According to the American Psychological Association Bylaws 1. 1, the main goal of the organization is to advance psychology as a science which caters to the education, interest, health and welfare of the people. Specifically, APA aims to enhance the promotion of the science of psychology and all subfields; to improve the methods and conditions of psychological researches; to develop the standards in education, achievement, ethics and conduct of psychologists and of the organization itself; and to increase the dissemination of psychological information and knowledge through papers, discussions, correspondence and publications. In relation to the said goals, the APA website also showcases a collection of scholarly articles on different fields in psychology. One of the latest releases of the APA is the article of Simpson, Collins, Tran & Haydon (2007).
This is a continuing longitudinal study existing for more than 25 years have examined the attachments and relationship of 78 individuals. They were monitored particularly at four significant points in their lives—infancy, early childhood, adolescence and adulthood. These individuals were evaluated through testimonies of the people whom they are strongly attached with at those four specific points of their lives. The findings of this research greatly supported earlier theories on attachment (APA).
If an individual has a strong feeling of security and attachment as infants, this will most probably be adapted through their childhood, adolescence and eventually, until they reach adulthood. This is greatly manifested in the adult romantic relationship of the individual (Collins, as cited in APA). However, Collins continues, the findings does not claim that the past experiences of a person will exactly determine his future relationships. Another interesting article released by the APA website, this time, rests on biological evidences. After more than five years after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in September 11, 2001, we continue to remember the lives lost and the damage it has done to many. Such a tragic experience can cause trauma to those who were affected.
But it has been found that the effects of trauma don’t always immediately appear. This was examined in the study of Ganzel et. al. (2007) measuring the reactions to emotional stimuli of adults with a traumatic experience.
The experiment included 22 healthy individuals who viewed fearful and calm faces as they were undergoing magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to measure the bilateral activity of their amygdala, the part of the brain that holds emotional memories and assesses emotional intensity (Ganzel et. al. , 2007). They were divided into two groups—those with the proximity of 1. 5 miles from the World Trade Center and the control group which is composed of individuals 200 miles from the location. Results reveal that the participants within the 1.
5 mile range have significantly active amygdalae. This implies that emotional responses of people exposed to trauma in the present can be traced back to that particular traumatic event. However, these individuals were not diagnosed with any anxiety, depression or stress disorder at the time of the experiment meaning that the increased amygdala activity after the trauma may also cause the person to be more reactive to daily encountered emotional stimuli (Ganzel et. al.
, 2007). As a consequence, this might increase the chances of that particular individual of having mental health disorders in the future. The APA nomenclature of divisions is until the 56th division but only 54 exist. Division 4 was supposed to be The Psychometric Society but decided not to become a division.
The other is the 11th division which was supposedly Abnormal Psychology and Psychotherapy. It decided to merge with Division 12 – Clinical and Abnormal Psychology in 1946. There are eight divisions of the APA dedicated to the wellbeing of children: Division 16 – School Psychology It is concerned with families, children and their schooling process. Their objective is to bring complete psychological services to the youth and families in schools and other settings.
They also devote much on the education and health care reforms of these people. Division 37 – Society for Child and Family Policy and Practice It deals with issues related to services and structures for the youth. The Division aims to advance the integration of psychology, anthropology, pediatrics and law to other areas like education, employment, leisure, and family planning. Division 53 – Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology It characterizes psychologists who are into education, research, clinical services, organization, and promotion in clinical child psychology to the APA and the community. Division 54 – Society of Pediatric Psychology It is dedicated to research and practice attending to the association between children’s physical, social, cognitive, and emotional performance and their physical and mental health.
Division 38 – Health Psychology Having a larger scope on health, is mainly focused on the application of psychological knowledge for the improvement of clinical education, research and health service (APA). Sharon Stephens Brehm, PhD, the current president of the APA, is specialized on child clinical psychology. Her past empirical researches have studied the effects of psychological reactance, self-focus and empathy. With a clinical training, she aims to integrate clinical and social psychology. Specifically, she intends to focus on issues concerning the aging population and education (APA). The APA defines professional psychologists as “ having a doctoral degree in psychology from an organized, sequential program in a regionally accredited university or professional school.
” APA does not consider individuals on master’s-level position to be psychologists but instead they are referred to as counselors, clinicians and specialists. The Student section of the APA Website includes guidelines on research, ethics, and other resources such as books and articles. They also provide information on scholarships, grants and other matters concerning a possible future career in psychology. This section caters the educational needs of both undergraduate and postgraduate students. The website also has a section for the Early Career Psychologists which mainly focuses on helping them start in their profession.
They provide news and other resources for research and practice. Psychologists who are already members of the APA have a separate section not accessible to the public. In comparison to APA, the Association for Psychological Science also has these sections. Their section for professionals is called the Teaching Psychology section which provides information on the psychology teaching profession. They also provide resources like articles, tips and tutorials for experiments and lectures. The APS website relatively has the same Student section as the APA’s.
However, it has a student body called APS Student Caucus which represents different college and universities in APS. The Caucus also aims to enhance the involvement of APS to their campuses (APS). The APA in general encompasses more subfields of psychology while APS is more focused on the scientific psychology. This is evident in the higher number of journals published by APA compared to those of APS which are only focused on psychological science.
Despite these differences, both the APA and APS website continue to help psychologists, students and even the public acquire psychological knowledge and use it to understand themselves, others and the society.
