Evaluation of United States of America psychology by the "four-years-absent" method.

Criticisms are leveled at psychology in the United States: (a) psychology, both as a discipline and as a profession is vague; (b) psychology lacks goals; (c) psychology is fragmented—the specialities are isolated from each other with little effective inter-communication; (d) psychology appears to be angry—the profession lacks harmony; (e) psychology is insecure—we have a status problem; (f) psychologists suffer from inbreeding—their views are often narrow; (g) psychology lacks tradition; (h) psychology has no modern heroes; and (i) psychologists have surrendered—not only do we lack a concept of self, but "we do not seem to seek one within the framework of our profession." Remedies are suggested. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Counseling psychology in clinical health psychology: The impact of specialty perspective.

Not all clinical health psychologists are trained as clinical psychologists. A significant minority is trained and identifies as counseling psychologists. As a field, it is important to understand how the specialty-specific values, training context, scholarship, and parameters of practice of counseling psychology contribute to clinical health psychology. In this article, we (a) identify the core values and training context of counseling psychology, (b) review the scholarly history of clinical health psychology by counseling psychologists, (c) present the parameters of practice of clinical health psychology as identified from the extant counseling psychology literature, and (d) examine American Psychological Association membership status to investigate joint membership in the Division of Health Psychology and the Society of Counseling Psychology. Conclusions indicate that (a) an identifiable set of core values guides the training of counseling psychologists, (b) scholarly literature by counseling psychologists has contributed to the growth and development of clinical health psychology, and (c) parameters of practice reflect the specialty-specific perspective of counseling psychology. As professional psychology continues to grow as a health care profession, clinical health psychology will benefit from the knowledge, values, attitudes, competencies, and practice parameters of counseling psychology, and counseling psychology will benefit from recognizing what it brings to the practice of clinical health psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

The current impact of Freud upon psychology.

The impact of Freud's ideas on contemporary psychology are evaluated for several subfields on a scale of from 0 (none) to 6 (very great). Physiological psychology and intelligence are rated 0; learning, thinking, perception, comparative psychology and vocational psychology 1; drive, feeling and emotion, memory, child and adolescent psychology 2; social psychology and industrial psychology 3; imagination 4; abnormal psychology 5; clinical psychology and personality 6. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychology applied to education: A specialty in search of an identity.

Proposes that a revision of doctoral school psychology be considered within the American Psychological Association that better meets standards for specialty status in professional psychology. School psychology as it currently exists has become a nondoctoral profession of a highly applied nature that is not really a product of psychology. A new professional specialty concerned with the application of psychology to education should be commensurate with accepted goals of professional psychology education and practice and meet at least 3 additional requirements: movement from concern for schools to concern for schooling, greater emphasis on an educational orientation than on mental health, and greater reliance on educational psychology as the knowledge base for professional practice. What is presently called school psychology is moving toward a doctoral specialization that is trying to decrease the gap between assessment and intervention. An impetus for this movement has been the use of behavioral psychology in educational settings. Educational psychology has expanded due to the development of cognitive psychology and decreased reliance on the laws of learning. (97 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Counseling psychology, clinical psychology, and human services psychology: Where the twain shall meet?

Comments on the proposal by L. H. Levy et al (see record 1984-27507-001) for a new charter for clinical psychology—human services psychology. Current trends suggest that both clinical and counseling psychology are becoming eclectic and health oriented. Clinical psychology appears to be becoming more involved in community psychology and to be tempering its remedial role with the preventive role. Counseling psychology appears to be becoming less involved in its vocational and preventive roles and more involved in the remedial role. It is concluded that clinical and counseling psychology have come to be increasingly similar and could be integrated into a human services psychology. (38 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Applied social psychology: A partial response to Sarason's suggested divorce.

S. B. Sarason (see record 1977-06620-001) has recently called for a divorce of community psychology from clinical psychology and community mental health, and has proposed as an alternative a loose confederation among community psychology, ecological psychology, and the social sciences. Sarason's rejection of social psychology as having little to offer community psychology is countered by a call for the rejuvenation and full development of applied social psychology, involving a creative integration of theory, research, and practice at all levels of human social functioning. Examples of useful concepts, research, and practice skills are given for 8 levels of interaction, and the advantages of approaching the community from an applied social psychology perspective are made clear. (French summary) (44 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Prominent schools or other active specialties? A fresh look at some trends in psychology.

Past studies investigating trends in psychology have reported some conflicting and surprising results. This article critiques and reevaluates these reports, with a particular focus on those related to the cognitive revolution and the place of neuroscience in psychology. Based on a wide variety of indicators, the following trends are demonstrated: (a) Although cognitive psychology has grown in importance, it has not come to dominate psychology; (b) contrary to prior findings, attention to neuroscience in psychology has grown in a pattern similar to that of cognitive psychology; and (c) there are many signs that cognitive neuroscience is in the process of emergence. Trends are interpreted in light of the argument that psychology is a disunified discipline allowing for many different interests, schools, and approaches. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Clinical psychology seen some 50 years later.

Important developmental aspects of the history of clinical psychology over the past 50 yrs are considered, beginning with the author's own early Jamesian orientation toward viewing psychology (experimental and clinical) as a unity. Several reports influencing the development of clinical training in psychology are described, including the 1945 report of the Subcommittee on Graduate Internship Training to the Committees of the American Psychological Association (APA) and the American Association for Applied Psychology, "Recommended Graduate Training in Clinical Psychology," written in 1947 by the Committee on Training in Clinical Psychology, and that committee's subsequent progress reports written in 1948 and 1949. A report by F. H. Sanford to the APA Committee on Relations between Psychology and the Medical Profession, with its 13 aspirations of psychology, is seen to provide the basic principles guiding the relationship between psychology and other professions and a code of ethics still governing the present field of psychology. In summary, several pleas are directed at departments of psychology, divisions of psychology, and clinical psychology students to improve the effectiveness, validity, and standards of clinical training programs and to clarify the issues within clinical psychology and between different fields of psychology. (36 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Rehabilitation psychology: We zigged when we should have zagged.

Rehabilitation psychology is more broadly based than we historically have acknowledged. Rehabilitation psychology should be viewed as the application of psychological constructs and principles to the care of individuals with chronic health conditions that are often, but not necessarily, disabling. In addition, the type of care provided by rehabilitation psychology constitutes a primary care psychology. Primary care psychology has a distinct focus on the care of individuals with chronic conditions. Four issues important to understanding rehabilitation psychology's development and future are reviewed: (a) the factors that have driven the growth of rehabilitation, (b) future trends that will shape the development of rehabilitation, (c) the implications of the emergence of "organized delivery systems" for rehabilitation, and (d) the visibility of rehabilitation psychology as a model for primary care psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychology at Windsor.

The development of academic psychology at the University of Windsor is traced through four stages: (1) psychology within the realm of philosophy (1857-1943), (2) the beginning of modern psychology (1944-1955), (3) psychology comes of age (1956-1962), and (4) the growth of branches (1963- ). It is observed that this growth of psychology parallels the growth of the institution from a Roman Catholic junior college to a provincial university. Implications for the history of psychology in Canada as well as other countries are also considered. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Introduction to community psychology in Canada: Past, present, and future.

The introduction to the special section on community psychology in Canada provides background information about the field in Canada and provides summaries of the four articles and the commentary that comprise the issue. The articles address (a) theory, research, and practice in community psychology; (b) training in community psychology; (c) community psychology practice; and (d) a vision for the future of community psychology in Canada. These articles highlight the many contributions of Canadian community psychologists to a field that is growing throughout the world to address pressing social problems. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Iowa tradition.

Psychology at the University of Iowa began in 1887, when George R. W. Patrick started a psychology laboratory. Since its inception, Iowa psychology has passed through four stages, each with a distinctive emphasis: (a) the establishment of psychology as an independent discipline, (b) the development of psychology as an experimental science, based on natural science methodology, designed to yield reliable knowledge, (c) the formulation of a comprehensive theory, and (d) the current reorientation designed to benefit from the lessons of the past. The Iowa tradition in psychology, most indebted to the efforts and achievements of Carl E. Seashore and Kenneth W. Spence, represents the strivings for a synergistic relationship between experimental and applied psychology, a close and intimate bond between research and comprehensive theorizing, and a continuing methodological clarification of psychology. In line with the tradition of methodological surveillance, some of the major trends of Iowa psychology, during its third stage, are assessed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Darwinian theory, functionalism, and the first American psychological revolution.

American functionalist psychology constituted an effort to model scientific psychology on the successes of English evolutionary theory. In part it was a response to the stagnation of Wundt's psychological research program, which had been grounded in German experimental physiology. In part it was an attempt to make psychology more appealing within the highly pragmatic American context and to facilitate the application of psychology to domains outside of the scientific laboratory. Applications of psychology that emerged from the functionalist ethos included child and developmental psychology, clinical psychology, psychological testing, and industrial/vocational psychology. Functionalism was also the ground within which behaviorism rooted and grew into the dominant form of psychology through the middle of the 20th century. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Theoretical psychology: Subdiscipline or metadiscipline?

Comments on the article by B. D. Slife and R. N. Williams (see record 84-17550) concerning theoretical psychology as a subdiscipline of psychology. Considerations that may add to continuing positive discourse concerning a theoretical subdiscipline are presented. It is believed that efforts to avoid the development of any gulf between theoretical psychology and other areas of psychology should be given high priority in future discourse concerning the development of a subdiscipline of theoretical psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A decade of psychological publications relevant to Greece: Reflections on the state of Greek psychology.

Reviews the literature on the state of Greek psychology, classifying the publications listed in Psychological Abstracts from 1973 to 1983 into the following 4 major areas: clinical psychology, child psychology, social psychology, and psychohistoric psychology. It is concluded that the low number of psychological publications reflects the lethargic state of Greek psychology. It is argued that the lack of research in academic psychology is to a great degree responsible for the inadequate provision of efficient services, such as modernized basic education, mental health care, and social work in Greece. (8 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An empirical analysis of trends in psychology.

The present research examined trends in the prominence of 4 widely recognized schools in scientific psychology: psychoanalysis, behaviorism, cognitive psychology, and neuroscience. The results, which replicated across 3 measures of prominence, showed the following trends: (a) psychoanalytic research has been virtually ignored by mainstream scientific psychology over the past several decades; (b) behavioral psychology has declined in prominence and gave way to the ascension of cognitive psychology during the 1970s; (c) cognitive psychology has sustained a steady upward trajectory and continues to be the most prominent school; and (d) neuroscience has seen only a modest increase in prominence in mainstream psychology, despite evidence for its conspicuous growth in general. The authors use these findings as springboard for discussing different views of scientific prominence and conclude that psychologists should evaluate trends in the field empirically, not intuitively. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

What Is a Psychologist?

Comments on I. McCollom's original article (see record 1972-21933-001) which examined the reading preferences of psychology students. This author states that in contrasting contrasting general interest psychology with academic psychology, the original article strikes a common truth: that students' innate interests in psychology often go unmet due to the rigors and technicalities of academic psychology. Although less appealing and lacking in consensus, the "good" psychology of the classroom has the support of a few academicians, each sharing a common goal of "psychologist." While "good" psychology may be less enticing, it continues not from popular demand but out of the complexities of defining the profession, psychology, and the professional psychologist. The current author hopes that this comment stimulates more academic support toward assisting students in becoming self-educative, creative individuals, and not stereotypes of whatever happens to be the current vogue. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Gardner Murphy's double-aspect psychology.

The present article is a sympathetic appraisal of Gardner Murphy's (1895–1979) "biosocial" psychology. Biosocial psychology is presented not as a personality theory but as one attempt to conceptualize the respective influences of heredity and environment on behavior. Murphy's use of the term biosocial is differentiated from that of A. P. Weiss (1930) and other theorists. For Murphy, biosocial psychology referred to a double-aspect monism in the tradition of Spinoza and William James and informed by the contributions of Herbert Spencer and the emerging post-Euclidean worldview of his own era. Canalization and other tenets of biosocial psychology are outlined and related to contemporary findings. Murphy's views are distinguished from postmodern psychology, cognitive-representational theories, evolutionary psychology, and interactionism. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Rehabilitation Psychology, Medical Psychology, Health Psychology, and Behavioral Medicine.

In their recent article, "The Distinctiveness of Rehabilitation Psychology," Shontz and Wright (see record 1981-26520-001) attempt to differentiate rehabilitation psychology from other areas of applied and professional psychology in health settings. Although the authors' historical recounting of early research and theory in rehabilitation psychology is informative, too little emphasis is placed on the relationship between rehabilitation psychology and "mainstream" professional psychology, particularly with regard to its health-setting applications. There appear to be more similarities than differences. The authors' argument runs full circle, namely, that rehabilitation psychology is distinct because of its philosophy, but its philosophy and "principles are valuable to psychologists in many specialties" (p. 919). The notion of involving a patient in his/her care and treatment planning also is not unique to rehabilitation psychology. Shontz and Wright state that rehabilitation psychology is not medical psychology; however, instead of defining medical psychology, they go on to talk about medical care. Medical care is not medical psychology. Further confusion is added by the statement that medical psychology should be a component of rehabilitation psychology. The authors are using medical psychology, health psychology, and behavioral medicine as if they are synonymous, when they are not. Each discipline is made distinct here. Shontz and Wright do not address what the majority of psychologists in rehabilitation do, that is, provide services. In short, although the authors complain about the unfamiliarity of rehabilitation psychology relative to the profession as a whole, their article does little to promote rehabilitation psychology as an area of interest important to professional psychologists in health care and/or rehabilitation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Toward a viable community health psychology: Caveats from the experiences of the community mental health movement.

Discusses opportunities and pitfalls in the development of a health psychology, with particular reference to the community mental health movement and community psychology. Health psychology in its preventive rather than curative aspects is stressed. Health psychology should adopt a community or public health perspective rather than an individual disease or individual treatment model. (7 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)