Protesting the Decline While Predicting the Demise of Clinical Psychology: Can We Avoid a Total Collapse?

The present article confronts several areas of concern that could undermine the integrity of clinical psychology. A critical review is provided in the hopes of pushing for change, primarily in the way that academic clinical psychologists conduct their work. Six standards are proposed toward which all members of the clinical psychology faculty should aspire. First, it is important for clinical psychologists to integrate the science and practice of psychology. Second, the training and supervision of all applied skills in clinical psychology assumes that the instructor has remained active in the front-lines delivery of clinical services. Third, it is important to conduct research on clinical samples, striving to understand the mind of patients who are struggling with mental illness. Fourth, it is helpful to retain a modest and flexible view about the potential benefits derived from empirically supported treatments. Fifth, even when accepting a bio-psycho-social model, psychologists should maintain a dominant focus on psychological factors. Sixth, ethical issues pervade many aspects of a professor’s work, and it is important to avoid dual relationships that could impair objectivity and professionalism. If these six standards are widely adopted, clinical psychology can remain a strong and vibrant field.     

Establishing linkages through international psychology: dealing with universalities and uniquenesses

This article chronicles one individual's personal odyssey toward becoming an international psychologist--and hopefully a citizen of a professional world that has no geographic borders. It is written as a narrative that is divided into chronological stages and several domains of professional activities. From each period, the main observations and lessons learned are extrapolated. It is hoped that readers who are interested in teaching, conducting workshops, and doing clinical work or research in other countries will find some of the personal reflections and professional ideas presented to be thought provoking and useful in the development of guiding principles in international psychology.     

The Unheard Cry of a Successful Asian Psychologist

Abstract

This paper addresses the important issues of making it as an Asian psychologist in an overwhelmingly white academic field. Based on my professional and personal struggle to achieve success as a psychologist in both academia and clinical practice, I want to (a) expose the naked truth of being an Asian psychologist within a white academic field with regard to racial trauma, careerism, and expediency; (b) chart a course of maintaining personal and ethnic authenticity in truth-seeking in spite of all the visible and invisible obstacles in a foreign country; and (c) propose ways to fully recognize indigenous psychology and integrate Asian minorities in mainstream psychology.     

Clinical Expertise: A Preliminary Attempt to Clarify Its Core Elements

The recent emphasis on evidence-based practice revolves around an integration of three domains: client characteristics, relevant research, and clinical expertise. Unfortunately, most reports focus on the examination of current research, while few guidelines exist for clarifying or developing expertise in clinical psychology. Although expertise is more advanced than competence, basic clinical competence can set the foundation for the development of more sophisticated skills. It is best to strive for narrow domains of expertise instead of global ratings of a professional as an “expert”. Five criteria are proposed for evaluating, developing, and maintaining clinical expertise: (1) the professional must possess a terminal degree in the field, (2) the professional has accumulated multiple years of clinical experience in the direct provision of clinical assessment, psychological testing, or psychological treatment, (3) the professional has attained advanced credentials in a specific area of psychology, (4) the professional is visible in the professional community at a national level, and (5) the professional has demonstrated evidence of superior clinical skills in a specific application of psychology. Together, these five criteria help to objectify the evaluation and cultivation of clinical expertise in psychology. Because each criterion is weak and flawed if used alone, it is recommended that multiple criteria are used in combination to define clinical expertise.     

Interactivism: A manifesto

The interactivist model has grown over the last several decades from a narrower initial beginning into an evolving systematic theory and underlying philosophy. It has been induced to do so because the underlying assumptions that framed the beginnings of the model were fundamentally different from those that are dominant throughout psychology, cognitive science, and philosophy. Consequently, the model faced multiple instances of attempting to integrate with literature in neighboring fields, discovering that such integration was not possible because the basic assumptions were not compatible, and having to either give up on the model thus far constructed, or else extend it in a way consistent with those assumptions into those neighboring (and foundational) domains. This manifesto outlines the resultant interactivist framework, presents some of the arguments for its underlying assumptions, and argues that these avoid problems that are fatal for many standard approaches in the literature.     

Comment évaluer les compétences clés dans le domaine professionnel ?

The article attempts to clarify the question of defining and evaluating key competencies in the professional domain, by reviewing existing literature in the domains of cognitive differential psychology, psychometrics and industrial and organisational psychology. A hierarchical model of competencies is favoured, in which the key competencies are general across professional situations and transferable from one situation to another. The different methods of evaluating key competencies are reviewed. Particular attention is paid to the validity of assessment centres and intelligence tests. The crucial role of general intelligence, depending on the complexity of professional tasks, is demonstrated through an analysis of professional profiles. We review writings on the psychology of intelligence in order to show the importance of the g factor as principle predictor of work performance and the acquisition of key competencies. Finally, the judicious combination of different validated and economical psychometric tools is proposed as the most effective and equitable solution for evaluating key competencies in the three paradigmatic social situations which require it: vocational orientation, recruitment of personnel and access to continuing training.     

Ten Criteria to Qualify As a Scientist-Practitioner in Clinical Psychology: An Immodest Proposal for Objective Standards

The term ‘scientist-practitioner’ has never been defined in clear or objective terminology. Detailed criteria may help to guide new generations of clinical psychologists to live by the ideals of the Boulder model. Ten criteria are proposed for evaluating the scientist-practitioner in clinical psychology across three domains: scholarship, clinical practice, and the integration of science and practice in psychology. The scientist-practitioner remains active in scholarly works, making regular contributions to the field. These contributions are visible at a national level of impact, and they extend beyond teaching. The scientist-practitioner remains active in the clinical practice of psychology, conducting face-to-face work with clients on regular basis, even if it involves a rather modest time commitment. The clinical services reflect standard clinical practices and extend beyond the supervision of others. The scientist-practitioner strives to integrate the science and practice of psychology. This integration centers around evidence-based practice, and can be seen when scholarship examines issues relevant to mental illness and its treatment.     

Personality at the hub: Extending the conception of personality psychology

Personality psychology has a focus on understanding the functioning of the person as a whole, and is thus located at the hub of the other sub-disciplines of psychology and related sciences devoted to the study of human nature. As such, personality is well situated to integrate work emerging from different levels of analysis related to the distinctive organization and operation of psychological processes that characterize individuals. Personality psychology can have an exciting future to the extent that it can cross arbitrary lines of sub-disciplines, and connect with relevant interdisciplinary work devoted to understanding psychological phenomena, regardless of traditional boundaries. Several important areas of connection are highlighted, including links to social psychology, biology, and psychopathology, but trying to set priorities in terms of substantive areas for the field seems a futile exercise. Also discussed is the pressing need to find the most fruitful levels of abstraction at which to conceptualize our constructs to maximize their yield.     

The affirmation of the scientist-practitioner. A look back at Boulder

In the aftermath of World War II, several influences were paramount in forcing academic psychology to recognize, albeit reluctantly, the coming professionalization of psychology. The federal government, wishing to avoid a repeat of blunders following World War I that led to significant dissatisfaction among veterans, took proactive steps to ensure that mental health needs of the new veterans would be met. The USPHS and the VA were mandated to expand significantly the pool of mental health practitioners, a direction that led not only to the funding of the Boulder conference but also to the development of APA's accreditation program, funded practical and internship arrangements with the VA, and the USPHS grants to academic departments for clinical training. The GI Bill, amended to include payment for graduate education, created tremendous interest in graduate programs in psychology. As a result, psychology programs were inundated with funded applicants, most of whom were interested in the application of psychology to clinical and other applied fields. Graduate psychology departments were mixed in their views of this "blessing." The reality of a separate curriculum for professional training in psychology was a bitter pill for some academic psychologists to swallow. Graduate departments feared that control of their programs would be taken over by external forces and that they would lose their right to determine their own curriculum. Further, they feared the domination of clinical training within their own departments and the effects of such educational emphasis on their traditional experimental programs. The Boulder conference brought together these disparate needs and concerns, although one can argue about how well some points of view were represented with respect to others. It was a time of high anticipation and fear. The conference could easily have ended in failure, with such diverse interests being unable to reach any consensus. There are many letters in the correspondence of committee members that suggest disagreements serious enough to prevent the development of any single model of training. Instead, by most yardsticks that one could apply, the conference succeeded, perhaps beyond the dreams of many of those in attendance who were most invested in a model for professional training. In evaluating the legacy of Boulder, several points are apparent. First, the conference succeeded because 73 individuals were able to agree to some 70 resolutions in 15 days, creating the scientist-practitioner model of professional training. Such consensus was arguably a remarkable achievement. The endorsement of the model by academic units followed with little evident resistance, although it is clear that some Boulder-model programs were developed that bore little resemblance to the model's insistence on significant training in both research and practice. Second, as a response to social and political needs, the conference was clearly a success. The cooperation of the APA, the USPHS, and the VA benefited all three entities. Clinical psychology was given the financial support and backing to advance it as a profession, and the federal government was able to begin the process of securing the personnel needed to address the mental health needs of the nation. The architects of Boulder were clear that their vision of training for professional psychology should be viewed as dynamic and experimental rather than fixed and prescribed. Certainly there are several variants of professional training extant today, yet the overwhelming majority of currently accredited programs in psychology label themselves as "Boulder-model" programs or "scientist-practitioner" programs. Still, new national conferences on professional training in psychology occur with some regularity as participants seek to resolve many of the same concerns debated by those at Boulder. The grand experiment goes on.     

文本阅读中协调性整合的发生机制

采用移动窗口技术和自我报告法探讨了文本阅读中协调性整合发生的具体机制。被试为华南师范大学本科生114名。实验1通过分析不同条件下目标句的阅读时间探讨当前信息跟先前信息只有语义相关上的局部不一致但没有事件相关时能否发生协调性整合。实验2通过分析不同条件下探测词的反应时间探讨文本阅读过程中单纯语义相关没有事件相关时,目标句阅读是否会自动激活跟其有关的背景信息。实验3通过分析不同条件下目标句的阅读时间和被试的自我报告指标探讨协调性整合是否是一种自动化的过程,即探讨被试在文本阅读过程中能否意识到这种信息整合方式。总的实验结果表明,文本阅读中当前信息跟先前信息有语义相关时可以引发信息激活,但只有当前信息跟先前信息有事件相关时才会发生信息整合;另外,协调性整合是一种自动化的过程,读者在文本阅读过程中不能意识到这种信息整合方式的发生     

The self-regulation of automatic associations and behavioral impulses

The distinction between automatic processes and controlled processes is a central organizational theme across areas of psychology. However, this dichotomy conceals important differences among qualitatively different processes that independently contribute to ongoing behavior. The Quadruple process model is a multinomial model that provides quantitative estimates of 4 distinct processes in a single task: the likelihood that an automatic response tendency is activated; the likelihood that a contextually appropriate response can be determined; the likelihood that automatic response tendencies are overcome when necessary; and the likelihood that in the absence of other information, behavior is driven by a general response bias. The model integrates dual-process models from many domains of inquiry and offers a generalized, more nuanced framework of impulse regulation across these domains. The model offers insights into many central questions surrounding the operation and the interaction of automatic and controlled processes. Applications of the model to empirical and theoretical concerns in a variety of areas of psychology are discussed.     

Future Issues in Pediatric Psychology: Delphic Survey

Using a Delphic poll procedure, we surveyed pediatric psychologists who were established in either clinical practice or empirical research in pediatric psychology. Three rounds of expert responses were logically combined in order to identify domains of importance to the future of pediatric psychology and to determine to what extent research and clinical aims concur. Overall, researchers and clinicians did not differ in the types of issues deemed important to the field. The top three domains for the next decade are concerned with pediatric psychology's ability to demonstrate viability, to integrate psychologists into primary care settings, and to demonstrate need for changes in reimbursement systems within managed care. Implications of the ten priority issues are discussed.     

Political Activism and Research Ethics

Those who care about and engage in politics frequently fall victim to cognitive bias. Concerns that such bias impacts scholarship recently have prompted debates – notably, in philosophy and psychology – on the proper relationship between research and politics. One proposal emerging from these debates is that researchers studying politics have a professional duty to avoid political activism because it risks biasing their work. While sympathetic to the motivations behind this proposal, I suggest several reasons to reject a blanket duty to avoid activism: (1) even if it reduced bias, this duty would make unreasonable demands on researchers; (2) this duty could hinder research by limiting viewpoint diversity; (3) this duty wrongly implies that academia offers a relative haven from bias compared to politics; and (4) not all forms of political activism pose an equal risk of bias. None of these points suggest that researchers should ignore the risk of bias. Rather, researchers should focus on stronger evidence-based strategies for reducing bias than a blanket recommendation to avoid politics.     

Graduate trends for one marriage and family therapy program in an interdisciplinary setting

This research compared trends from 1981 to 1993 in several mental health professional training programs at the University of Houston Clear Lake, surveying graduates from three professional mental health master's programs—clinical psychology, school psychology, and family therapy—with the goal of identifying trends in the status of their professional credentialing and current employment. Four mental health groups have attained licensure since a 1981 survey, resulting in graduates now seeking professional licenses and perform psychotherapy more exclusively than other mental health activities. Interdisciplinary training has become increasingly important due to the introduction of managed care and other insurance regulating entities.     

President's Award for Significant Contributions to Psychology

The contributions upon which this award was based were made primarily in two domains, one local and the other international. The former had two aspects, one comprised research and teaching, and the other, through being Treasurer and then President of the Australian Psychological Society, was directed at building a strong and viable Society, financially, collegiately, and professionally. The second domain of involvement resulted in holding the posts of Secretary General and then President of the International Association of Applied Psychology in which, among other things, an underlying interest was in strengthening and deepening the participation of Australian psychologists in the activities of the Association. Due progressively to the efforts of many this has led to a range of major outcomes including an increasing membership of Australian psychologists in both the Association and its Board of Directors, their increasing participation in the Association's congresses, and in the Society being granted the right for the first time to host an International Congress of Applied Psychology (the 2010 ICAP in Melbourne). Collectively the benefits for Australian psychology have been many. These include raising the profile of Australian psychology internationally, giving Australia a voice in the governance of international psychology, and working towards Australian psychology contributing to mainstream psychological theory and practice. One of the distinguishing characteristics of the discipline of psychology is that it is both scientifically and professionally oriented, and while the balance between the two may vary from one organisation to another their interdependence is a necessity. Because all national societies and international associations of psychology are children of the discipline the affinity is natural, yet while this may be so the connection needs to be actively maintained to prevent it withering, to the detriment of both. Thus, in keeping with tradition, while this article will outline the major contributions upon which the award was made, its primary focus is the nature and imperative of the relationship between science and professional practice, and this will be a recurring theme in each of the following principal sections dealing with research and teaching, the Australian Psychological Society (APS), the International Association of Applied Psychology (IAAP), the 2010 International Congress of Applied Psychology (ICAP), and mainstream psychology.     

Using the Horizontal/Vertical Distinction to Advance Insights Into Consumer Psychology

This commentary aims to build on Shavitt, Lalwani, Zhang, and Torelli's (2006) target article and extant work that demonstrates the value added by considering people's vertical or horizontal orientation. I suggest several ways by which one might attempt to advance literature concerning the horizontal/vertical distinction as well as our understanding of consumer psychology. In particular, I offer ideas about how pertinent methodological concerns might be addressed, how this stream of work may help predict certain consumer activities or interests, and some ways by which this body of literature can be applied to other domains of inquiry. Hopefully, such ideas and suggestions will prompt further inquiry into this fertile area of research.     

Professional education of psychologists using online problem‐based learning methods: Experience at Charles Sturt University

Abstract: Problem‐based learning (PBL) is a pedagogical approach to professional training that emphasises the development of clinical reasoning skills and self‐directed learning. In contrast to more traditional lecture‐based approaches that focus upon the linear acquisition of course content, PBL is undertaken in the context of actual case presentations. Although PBL has been adopted widely in the professional training of medical practitioners and nurses, it is only just beginning to be used in the professional education of psychologists. This paper examines the nature and benefits of PBL for education in clinical and forensic psychology by outlining its implementation and development at Charles Sturt University, located in a rural area of Australia. Although a full and independent evaluation of PBL for education in clinical or forensic psychology is yet to be undertaken, this paper argues that PBL can make a significant contribution to professional training in psychology.     

A reassessment of psychoanalytic education: Controversies and changes2

To understand the many controversies surrounding psychoanalytic education, it is necessary first to understand the unique role played by education in our field where control of educational structures remains the most important measure of professional success for the majority of psychoanalysts. To keep debate about educational policy focused on the task of strengthening the intellectual basis of psychoanalysis, it is also necessary to understand that forces affecting education arise from at least three different domains which can too easily become confused with one another: 1) the domain of knowledge‐ intellectual, scientific and clinical; 2) the domain of the organized professional community; and 3) the domain of local institutional politics. The authors explore controversy arising within and among each of these domains. They also explore the major alternatives proposed to the Eitingon model of psychoanalytic education, arguing that excessive authoritarianism in education arises not from the existence of hierarchical structures per se (as suggested by the ‘French model’), but from two other factors: the condensation of all important professional functions into the single ‘monolithic’ position of the training analyst, and the lack of agreed upon methodology for determining the validity of theoretical propositions. The solution lies not in obliterating all gaps in expertise and status by doing away with hierarchical structures altogether, but rather in strengthening the intellectual, scholarly and research context within which psychoanalytic education takes place. We must attempt to relocate our experience of a gap where it belongs: not between those who are training analysts and those who are not, but between what we feel we already know about mental life and what we do not yet know.     

The Credentialing of Professional Psychologists and Its Implication for the Other Mental Health Disciplines

Professional psychology was the first mental health profession to challenge the preeminence of psychiatry and in so doing blazed the trail for clinical social workers, mental health counselors, marriage and family therapists, and addiction counselors. Social work has followed one decade behind psychology's footsteps, and the other rapidly emerging mental health professions are not too far behind social work. This article reviews the lessons learned by professional psychology when it adopted the strategy of statutory regulation, freedom of choice, control of its own training and of its national organization, and future strategies for Medicare and eventually for the enactment of universal health care. These lessons are important to the professions following psychology.