Drops in Degrees: Comment.

Comments on a table in an article by Lester Recktenwald (see record 2005-07923-012). The author of this comment notes that the data in the table citing the drop in undergraduate degrees from 1950 to 1954 should be interpreted not in an absolute sense, but in the context of the total number of degrees granted in the various years. The author feels this is especially important for these data since the total number of undergraduate degrees granted has declined markedly since 1950. The small number of master's and PhD's in psychology is also mentioned, and the author concludes that the increasing demand for PhD's indicates that every encouragement could be given to qualified students to continue on to the PhD. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Potential impacts of creating biomedical engineering programs on gender distribution within leading engineering colleges.

During the past decade, the number of biomedical engineering (BME) undergraduate degree programs that reported engineering bachelor's (BSE) degree recipients to the American Society for Engineering Education increased from 19 to 38 among the Association of American Universities institutions (AAUs). This increase in BME BSE degree recipients coincided with substantial decreases in the percentage of women receiving BSE degrees at the public AAUs. AAUs that had BME BSE degree recipients in 2000 or first reported BME graduates between 2000 and 2009 experienced a decrease in the percentage and number of women receiving engineering undergraduate degrees across the other engineering disciplines. Demographic data for public and private AAUs and within the four largest engineering disciplines, electrical and computer engineering, mechanical engineering, civil engineering, and chemical engineering show that the percentage and number of non-BME female BSE degree recipients decreased contemporaneously with an increase in the number of BME degree programs and BME BSE degree recipients. Academic leaders and diversity professionals should see the results presented here as cautionary. The targeting of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines toward specific underrepresented groups is discussed with respect to ongoing limited degree attainment of women in these fields. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Graduate education of Negro psychologists.

The "Council on Psychological Resources in the South was impressed with the dearth of psychologists in the South, particularly Negro psychologists" and appointed a committee "… to study the facts in this regard and to make recommendations for pertinent action." Fifty-six (98.2%) of fifty-seven graduate departments of psychology surveyed answered questionnaires concerning Negro psychologists receiving graduate degrees and the undergraduate origin of these students. "Negro personnel in psychology come in considerable proportion (one-third) from Negro undergraduate schools in the South." "In the process of bridging the gap between inadequate undergraduate training and high level graduate work, Howard University is making an exceptional contribution toward training in scientific and professional psychology." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Who Is a Psychologist?

The American Psychological Association has consistently opposed the granting of a professional degree (as, Doctor of Psychology), insisting that the professional psychologist must also be trained as a scientist. Proponents of a professional degree are always in a distinct minority. Yet we continue to welcome into full membership graduates of schools of education and theology, placing no restrictions upon their membership in the Association--and even providing for their certification in state legislation (EdDs are almost always eligible for such certification). The APA has almost no influence on these degrees. And rarely do these schools (education, theology, etc.) even recommend courses in experimental psychology, research design, etc., for their doctoral candidates. It looks as if we were refusing to accept the granting of the professional degree by psychologists but accepting it when it is granted by these other schools. This article discusses this discrepancy and questions who exactly can be called a psychologist. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychology in mental retardation: Past and present.

"For purposes of 'before-and-after' comparisons, the membership Directory of the American Association on Mental Deficiency (AAMD, 1952, 1962) was examined. The tabulations show that in 1952, 26% of AAMD psychology members were qualified at the doctoral level. By 1962, 43% were so qualified." Psychologists interested in mental retardation have tended to move "away from the public institutions and clinics, and toward private and municipal services. In 1952, 18% of the psychology membership of the AAMD was engaged in some form and level of full administrative activity. By 1962 it had increased to 21%. During the past decade the memberships in the AAMD psychology division has more than doubled. Yet, in 1952, 21% of all AAMD members were listed as psychologists, whereas by 1962 only 13% were so listed." A table summarizing psychological services to mental retardation in 1952 and 1962 is presented. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Production of psychology doctorates.

"1 out of every 15 doctoral degrees granted by US universities since 1920 has been in psychology. The total for the 43 yr. 1920-1962 inclusive was 11,951. During the 1920s the proportion was almost 5?% of all doctorates; in the depression years of 1930s it dropped progressively to about 4%, and dropped again during World War II to 3.3%. After the war, the proportion of psychologists among all doctoral holders climbed steadily to about 8% in the early 1950s, and has remained in the 7%-9% range for the past decade." Tables of psychology doctorates by sex, year, and subfields, granted by leading institutions and a table indicating leading Baccalaureate sources for psychologist PhDs, 1920-61 inclusive, are included. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Wanted: A well-rounded specialist.

To be a psychologist first and a specialist second is a dictum not always, not even frequently, perhaps only rarely, followed in the training of graduate students today. Specializing, necessary and useful as it may be, does exact a price, especially where it is carried to the point of considerable concentration on one or two subspecialties within a particular field of psychology. What constructive proposals can be made to maximize the advantages of specialization and minimize the disadvantages? One suggestion is to resume the traditional approach and devote the entire period of graduate study to making the student a general psychologist. Another suggestion is to lengthen graduate training in order to turn out a psychologist who has a sure grasp of general psychology as well as considerable competency in one particular field. A final suggestion is to strengthen the undergraduate psychology program. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Postgraduate occupations of psychology major students.

During the last ten or fifteen years we have seen an increase in enrollment in undergraduate psychology courses that is far out of proportion to the general increase in overall university attendance. Psychology departments are overwhelmed with undergraduate students, and the numbers continue to increase each year. Since we are allocating so much of our time, energy, and resources to undergraduate teaching, it is important to determine what these students are being educated for. This note reports the results of an inquiry into the postgraduate occupations of the members of the first three graduating classes of the psychology major programme at McGill University. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Graduate training in psychology: The trend in specialization at the master's level.

Should the master's degree be a terminal degree of a steppingstone to the doctorate? The question of specialization at this level also enters the picture. Data from published research of other investigators indicate that "for each field in which the Master's is offered in both 1951-52 and in 1961-62 not only has the percentage of schools offering it sharply decreased but also… the absolute number is less." As compared with 1951, the 1961 figures "show that Masters' in the major fields of psychology are offered in fewer schools today, and a large number offer no Master's at all… . The number and percentages of schools offering no Master's degrees in psychology has more than tripled in the ten-year period." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The educational and work experiences of psychology graduates of the College of Wooster: 1966–1980.

Investigated the educational and work experiences of 311 Ss graduating during the period 1966–1980 with a psychology degree. 28% of the job titles were within education and 22% were within business. At the paraprofessional level (BA degree), a significant number (15%) of Ss were employed in human services. Thus, for a majority of job titles, psychology seems to have been the appropriate undergraduate major. (8 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Drop in Undergraduate Degrees.

Examines reasons for the drop in undergraduate training in psychology between 1950 and 1954. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Social Psychology: An Applied Approach.

Reviews the book, Social Psychology: An Applied Approach by Ronald J. Fisher (1982). In what is probably the first of a new generation of social psychology textbooks, Ronald Fisher has attempted a very ambitious intergration of basic, theoretical and applied social psychology. My overall feeling about the book is very positive, since there is much to recommend in it. Some of the chapters, such as those dealing with social issues and social change, program development and evaluation, and organizational development, are outstanding. They are scholarly, well written and contain information that traditional social psychologists should be aware of but rarely teach. Indeed, these chapters are so comprehensive, that they could serve as good introductions to these topics for graduate students. In addition, while not being a truly "Canadian" textbook, there are considerably more Canadian examples and anecdotes contained in this book than can be found in any of the other current textbooks. My hope as an instructor of an advanced undergraduate course in applied social psychology is that if there is a second edition of this text that the author might amend it by broadening the coverage of current topics in applied social psychology while retaining those chapters that are unique to the book. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Across the secretary's desk.

Discusses the problem of why so few really able students seem attracted to psychology. Several possible explanations are mentioned. This problem led the Behavioral Sciences Division of the Ford Foundation to make a three-year grant to the Social Science Research Council early in 1952 for a fairly large number of summer research stipends for undergraduates. Their purpose is twofold. On the one hand, they are to stimulate faculty members to search for promising undergraduates who might profit from exposure to a research apprenticeship in which they would have one of the best opportunities to learn about psychology as a science. Secondly, the stipends are to provide an undergraduate, who may be interested, with an opportunity to get the information he couldn't get in high school about what psychology as a science is really like. It is suggested that, if one accepts the fact that we in psychology have a recruitment problem, these summer research stipends seem like an excellent way of doing something concrete about it by providing the ablest students with an opportunity to catch some of our enthusiasm for the new and increasingly important scientific study of human behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Minority students of color and the psychology graduate pipeline: Disquieting and encouraging trends, 1989-2003.

Trends since 1989 in the minority graduate pipeline in psychology are examined, with special focus on trends in recent years. Encouraging trends generally outweigh troubling ones at lower levels of the pipeline. However, in recent years disquieting trends dominate at the higher pipeline levels. Promising trends include a rise in the percentage (to nearly 25%) of minority psychology students receiving the bachelor's degree and a rise to more than 20% receiving the master's degree. Troubling trends include the stalling of growth in minority PhD degree receipt since 1999 and the lack of growth in the percentage of African American and Hispanic/Latino(a) students entering PhD departments. Given the mixed findings, one of the highest priorities for psychology must be continued and persistent efforts to develop practices and policies that enhance recruitment, high levels of achievement, and degree receipt for students of color. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Degrees, Doctors, and Psychologists.

While Fields' letter in the December 1955 American Psychologist is informative and significant, it makes some errors which should be corrected, and further fails to touch on a number of pertinent problems. It is unfortunate that the public, as well as official agencies such as the House Committee on the Armed Services, misapply the title "Doctor" making it, as would appear, identical with the MD. The title "Doctor" has historic academic significance stemming from middle English, after the Latin doctorem, a teacher or instructor who inculcates learning, opinions or principles (Onions, C. T. Oxford Universal English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1937). Thus "Doctor" is, and has been, a degree applied to sundry branches of academic learning, presumably a certificate of the highest proficiency in a subject. The title "physician," contrary to the statement of Dr. Fields, is not for the exclusive use of the doctor of medicine, either historically or contemporaneously. From the legal standpoint, or the standpoint of training, a number of people in the healing arts aside from the doctor of medicine are entitled to the use of the title "physician." Certainly the psychologist must be made aware of the status of other professional people in the healing arts aside from the doctor of medicine. Whether their philosophical position is acceptable to him or not, many of these practitioners are formally trained and hold legal rights to practice. In terms of ethical problems, incidents may arise of an unpleasant interprofessional nature due to the psychologist's ignorance of the training and legal status of other healing professions: such an incident was reported within the past two years, in which a chiropractor having appropriate undergraduate work was barred from a graduate course in psychology on the basis of his chiropractic affiliation. A lack of understanding of the functions and qualifications of other professional groups is unfortunate in terms of interprofessional relations, and the ultimate status of psychology itself in its therapeutic aspect. Probably the big problem is recognition of the new professional role which psychology is assuming, a role which demands standardization of curriculum and perhaps the development of a doctorate in medical psychology, as suggested by L. S. Kubie (1954). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Starke Rosecrans Hathaway (1903–1984).

Presents an obituary for Starke Rosecrans Hathaway. Hathaway obtained both his undergraduate and master's level training with James P. Porter at Ohio University in Athens. He earned his undergraduate degree in psychology in 1927 and his master's degree in 1928. Porter persuaded him to remain in Athens as an instructor in psychology and physiology; by 1929 he held the rank of assistant professor. Hathaway's original interests in engineering persisted; he perfected and marketed a chronoscope, a psychogalvanometer, and electrical stimulation and recording devices for the study of neural processes. It is interesting to recall that one of the first uses to which Hathaway had put his psychogalvanometer was as a lie detector in helping police in Athens to solve a murder case. Hathaway's contributions to clinical psychology were recognized at the national level by the APA's Division of Clinical Psychology, which conferred its Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award in 1959 and elected him as its president in 1963. Elected to Sigma Xi and Phi Beta Kappa, an ABPP diplomate in clinical psychology, he was awarded honorary doctorates by Ohio University in 1966 and by Ohio State University in 1972. His honors were capped in 1977 when the APA conferred its award for Distinguished Contribution for Applications in Psychology. Hathaway retired from the University of Minnesota in 1971. He died at his home in Minneapolis on July 4, 1984. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Aren't We Forgetting Something?--A Note on Psychology Via TV.

The appearance of psychologists before the TV cameras to bring psychology more realistically to the public is encouraging. The public has certainly deserved a less dramatized, less spectacular version of the work done by psychologists than that presented by newspapers and other popular publications. It is good to note also, in the data reported by Stromberg (Amer. Psychologist, 1952, 7, 507-509) and by Husband (Amer. Psychologist, 1954, 9, 181-183), that the quality of this TV instruction is such that students taught by this means seem to get at least as much factual information as do those who sit in on conventional lectures. But the reports of these TV experiments leave this writer cold. In being concerned only with the transmission of facts, these reports describe an educational technique which seems rather barren, The technique described recalls to mind the image of the children in Aldous Huxley's Brave New World receiving their sterile education via standardized recorded lectures. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychology in Mexico.

Describes the growth and changes that have occurred in the development of psychology in Mexico since 1964. Universities offering training in psychology have increased from 5-20. The orientation which had previously been strictly psychoanalytic and philosophical is now including experimental and applied psychology, based on a behavioral orientation. The University of Veracruz is initiating behaviorally oriented research programs and an international invitation exchange program. It is hoped that this program will eventually lead to graduate programs for the MA and PhD degrees since a "Psychologist" degree, which is earned in a 5-yr program, has been the only one previously offered. The University has recently instituted a program giving partial financial support to those who wish to study abroad for advanced degrees. A Mexican Psychological Society has been formed with the aim of publishing the 1st Mexican journal of psychological research as soon as possible. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Psychology applied to human affairs.

Reviews the book "Psychology applied to human affairs," edited by J. Stanley Gray (see record 1954-06668-000). Like its predecessor published in 1946, this revised edition is contributed to by specialists in various fields. While chapter titles and sequence have changed, the only new topical area covered is job evaluation. The literature coverage seems to extend through 1950, judging from end-of-chapter references. This edition, too, is designed as an undergraduate textbook for the second semester course where the curriculum provides a first semester general psychology offering followed by a course in "applied." The book has an admirable continuity and lucidity of style notwithstanding its multiple authorship. Further, pertinent cross-referencing between chapters contributes to the cohesiveness of the subject matter presented. A molar reaction may be of interest. Haven't we grown beyond the single course in applied psychology? What does the undergraduate gain from the cursory, perhaps even perfunctory, ramble which furnishes him nibbles of personal efficiency, psychology of learning, clinical applications, work and efficiency, selling and advertising, etc.? If such a course still has a place in our curriculum Gray's book will structure the trip and furnish a brief view of each station en route. In summary, the book is recommended in undergraduate applied psychology classes who is prepared to supplement it with a structure of underlying theories and principles. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Subdoctoral Psychologists.

Comments on P. J. Woods' article on APA's concern with the Master's degree in psychology (American Psychologist, 1971, 26, 696-707). The present author suggests that before many more hours are expended in deciding whether subdoctoral psychologists should be called psychologists, the assumption that clinical practitioners holding a doctorate in psychology are better equipped than those trained at the master's level should be demonstrated. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)