Goodwin Watson (1899-1976).

This obituary for Goodwin Watson (1899-1976) notes milestones in his life and career, including his PhD in educational psychology, attendance at Union Theological Seminary, and joining the Columbia University Teachers College faculty. During 1925-1942, Watson earned the reputation of being not only a thoughtful activist and innovator but also a scholar and researcher. After World War II, he became chief of the Analysis Division of the Foreign Broadcast Intelligence Service, but within two years was forced out of office as a "disloyal citizen" by what was then known as the Dies Committee. He had gone to the Soviet Union and to Nazi Germany and had reported on features of their systems, including educational, that he considered promising. He held a professorship at Newark State College until 1970. In 1963, Watson and James P. Dixon were founders of the Union of Experimenting Colleges, an outgrowth of which was the creation of the University Without Walls. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Soviet psychology on the path of perestroika.

Current socioeconomic restructuring in the Soviet Union challenges psychology as a science, as a profession, and as a social institution. The status of contemporary Soviet psychology in terms of specialty training, practical functioning, and scientific communication is briefly outlined. The present crisis in the overall field, as it is viewed by Soviet psychologists, is discussed. Remedies sought to restore theoretical scholarship and practical application of Soviet psychology are reviewed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Enemy images: The psychology of U.S. attitudes and cognitions regarding the Soviet Union.

The images that the United States and the Soviet Union hold of one another may play a large role in perpetuating the nuclear arms race. Although many psychologists are unaware of it, much research has been done on the psychology of U.S. images of the Soviet Union. This work has been done from a variety of psychological perspectives, including psychodynamic, cognitive, developmental, and social. Here, I describe the results of this research, discuss the theoretical and methodological issues that have arisen, and suggest a number of questions that need to be answered. Finally, I argue that psychologists have not only the capability but also the responsibility to further understanding of the processes that lead the people of one nation to exaggerate the threatening aspects of another nation and to apply this understanding to the mutual enemy images of the superpowers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Directions in Soviet social psychology.

Reviews the book, Directions in Soviet social psychology, edited by Lloyd H. Strickland (1984). This book is about collectives: not just any organized group that might be so called in the Soviet Union, but groups that have attained (or are in the process of attaining) a genuine collectivity, internal cohesiveness, or solidarity. The editor has put together ten chapters, each by one or more of the Soviet Union's most prominent social psychologists. The contributions were written with a view to giving Western psychologists--in as nonpolemic a manner as possible--an understanding of the various problem areas in Soviet social psychology, of where they have come from historically, of what Soviet psychologists see as the major issues, of how they do research, and of some of their findings and conclusions. The contributions appear diverse. They deal with subjects as varied as the self-concept, communication, cognitive processes, person perception, self-discipline, management, and industrial psychology. Beneath the diversity, however, emerges a common preoccupation with the collective, its development and dynamics. This unity of underlying concern, in turn, lends the book a remarkable coherence. The book is, however, not without its difficulties. The main one is a certain opacity characteristic of English translations of Russian scientific works. The editor acknowledges and discusses this problem in an afterword. He has also provided the reader with an informative preface that explains how the book came about, and each chapter is headed by a brief but helpful introduction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Diversity for Clinical Training Programs.

Comments on the L. H. Levy article (see record 1963-04084-001) which discusses publication statistics among a group of 781 clinical psychologists. Levy's finding that that close to 30% of the 1948-53 graduates of studied clinical psychology programs have yet to publish suggested to Levy that a redefinition of clinical psychology is in order. The definition ostensibly accepted by Levy is one selected from a report in 1947 of the APA Committee on Training in Clinical Psychology, i.e., a clinical psychologist is a "research-oriented professional person." Interpretations of this thesis are discussed, and it is noted that there is a strategy which might be implied in Levy's article, and which is clearly championed by many faculty members of training universities. This is the basic research strategy. In essence, it is proposed that university psychology departments should contribute to the mental health field only by doing research and by training researchers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Russian physiologists' psychology and American experimental psychology: A historical and a systematic collation and a look into the future.

Sechenov was the originator of the basic theoretics of Russia's distinct physiologists' psychology. Pavlov and Bekhterev were its experimental verifiers and validators. Watson's Behaviorism arose as an independent development of American experimental psychology but interacted almost immediately with Russian-opened new experimental vistas. The vast influence of the English translations (1927 and 1928) of Pavlov's 2 conditioned reflex books on American psychological systematics is fully discussed, as is also the distinctness of the Pavlov system vis-à-vis specific American systems and American psychology in general. The language barrier is shown to be a unique factor in Russo-American experimental and theoretical parallels and divergencies. Brain behavior is the keynote of current Soviet physiologists' psychology and is increasingly dominating recent American experimental psychology. Significant Russo-American rapprochements in the basics of psychology seem imminent. (4-p. ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Clinical psychology abroad.

Clinical psychology, in common with its sister sciences, knows no national boundaries. Current journals, texts, and international congresses reflect steadily expanding horizons of scientific and professional interests that effectively transcend geographical, linguistic, and ideological barriers. These very brief, nontechnical observations of clinical psychology abroad will be limited to some recent trends noted in the United Kingdom and Continental Europe, including the Soviet Union. The observations are based, in varying degree, on a cursory survey of recent publications, informal correspondence, and fleeting conversations during the Brussels International Congress and other travels abroad. No claims are made for complete accuracy or all-inclusiveness; a process of "selective perception" may be assumed, both here and in earlier comments. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychological science: Some impressions of the scene in Moscow.

Summarizes the author's impressions of a 5-wk visit to Moscow and Leningrad. In the report, some general themes such as the subject matter of psychology and the nature of clinical work are discussed. Observations on the work and the commitment of some of the top psychologists are mentioned. Examples of specific research studies and suggestions for arranging an academic visit to the Soviet Union are presented. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Experimental research with children in the Soviet Union: Report of a visit.

"In late June 1959, I visited several centers of psychological research in Moscow and Leningrad." Major sections are: Use of S-R Rather than R-R Research Designs, Hypothesis Testing, Use of Infants and Younger Children in Experimental Research, Interdisciplinary Cooperation, and Stress on Practical Applications. "I was surprised by the interest value, the quality, and the quantity of Soviet research with children." There is "an intercultural problem in semantics that deserves consideration in the interests of better communication and hence better appreciation of Soviet contributions to the literature in experimental and child psychology." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Comment: Makarenko's The Road to Life.

Letter comments that both Bronfenbrenner ("Soviet Methods of Character Education," Amer. Psychologist, 1962, 17, 550-564), (see record 1963-04110-001), and Berman (Amer. Psychologist, 1963, 18, 251), (see record 2005-11487-011), comment on the importance of Makarenko in Soviet educational thinking, but they mention only his "Book for Parents." The author of the letter then goes on to recommend Makarenko's earlier writing and a related 16-mm film. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Research in Soviet social psychology.

Reviews the book, Research in Soviet social psychology by L. H. Strickland, V. P. Trusov, and E. Lockwood (1986). This volume includes invited reports of social psychological research by Soviet contributors from a single institution: Leningrad State University. The volume includes eight chapters, with brief introductions by the editors in each case. Overall, the chapters in this volume are generally well written, with only the occasional lapse of grammar or turgid prose. I enjoyed the opportunity if afforded me to acquaint myself further with the research efforts of Soviet colleagues in social psychology. With this volume, Strickland and his colleagues achieve their aim of giving us a perspective on contemporary social psychology in the USSR that we certainly would not otherwise have. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Survey of graduate education in psychology: Some trends for the last decade.

In 1963, 182 of 186 psychology departments responded to a questionnaire in the endeavor to develop a contemporary picture of graduate training in psychology. 880 doctoral degrees were granted by 99 departments and 1796 masters degrees were granted by 158 departments. "At the doctoral level, the 13 largest departments produced 36% of all psychology doctorates granted in academic year 1962-63. At the doctoral level, clinical and experimental psychology dominated the areas of specialization with 36% and 29%, respectively, of the degrees granted. "In 1954, 37 or 77% of the 48 psychology doctoral programs in clinical were APA approved; in 1963, 60 or 76% of the 79 programs were approved." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Seventeen years later: Clinical psychology in light of the 1947 Committee on Training in Clinical Psychology Report.

"Clinical psychology is both a basic and an applied area. Because of the undeveloped state of both psychology and clinical psychology, research is by far the most important responsibility of the clinical psychologist. The university has primary responsibility for integrating training in both the basic and the applied areas. The private practice of clinical psychology is of minor importance. It should be restricted." Clinical psychology "is important both because of the contribution it has made and is making to basic psychology, and because of the potential social significance of its practical contribution." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Some glimpses of Soviet psychology.

"Our major purpose was to see psychology at work in a variety of experimental laboratories at institutes, universities, and hospitals and, through conferences with Soviet psychologists, to learn as much as possible about their spheres of scientific interest, their aims, problems, theories, instruments, and techniques." Major subtopics are: How Psychological Research is Organized; Basic Tenets of Soviet Psychologists; Some Examples of Current Investigations (Experimental Studies of Higher Nervous Processes; Studies of Voluntary Activity, Work Operations, Productivity; Studies of Higher Mental Processes). "Wherever we went we found dedicated Soviet psychologists fully set to tell us about what they had last done, were then doing, and were planning to do next. They were more intent on reporting their performances in research than in debating their theories and hypotheses." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Research in industrial and organizational psychology from 1963 to 2007: Changes, choices, and trends.

The authors conducted a content analysis of all articles published in the Journal of Applied Psychology and Personnel Psychology from January 1963 to May 2007 (N = 5,780) to identify the relative attention devoted to each of 15 broad topical areas and 50 more specific subareas in the field of industrial and organizational (I-O) psychology. Results revealed that (a) some areas have become more (or less) popular over time, whereas others have not changed much, and (b) there are some lagged relationships between important societal issues that involve people and work settings (i.e., human-capital trends) and I-O psychology research that addresses them. Also, much I-O psychology research does not address human-capital trends. Extrapolating results from the past 45 years to the next decade suggests that the field of I-O psychology is not likely to become more visible or more relevant to society at large or to achieve the lofty goals it has set for itself unless researchers, practitioners, universities, and professional organizations implement significant changes. In the aggregate, the changes address the broad challenge of how to narrow the academic-practitioner divide. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychologists' views on child abuse reporting, confidentiality, life, and the law: An exploratory study.

Conducted interviews with 39 psychologists and psychology students to examine attitudes toward reporting child abuse cases to the authorities. Ss were almost equally divided in their decisions about reporting; the majority considered the child's life the most important, with confidentiality ranked second, and the law ranked third. Those who considered the law the most important issue (31%) chose always to report the abuse. Those who considered the law the least important issue (41%) saw the spirit of the law as more important than the letter and based their decision on their perception of the consequences for the child. (9 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

L’importance de la famille: Psychologie de la famille et famille de la psychologie.

Research on the family lies at the interface between basic and applied science. After tracing the scientific and practise roots of research on the family, I highlight that research to date has neglected the perspective of fathers. I propose that as in regular families, the family of Canadian psychology is diverse and constantly evolving. Key findings in psychology of the family include the importance of multiple perspectives, the benefits of quality time, and the toxic effects of conflict. These concepts apply equally to the family of Canadian psychology. I suggest that through involvement in the Canadian Psychological Association, psychologists can be enriched by multiple perspectives, can benefit from communication with one another to work together to advance psychology for all. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

XVIII International Congress of Psychology.

This document announces that for the first time in the history of our science an international congress of psychologists will be convened in the USSR. The XVIII International Congress of Psychology, organized by the Soviet Psychological Society under the auspices of the International Union of Scientific Psychology, will take an outstanding place among other congresses for the scope of the problems which will be discussed at it, as well as for the wide representation of psychologists of different countries who will participate in its work. It will also be distinguished for the character of its organization. The Congress will take place in Moscow between August 4 and 11, 1966. The programme of its plenary sessions will include, along with the opening speech of Prof. A. N. Leontiev, President of the Congress, three lectures which will be delivered by celebrated psychologists of different countries. Prof. Jean Piaget (Switzerland) will devote his lecture to the question of the place of psychology among other sciences; Prof. Neal Miller (USA) will consider the achievements of modern psychophysiology in the field of studying the problem of drives; Prof. A. A. Smirnov (USSR) will lecture on the ways of development of psychology in the Soviet Union. This document discusses the Congress in further detail. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)