Reviewing the Basics

Organizations remain vital and energetic by periodically reviewing their programs and objectives, and by reaffirming their fundamental values and goals. So it is too with our Society, APS. We have experienced a remarkable growth as a scientific society. And, within a very short time, APS has established its unique identity for the larger population of behavioral, biobehavioral, and social scientists that it serves, and has already taken its place at the table among science-advocacy groups in Washington. But to continue that growth, to maintain that drive, it’s important that we occasionally take stock, review and renew our commitment to the goals of APS.

Towards that end, the officers and Board of Directors of APS convened a “Retreat” during January 24-26 to discuss the goals and policies of our society. The Retreat was informal but nonetheless structured. It opened with several of our Founders reminding us why APS was founded, and what had been their visions of the society’s future at its birth three and a half years ago. Later, each of us offered our views of what APS was doing right, what it could be doing better, and what changes we would like to see.

Themes

Three major themes arose repeatedly throughout our discussions. First was the belief that APS should aim to represent the best of scientific psychology — that we should continue to strive as a society to improve psychology’s scientific respectability among our members as well as among members of Congress and governmental agencies in Washington. By achieving that, the voice of APS will have greater influence when we speak on issues of behavioral science policy at the national level.

Common Values vs. Seductive Secession

A second theme was that APS must strive to attract and represent a broad spectrum of behavioral scientists, ranging from those in neuroscience, through general academic psychology, and industrial-organizational psychology, to applied clinical and research­based practitioners. We understand how specialization of research and applications seduces scientists into small societies with progressively narrower interests. In fact, many of us belong to such specialized societies, and their meetings fulfill a need for communication of specialized interests. However, APS has a different purpose, namely, to re-unite us around common values, goals, and beliefs so that we identify with a larger psychological “family” that can advocate effectively for its common interests on the national scene. Accordingly, the goal of APS is to be broadly representative, to draw our strength from our diversity and our numbers. Thus, we can amass power and clout in our Washington advocacy regarding those educational/research and applied issues upon which we can largely agree.

Youthful Foundation

A third theme at our Retreat was that the future of APS rests largely with our ability to attract, serve, and retain our younger members. If young people — undergraduate and graduate students, recent masters and doctoral recipients — don’t join with us and take up our goals, then the prognosis for our society’s health is very bleak indeed. Consequently, at the Retreat the Board devoted considerable time to discussions with APS Student Caucus President, Carolyn Roecker, listening to students’ concerns, thinking of better ways to serve our student members and to attract new young members. It was heartwarming to hear the expressions of respect, affection, and concern from both sides of those discussions.

The Retreat as a whole proved to be a collective “bonding” experience in which the members of the Board renewed our commitment to working more effectively with new action plans to achieve the goals of APS. And we rediscovered the ancient truth that it’s fun to be with bright people who share your beliefs and values.