Browse

Along with other professions, psychology engages in accreditation, a system of quality assurance to evaluate the various aspects of educating a professional psychologist. Accreditation builds on a program’s ongoing strategies of self-study and change, with the addition of a formal review that includes an on-site evaluation of the program by faculty peers from other institutions. Both site visitors and the Commission on Accreditation judge the program’s ongoing adherence to a set of standards regarding necessary content, processes, and policies. In psychology, accreditation is available for programs of study that result in the PhD and PsyD degree, for year-long internships that precede the granting of the doctoral degree, and for one or two year postdoctoral fellowships or residencies. This chapter describes the history of accreditation, outlines the current system, documents various external influences on accreditation, and considers several challenges to be met in the future.

Hypnosis researchers, in their continuing struggle for scientific recognition, have always been concerned about methodological techniques to convince people about the genuineness of hypnotic effects; this has been considered as a fundamental problem as hypnosis is essentially a private experience. However, this article states, the ongoing need for hypnosis researchers to be meticulous about methodology has contributed to the development of rigorous hypnotic paradigms that are consistent with contemporary scientific methods and that have both influenced and been influenced by the broader discipline of psychology. This chapter focuses on a range of experimental techniques as opposed to clinical methods. It presents some core concepts associated with hypnosis research and describes foundational research that addresses the evolving concepts. Apart from reviewing areas of current research that illustrate the core concepts in research, the article also discusses new techniques and identifies major challenges for future research in the field.

Philosophical issues with respect to anxiety and its pathological variants arise at the border between everyday and clinical understanding of anxiety, between clinical and scientific approaches and between scientific concepts and the philosophical frameworks they refer to. These four ways of understanding can be seen as epistemic levels that point at different aspects and qualities of anxiety. After a brief historical introduction the three interfaces will be discussed. Philosophical questions at the interface between the first two levels (everyday understanding and clinical knowledge) relate to the issue of where to draw the boundary between normal and pathological manifestations of anxiety and of how to balance the medical view with everyday understandings of anxiety. At the interface between clinical and scientific approaches, the question arises whether scientific theories and models are adequate, more particularly, which aspects of the clinical picture can be explained by scientific theories and concepts. The third interface, between scientific concepts and the philosophical frameworks they presuppose, is the origin of debates about what belongs to science and what should be regarded as meta-theoretical or paradigmatic. To what extent does a particular scientific concept stand on its own and to what extent does it borrow from pre-theoretical and/or philosophical views?

The 2002 Code of Ethics for Psychologists Working in Aotearoa/New Zealand marked a major departure from its predecessor and from codes of other jurisdictions. Following the lead of the Canadian Psychological Association, an aspirational model was adopted in which guidance for ethical decision making is directly related to broad principles and related values. The code explicitly admitted the views of Māori, the indigenous people of New Zealand. As a consequence it reflects a bicultural perspective, including a shift away from an individualized conception of people and their behavior to a stronger acknowledgement of the role of community and culture in people's lives. The social and political influences on the development of this code are described.

This historical overview of aphasia represents the evolution in thought that has occurred over more than a century of studies of individuals with aphasia. The legacy of Broca and Wernicke live on in the syndromes that bear their names. We review the Wernicke–Lichtheim model that was used to predict several additional aphasia syndromes. We propose a model that encompasses modern perspectives on the Wernicke–Lichtheim models of aphasia. The aphasia syndromes that emanate from breakdown in that model also seem to be represented in recent studies of primary progressive aphasia. The framework continues to be an influential perspective for both theoretical and clinical activities to modern times.

Political and economic changes shape the development of societies in a process of dialectical feedback. Scientific and professional fields are also affected by these changes, and especially those fields that are strongly related to human sciences (Bourdieu, 1991 ). In this chapter, the influence of political matters in the development of professional psychologists’ associations in Argentina is considered. It establishes how those circumstances affected the legal status of psychology and the definition of professional competencies in the country. It also considers the particular situation of ethics codes that were being developed in the 1970s, and how the return of democracy impacted the course of action in the development of such codes in Argentina..

These comments focus on the Platonic-Aristotelian identification of mental health with virtue and mental illness with vice, which connects Plato and Aristotle directly to contemporary discussions arising out of Szasz and anti-psychiatry. It is argued that though one Aristotelian characterization of virtue-the rational adjustment of emotion (and by extension, other types of mental state) to cause and context-fits mental health exactly, Aristotle's account of mental illness as "disunity" may be questioned. First, some forms of "disunity" (such as Kleinian ambivalence) may actually be aspects of mental health. Secondly, some psychiatric disorders-notably some personality disorders-are more obviously related to vice and weak will, and therefore lie more obviously on a continuum with virtue, than others. It is also suggested that this limitation on the account of mental illness as "disunity" may have been intended by Aristotle himself.

Australian psychology has a relatively long history that mirrors the story of modern psychology in Europe and America. It was born of colonialism, and its institutional structure retains significant provincial features. The discipline had its roots in the British-style public universities in the major cites, spreading from this academic base into various applied fields. Educational and clinical psychologists spearheaded this diversification. Although independent practice has recently become more common among Australian clinicians, most nonacademic work has developed in various government programs and agencies. Teaching and research has come to refl ect an internationalist perspective, but some local and particular influences have still given it a home-grown flavor.

In order to understand the pathogenesis of autism, one needs to have an adequate framework within which to think about the nature of typical as well as atypical early human mental development. From a complementary perspective, the study of autism may challenge our ways of thinking about the mind itself. For example, are we justified in introducing divisions among cognition, conation, and affect in characterizing early development? What is the epistemological basis for children's understanding of others' minds? How should we think about the origins of and basis for symbolic functioning? This chapter explores the relevance of philosophy for our accounts of autism, highlighting the importance of ideas from Wittgenstein and Strawson in particular, and illustrates fresh ways in which autism might contribute to debates in philosophy of mind.

This chapter argues for a rapprochement between Heidegger and Freud to gain a more unified, comprehensive, and holistic account of the human condition. While doing so, it explores the impact of Heidegger's philosophy on existential analysis and therapy by considering his global critique of Freudian psychoanalysis, and more specifically Freud's concepts of the Unconscious and the body. After a brief synopsis of his philosophy and its relevance for existential analysis, the chapter delineates Heidegger's critique of Freud's unconscious and considers how Binswanger, Boss, and Richardson try to preserve Freud's insights within the context of Heidegger's philosophy. The exploratory process then leads us to see bodily being as pivotal for the development of a truly holistic account of human existence. The chapter argues that Heidegger's humanism and neglect of the ontological primordiality of bodily being ultimately led him to a dualism he ubiquitously fought to avoid.

This chapter examines so-called body image disorders, focusing on body dysmorphic disorder, anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating disorder. These disorders have been studied extensively by psychologists and psychiatrists from both the "body image" and "body shame" research orientations. Body image disorders have also proved, for feminist thinkers mindful of the gender imbalance in many of these disorders, to be an important locus for cultural criticism, including criticism of psychological and psychiatric perspectives. Those philosophers and anthropologists with a phenomenological bent, particularly those with an interest in the lived body and embodiment, have also found a fruitful terrain in body image disorders. These different disciplines and approaches provide multiple perspectives which are often complementary, occasionally in some tension with one another, but always mutually enriching, and all of them are sketched here.

Many psychiatric disorders involve problems with the recognition and preservation of personal boundaries. Philosophy can help to clarify what is at stake, both socially and phenomenologically, in drawing such boundaries. In particular, assignments of responsibility and determinations of loss are deeply implicated in the determination of personal boundaries. Understanding these implications can help make sense of the volatile emotions of borderline personality disorder, for example, and it can clarify what is missing from DSM descriptions more generally.

This chapter provides a broad overview of the history of psychology in Brazil from the first notions of psychological though in the country´s colonial period through the inception of scientific psychology in the late 19th and early 20th century, up to the consolidation of psychology as profession and scientific practice throughout the 20th century. Psychological ideas first arrived in Brazil through Jesuit clericals, who were in charge of the colony’s education from the 16th century to the middle of 18th century, when they were banned from the Portuguese Kingdom. Children of Native, European, and mixed ethnicity were in the same classes, and Jesuits assimilated the ideas of Native Brazilians about child development and education into their own propositions. Higher education was prohibited in the Portuguese colonies up to the 19th century. Brazilian nationals interested in pursuing academic degrees in law or medicine had to do so in Portugal or France, up to 1808, when the country´s first two Medical Schools were created. Throughout these schools, new European ideas about psychology arrived in Brazil. The school in Rio de Janeiro was more concerned about neuropsychiatry, psychophysiology, and neurology. In Salvador, the medical school focused on the study of criminology, forensic psychiatry, mental hygiene, social psychology, and pedagogy. In the early 20th century, psychological laboratories were first established in normal schools (aimed at training teachers for child education) and mental hospitals. Laboratories were implemented by Brazilian students of European and American psychologists, or by the foreign scholars themselves. They visited the country by official invitation, and some eventually settled here. Psychology was recognized as a profession in Brazil by a federal law in 1962. By that time, training and research in psychology were organized around major theoretical approaches, mainly psychoanalysis. It is argued that the current trend of psychology in Brazil is toward growing specialization and consolidation of its subdisciplines, reflected on a growing number of scientific societies and specialized periodicals.

The scientific understanding of sleep in infants, children, and adolescents has expanded significantly over the past few decades. Within psychology, key discoveries have been made in several important areas including (1) the understanding of prevalence and impact of childhood sleep problems and disorders; (2) the development and evaluation of behavioral treatments for childhood sleep problems; (3) the development of conceptual models of children’s sleep and sleep dysfunction; (4) the measurement of sleep patterns, behaviors, and disorders in children; and (5) the identification of sleep-related concerns in pediatric medical, neurodevelopmental, and psychiatric populations. Sleep is now recognized as a cross-cutting issue in child and pediatric psychology. Expanding opportunities within psychology for involvement in pediatric sleep research and sleep clinical training are part of this evolving history. A research agenda building from these key discoveries will move the field of pediatric sleep medicine forward over the next several decades.

Metamemory has a rich history: Its empirical and theoretical roots can be traced back to at least 1965, although metamemory techniques have been developed and discussed since Aristotle. In this chapter, we describe the origins of metamemory research by showcasing some founders of the field and their methodological and theoretical contributions. Joseph Hart conducted what is considered the first objective metamemory research, John Flavell coined the term metamemory in 1971 and provided theoretical fodder for the field, and Ann Brown brought early attention to metamemory by emphasizing its relevance to education. In 1990, Nelson and Narens introduced a framework that unified the field, which remains influential today. The chapter follows the early progression of metamemory research and foreshadows contemporary approaches to metamemory. It ends with a user’s guide to this handbook, including an overview of each section, an introduction to individual chapters, and recommendations for how to approach the Handbook.

Why do we view people as we do? What is scientifically tractable, in that view? How did subjective concepts such as traits become legitimate “objects of perception”? Thorndike, Asch, and Cronbach were critical. This chapter traces Asch’s legacy to the present and describes the strange independence of research on accuracy from social cognition. Impressions’ internal organization (not accuracy) became the foundation of research on the Big Two (warmth and competence), facial trait dimensions, and morality’s unique status. Associative memory structures and schemata provided the language. The unique impact of negative information is reviewed, along with behaviors’ diagnosticity and how the morality and competence domains differ. The chapter highlights the importance of goals in shaping impressions, of forming impressions without goals (spontaneously), and of stages in forming spontaneous trait inferences. It also notes the importance of social cognitive transference, perceptions of persons and groups, and conceptions of persons as moral agents and objects.

This chapter discusses the development of psychology and its various branches in Brunei Darussalam. Brunei Darussalam is an independent Islamic Sultanate located in the northern part of Borneo in Southeast Asia. Brunei is a multiracial and multicultural society with unique sociocultural beliefs. The main domain of the culture is deeply entrenched in Malay, Islam, and monarchy (Melayu, Islam, Beraja or MIB). The development of psychology as a subject and specialty is still at an early stage. Historically, educational psychology, guidance and counselling, and special education are the branches of psychology that are first to emerge, followed by clinical psychology. For the past 20 years, interest in psychology and its related branches has improved. In Brunei, the development of the field of psychology is closely related to rapid development of the economy after independence in 1984, specifically due to the rapid progress made at the Ministry of Education, the University of Brunei, the Ministry of Health, various government agencies and departments, and nongovernmental voluntary organizations. Currently, there is a positive acceptance of the role of psychology, counseling, special education, educational psychology, and clinical psychology by the government and society at large. Therefore, psychology has bright prospect of developing and expanding its role and impact on society. This chapter discusses various aspects of how psychology developed in Brunei, and suggestions are made for future development of psychology.

In light of expansive globalization, the lack of ethical guidelines regulating the cross-cultural international research of American psychologists reflects an emerging ethical challenge. The American Psychological Association (APA) code of ethics (2002) is silent on ways to cope with cross-cultural ethical dilemmas, and the Universal Declaration of Ethical Principles for Psychologists (Gauthier, 2008 ), though a useful framework for shedding light on the issue, offers no practical recommendations for researchers. Considering the cross-cultural ethical gaps that exist, in this chapter we provide examples of ethical dilemmas faced by American psychologists conducting cross-cultural international research, such as dilemmas with institutional approval, informed consent, participant inducement, research involving deception, and the dissemination of research results. We conclude with a “Call to Action” and present frameworks that may aid in the APA's development of a code of ethics specific to American psychologists who conduct cross-cultural international research.

Climate, topography, social, economic, and political forces all played a part in shaping the societies of the Caribbean. Likewise, psychology as a field has been shaped and molded by the unique historical contexts of the Caribbean cultures into which it was sewn. Utilizing a case studies approach, this chapter traces the development and role of psychology in three distinct Caribbean societies: Jamaica, Cuba, and Barbados. Important events and institutions, as well as the contributions of key persons are noted.