John Q. Public: What’s your Psychology IQ?

My worries about America's literacy in the field of psychological science began mushrooming this year. It started in earnest when I attended the 1998 Summit of Psychological Science Societies. This was the meeting where representatives from over 90 of the leading behavioral science organizations convened to talk about the future of psychology. (See the May/June 1998 Observer for full coverage of the Summit.) One of the main topics of discussion was how to communicate psychological science more effectively. As one attendee put it:  "I'm tired of going to parties and telling someone I'm a psychologist and having them immediately ask if I would like to psychoanalyze them." (Who hasn't had this experience?) Why is "Are you psychoanalyzing me?" the first thing that comes to mind when people hear the word psychologist?