Canadian psychology: Some social and applied emphases.

Recent concern with national identity has motivated an examination of possible relationships between features of Canadian society and the nature of applied and social Psychology. Experience with the production of a bibliography and book of readings in this area provided the background, necessary for a detailed discussion of the issues. A matrix of research questions was elaborated by crossing some special features of social and cultural life in Canada with the sub-disciplines of Social, Clinical, Educational and Work Psychology. It was concluded that there could be "a Canadian Psychology" in these social and applied areas, but that considerable effort is required before it is attained. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Wundt and applied psychology.

Cites the work of W. Wundt and J. M. Cattell to illustrate the relationship between pure and applied psychology and the need for interchange between the 2 approaches. A 3rd approach, the ideographic approach, is suggested as a means of illuminating both individual-differences and nomothetic research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Plurality in social psychology.

Argues that social psychology should be considered a polyparadigmatic enterprise based on human science social psychology theories and discusses the nature of a paradigm and the social character of paradigm-construction as a knowledge-building industry. Four major approaches of human science social psychology are presented: existential-phenomenology, hermeneutical dialectics, dialogal existentialism, and critical emancipatory theory. These approaches are discussed in terms of the changing meanings of intentionality. "Way of Life Psychology" is presented as a discipline capable of integrating the contributions of the various human science schools of thought in social psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Instrumentation in social psychology.

Focuses on various conceptual paradigms that were "instrumented with display or measurement procedures having the potential for relatively standardized usage." The paradigms include problems concerning (a) attitude formation and change, (b) social conformity, (c) game behavior, and (d) group performance. Comment is made on "advantages and disadvantages of the primitive state of instrumentation in the field," and regards the future as making increasing use of more sophisticated instruments. (16 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Training in engineering psychology.

"This report considers the nature of the scientific and professional work of psychologists and related specialists who are active in the broad fields of human factors engineering, analyzes the qualifications required for such work, and outlines training programs which should provide an adequate preparation for specialization in this area." Increased emphasis is now being given to man-machine system problems. From Psyc Abstracts 36:02:2AM71A. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Training and organizational psychology.

Discusses the relevance and significance of training programs in organizations. It is argued that emphasis on design of new instructional techniques is misplaced; the concern should be on the development of appropriate need assessment procedures that consider task, person, and organizational characteristics. The design should include the determination of tasks to be performed, behaviors essential to the performance of those tasks, type of learning necessary to acquire those behaviors, and the type of instructional content best suited to accomplish that type of learning. Evaluation designs must recognize that the training program and the evaluation are an intervention within the structure of the organization. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Theory and philosophy in social psychology.

Social psychologists are generally very empirical, and their research is usually theoretically oriented. However, what passes for theory is often no more than a couple of vague statements. Nevertheless, coming from the tradition of Kurt Lewin, we tend to reject papers that do not test a "theory". On the other hand, we pay no attention to theories lacking experimental support. Clinical observations are not enough. There is very little concern with philosophical issues. Ken Gergen of Swarthmore College is a notable exception and is often on convention programs. His comments about "historicism" in social psychology have caused some published rebuttals, but our members are largely not very concerned with this or with Gergen's more recent forays in "social re-constructionism". (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive psychology and social change.

E. E. Sampson's (see record 1982-04617-001) charges that the cognitive perspective denies reality, depicts mental acrobatics as substituting for effective action, and necessarily serves the existing social order can only be made by selectively ignoring the contributions of the Gestalt psychologists and of other prominent proponents of the cognitive perspective. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Trial consultation: A new direction in applied psychology.

Increasingly, professional psychologists are faced with the challenge of the changing marketplace, and some choose to meet that challenge by forging new career paths. In this article, the field of trial consultation is reviewed with special emphasis on common tasks trial consultants undertake. It is argued that because of the large number of civil and criminal trials conducted annually and the comparatively small proportion of consultants, the field remains an untapped source of career options for psychologists who have many of the skills necessary to be successful trial consultants. Controversies concerning the effectiveness of trial consultation, ethical issues surrounding its use, and suggestions for appropriate training in the field are explored. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Experimental psychology and social responsibility.

Argues that (1) the roles of scientist and human being are to some extent inseparable, (2) the scientist cannot escape responsibility for the uses made of his knowledge, and (3) basic research must be defended in terms of its potential social value, however remote. It is argued that experimental psychologists have a series of obligations which can be met through formal organizations. They include: (1) the responsibility to interpret its basic research to society as a whole; (2) the responsibility to encourage its own social support through social action; (3) the need to step up its attack on pressing social problems; and (4) the responsibility to oppose political climates that would inhibit the progress of free psychological inquiry and to encourage political climates that permit and encourage such progress. A few illustrative examples are cited of the involvement of psychological associations in social action and of instances in which they might have been involved and were not. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Why social psychology fails.

Maintains that the failure of social psychology to develop substance and direction has been due primarily to the misguided vision that complex social phenomena can be fruitfully studied by experimental laboratory methods. Many who share this view but maintain their commitment to the experimental method are turning to nonreactive experiments in field settings. Based on matters of ethics and propriety, however, it is inevitable that these will continue in the same pattern of short-term, low-impact studies that predominated in the laboratory. Short-term, low-impact research strategies cannot, by themselves, bring us to the minimal goal of meaningful, general laws of social development and behavior, and social psychologists can only begin to grow toward that goal when the experiment ceases to be the primary modus operandi. (French summary) (24 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social psychology, experimental psychology and the social psychology of the experiment.

Discusses the recent growth of experimental social psychology which has involved wholesale adoption of classical methodology as conceived by experimental psychology. Paradoxically, research and writings on the "social psychology of the experiment" raise serious questions about certain assumptions implicit in classical methodology, i.e., those concerning the nature of the subject matter and the relationship between E and S. The views of R. Rosenthal, M. T. Orne, and others are discussed in this context and general implications considered in the light of the humanistic movement in American psychology. The general conclusion is that the values and criteria for all experimentation in psychology may be destined to undergo a radical reorientation. (French summary) (32 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Teaching social psychology: A Canadian dilemma.

Criticizes the American dominance of Canadian social psychology. It is argued that many American models and perspectives are only partially relevant to Canada. The exclusive use of American textbooks is also criticized; these texts are considered to incorrectly interpret Canadian phenomena as directly analagous to American. (32 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Career experiences of doctors of psychology.

Surveyed 184 graduates (mean age 37 yrs) of 9 PsyD programs to determine the professional activities in which they were engaged, satisfaction with careers and graduate training in professional psychology, and public acceptance of the PsyD degree and compared the results with similar data on PhD clinicians. Most Ss were primarily engaged in direct professional services in professional settings. They were generally satisfied with their careers in professional psychology and significantly more satisfied with the graduate training they had received than were clinical psychologists trained in traditional PhD programs. More Ss reported that the PsyD degree was an advantage rather than a disadvantage when competing for jobs with candidates who had other degrees. PsyD Ss were found to be active joiners of professional associations. 91% of PsyD Ss who applied for licensure or certification encountered no difficulty due to their degree. Almost no unfavorable attitudes toward the degree were perceived among clients, employers, or colleagues. It is concluded that fears about perception of the PsyD as a second-rate credential are unfounded. (8 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Situations matter: Teaching the Lewinian link between social psychology and rehabilitation psychology.

A little-recognized fact is that social psychology and rehabilitation psychology share a common theoretical ancestry in the situation perspective of Kurt Lewin. Theory and research in both fields assumes that situational influences often override the impact of personal factors, including dispositions. Situational analyses led to the development of a variety of cognitive explanations capturing people's phenomenal accounts for the causes of behavior and concomitant interpretation of social problems. Teachers can explore reasons why, despite the fields' having a shared theoretical perspective and topics of common interest (e.g., attitudes, prejudice, discrimination), little scholarly intradisciplinary contact currently occurs between them. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Enhancing the social ethics of psychology: Toward a psychology at the service of social change.

Presents a proposal for furthering the social ethics of psychology under the general term conscientization (P. Freire, 1971), which entails carrying out 2 tasks, denunciation and annunciation. It is argued that in contrast to its considerable efforts to insure proper ethical behavior toward individual clients, psychology has virtually neglected its moral obligations to society. Psychology can contribute to the advent of social change toward a "good" society by making explicit the process by which people come to accept the current social order as the best possible one, and by proposing strategies to counteract this pervasive phenomenon. This article illustrates how psychological research and psychologists can significantly transform social structures incapable of promoting human welfare. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Crisis in social psychology: The relevance of relevance.

Considers that external influences on social psychology for socially relevant research are misguided and potentially destructive to the progress of the discipline. Social psychologists have studied socially relevant topics for years and if their findings are not generalizable to community problems it is because they are not relevant to the constructs to which they pertain. Once conceptual relevance is obtained by reevaluation of existent research methods, social relevance will inevitably follow. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Downward comparison principles in social psychology.

The theory of downward comparison posits that persons experiencing negative affect can enhance their subjective well-being through comparison with a less fortunate other, the process occurring on either a passive or active basis. The present author discusses the basic principle of downward comparison and its corollaries and suggests that these represent the motivational process for phenomena observed in several areas of social psychology. Evidence is considered from studies of the fear-affiliation effect, choice of others for social comparison, scapegoating, projection, aversive environmental events and attraction toward others, social prejudice, hostile aggression, and humor. It is shown that downward comparison principles encompass empirical evidence from these areas, account for nonreplications as well as confirmatory findings, and provide a theoretical basis for the relation among the various phenomena. (111 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On social psychology and policy analysis.

Responds to criticisms by H. H. Kendler (see record 1984-12071-001), I. J. Mansdorf (see record 1984-12073-001), D. A. Resnick (see record 1984-12082-001), and G. Caplan (see record 1984-12061-001) of the present author's (see record 1983-32571-001) social-psychological assessment of the prospects for Israeli-Palestinian peace, based on an analysis of Yasser Arafat's cognitive style. The author upholds the validity of his use of psychological principles in policy analysis, responds to specific criticisms related to cultural and political realities in the Middle East, and argues that recent political events support his conclusions concerning the readiness of Palestinians to seek peace. (5 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)