Observer > 2002 > May/June
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152002Volume 15, Issue5May/June 2002

Presidential Column

John Darley
John Darley
Princeton University
APS President 2001 - 2002
All columns

In this Issue:
Getting Ahead of the Curve: Anticipating Future Policy Needs in Today's Research

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The Observer is the online magazine of the Association for Psychological Science and covers matters affecting the research, academic, and applied disciplines of psychology. The magazine reports on issues of interest to psychologist scientists worldwide and disseminates information about the activities, policies, and scientific values of APS.

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    Disaster Response and Recovery

    Disasters like Hurricane Florence and Typhoon Mangkhut draw massive media coverage, trauma interventions, and financial donations to victims. But psychological research shows the efforts don’t always yield the intended benefits.

Up Front

  • James Madison University

    James Madison University School of Psychology MSC 7401 Harrisonburg, VA 22807 Contact: Jane Halonen 540-568-2555 [email protected] Faculty Jane S. Halonen, Director Michael Stoloff, Undergraduate Director Lennis Echterling, Graduate Coordinator Steven Evans, Human Development Center Director Jeffrey Andre Kevin Apple Suzanne Baker Kenneth Barron James Benedict Jerry Benson JoAnne Brewster Douglas Brown James Butler Harriet Cobb James Couch Eric Cowan Christine DeMars T. Dary Erwin William Evans Sara Finney Pamela Reed Gibson Tammy Gilligan Joann Grayson Kathleen Haley William Hall Charles Harris Charles Huffman Arnold Kahn Michele Kielty Briggs Charles Lockett Sharon Lovell Virginia Andreoli Mathie J. Edson McKee Becky McKenzie Helen Moore Anthony W. Paolitto Jack Presbury Monica Reis-Bergan Sheena Rogers Bijan Saadatmand Timothy Schulte Sherry Serdikoff Craig Shealy A. Renee Staton Anne Stewart Carl Swanson Donna Sundre Cheryl Talley Ashton Trice Grace Viere William Walker Patricia Warner Richard West Steven Wise The School of Psychology at James Madison University promotes broad undergraduate education and specialized graduate training in the fields of psychology and counseling.

  • Getting Ahead of the Curve: Anticipating Future Policy Needs in Today’s Research

    The story to date. At unpredictable times, some current event, itself unpredictable, throws an issue onto the "national public agenda." September 11th threw terrorism onto the national agenda, where it had not been before, even though many who studied terrorism had pointed out our appalling vulnerability to terrorist attack, and marked the inevitability of events like those that finally occurred. What happens when an event suddenly demands its place "on the national agenda?" One consequence is that the executive and legislative branches of the government abruptly understand that they must be seen to move toward solutions of the now "critical" problem, and that they are at risk of censure for having not looked ahead to see the problem before it turned from potential to acute. Rather obviously, a sense of urgency results. Connecting this to what I have mentioned before in these columns, those charged with coping with the problem will work through already established social networks of contacts, to recruit plausible suggestions about what to do.

Practice

  • James Madison University

    James Madison University School of Psychology MSC 7401 Harrisonburg, VA 22807 Contact: Jane Halonen 540-568-2555 [email protected] Faculty Jane S. Halonen, Director Michael Stoloff, Undergraduate Director Lennis Echterling, Graduate Coordinator Steven Evans, Human Development Center Director Jeffrey Andre Kevin Apple Suzanne Baker Kenneth Barron James Benedict Jerry Benson JoAnne Brewster Douglas Brown James Butler Harriet Cobb James Couch Eric Cowan Christine DeMars T. Dary Erwin William Evans Sara Finney Pamela Reed Gibson Tammy Gilligan Joann Grayson Kathleen Haley William Hall Charles Harris Charles Huffman Arnold Kahn Michele Kielty Briggs Charles Lockett Sharon Lovell Virginia Andreoli Mathie J. Edson McKee Becky McKenzie Helen Moore Anthony W. Paolitto Jack Presbury Monica Reis-Bergan Sheena Rogers Bijan Saadatmand Timothy Schulte Sherry Serdikoff Craig Shealy A.

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  • Fashion vs. Passion: The Perils of Fad Hiring

    Back in the 1950s, there was a time when every kid had a hoola hoop. If you didn't, you were, well, nobody. A few years later, the fad was yo-yo's. Everyone just had to have a yo-yo. If you didn't, unbespeakable things would happen to you, at least in your social circle. Today scooters are the rage, although the fad has probably peaked and chances are that a lot of them are in dry dock in garages and basements, never to be used again.

  • Memory Vs. Experience: Happiness is Relative

    When we talk about being happy, what do we really mean? We know that happiness comes from a variety of sources, depending upon a person's point of view. But according to APS Fellow Daniel Kahneman, people don't know how happy they are because happiness is so relative. Kahneman, a professor of psychology and public affairs at Princeton University, discussed this and related research findings in a lecture entitled "Memory vs. Experience" as part of the Behavioral and Social Sciences Lecture Series at the National Institutes of Health. Take, for instance, a study Kahneman conducted in 1998 with his colleague David Schkade, from the University of Texas at Austin.