78% of the directors of top graduate programs to a questionnaire assessing the importance of information in applications for admission to graduate study, of the Graduate Record Examination scores, grade point average (GPA), letters of recommendation, research and clinical experience. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A student looks at graduate training.

Two problems face many of the 2,000 graduate students in psychology in Canada. As the academic job market continues to provide relatively fewer openings for the increasing number of new Ph.D.'s, the new graduate is faced with seeking employment in areas for which he has no training. The idealistic graduate student who wishes to engage in "relevant" research is forced by the type of graduate training he is receiving to do conservative research and to become more and more like his teachers in attitudes and values. The question is raised as to whether or not we wish tomorrow's psychologists to be identical to todays psychologists. Suggestions for changes are offered for consideration by the planners of graduate programs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A case study of graduate admissions: Application of three principles of human decision making.

Reports that 3 principles of human judgment apply to the decisions of a graduate admissions committee. The 1st of these principles is that a linear combination of the variables considered by the committee does a better job of predicting graduate success than does the committee; the 2nd principle is that the committee's judgment may itself be represented "paramorphically" by a linear combination of these variables, and the 3rd that this paramorphic representation is superior to the committee in predicting graduate success. (42 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

APA/APAGS Award for Distinguished Graduate Student in Professional Psychology.

The APA/APAGS Award for Distinguished Graduate Student in Professional Psychology is awarded on an annual basis by the Board of Professional Affairs (BPA) and the American Psychological Association of Graduate Students (APAGS) to a graduate student who has demonstrated outstanding practice and application of psychology. Award winners from 2002-2005 are listed. This document includes the citation awarded to Renée E. DeRouin, winner of the 2005 APA Award for Distinguished Scientific Applications of Psychology. A brief biography and a selected bibliography of the DeRouin accompany the citation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

APAGS: The American Psychological Association of Graduate Students.

The American Psychological Association of Graduate Students (APAGS) was established in 1988 by graduate students who sought to create a home office in APA headquarters for student concerns. Former students Scott Mesh and David Pilon acted as the creative force for the group, working in tandem with APA members Ellin Bloch and Pierre Ritchie. This article examines the establishment of APAGS and its assimilation in the governance structure of APA. APAGS consolidated its success by quickly reaching out to create working relationships with several psychological groups both within and outside of the APA governance structure and by immediately beginning to serve itsconstituency, theAPA Student Affiliates whoareAPAGS members. APAGS now includes over 31,000 members, a 120 percent increase since 1988. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Letters of Recommendation.

Discusses the lack of standardization in letters of recommendation and application forms used for graduate placement in colleges and universities. The author suggests a committee of the American Psychological Association be put together in order to work out a list of all the pertinent points that should be covered in graduate school and assistantship applications. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)