Celebrating Psychology's Past

Proposed APA Presidential Initiative

I strongly believe that all psychologists should be proud of our heritage and take time to celebrate it. That celebration will help us move forward together into this new, challenging century with a renewed appreciation of the strength of our shared roots. I believe that there is a strong inter-relatedness of science, practice, education, and public service in Psychology. By reviewing and celebrating our history, we highlight our interconnectedness. It shows that we are all one family, "The Family of Psychology."

I will appoint a "Task Force on Recognizing Ourselves, Our Leaders, and Our Diversity Throughout the History of Psychology: The Family of Psychology". Studying the history of Psychology we find that no matter which specialty we practice, which research topic we study,  where we practice - independent hospital, industry, hospital, clinic, or school, what we teach, when and where we were educated, what applied work we do, or what cultural, ethnic, or religious background from which we come --- we are all related in "The Family of Psychology.". I think we should be proud of our field, its history, its contributions to the well being of humanity, and its strong scientific underpinnings. We have a rich history of cultural diversity, philosophical differences and similarities, and a range of personal stories that make up the fabric of Psychology. This [proposed] Task Force will be charged with bringing together materials that tell those stories.

I will ask the task force to help build an ONLINE genealogical website where each psychologist would enter, online, his or her own name, their dissertation chair\mentor's name, and that person's mentor, and so forth. The product would be an interactive website where we could truly see that we are all related by our educational history and that we all go back to a very limited set of branches on the Family Tree of Psychology. I also will ask that those interested add a short, 300 word essay on "MY PSYCHOLOGY" --- that is, why they entered the field, what were important landmarks & people in their professional growth, and what Psychology means to them. Thus, online, each name of each colleague would lead us to information about them and to their branch of the family tree, and give us an opportunity to see our inter-relatedness to one another.

Further, I was extremely moved by the ceremonies at the 2005 and 2007 National Multicultural Conference & Summit that recognized the elders across the various ethnic minority and diversity communities of Psychology. I also was struck once again that there exists academic and cultural connectedness across those diverse communities. I would ask our Task Force to highlight the richness of the history and contribution of these elders and current leaders in our ethnic minority and diversity communities. This would help illustrate further the breadth of our Family of Psychology and how Psychology has brought us all together as one.