International Division Activities

Many of APA’s 54 divisions include international sections, committees, activities and membership. Some of these international components are listed below.

APA Convention International Poster Session

APA Divisions were invited to participate in Psychology Around the World — APA Divisions Reach Out, a poster session to spotlight the international members, activities and projects of APA’s divisions.

Division 1: Society for General Psychology

• The division's journal Review of General Psychology receives approximately 40 percent of its submissions from outside the U.S. and Canada.
  

Division 2: Society for the Teaching of Psychology (STP)

• The STP International Relations Committee oversees all activities related to internationalizing membership, integration of international issues into the curriculum and attracting members of international communities to psychology as a major and profession.

Division 6: Behavioral Neuroscience & Comparative Psychology

• Approximately 50 percent of the articles published in Behavioral Neuroscience and 40 percent of the articles published in Journal of Comparative Psychology are from authors outside the U.S.

Division 8: Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP)

• The division sponsors The European Association of Social Psychology (EASP) Summer School partnership, a set of workshops designed to familiarize graduate students with the latest developments in the field.  

Division 9: The Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (SPSSI)

• The journal Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy (ASAP), guided by an international editorial board, targets a global audience and serves as an outlet for international policies in economic and social justice.
• SPSSI has served as an NGO at the United Nations since 1987 and held consultative status with the U.N.'s Economic and Social Council since 1991. ECOSOC's International Issues Committee deals with areas of representation that include children, women, the elderly, development, spirituality and values, and communities.
• Each year, SPSSI partners with the European Association for Social Psychology (EASP) to sponsor a scholarly conference, held alternately in a European and a North American venue.

Division 13: Society of Consulting Psychology

• SCP is affiliated with the International Society for Coaching Psychology (ISCP). Members of SCP are given automatic status as an affiliate member of ISCP and will have access to the online journal, as well as many other benefits.

Division 14: Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology

• The SIOP International Directory provides a list of organizations and people around the world who are thought to be interested in I-O psychology.

Division 17: Society of Counseling Psychology

• Div. 17's International Section currently has 270 members and is dedicated to encouraging, promoting and facilitating a scientist-professional model of counseling psychology in international contexts in the U.S. and around the globe.
• The Counseling Psychologist journal includes an international forum, as well as editorial board members from outside the U.S.
• The International Mentoring and Orientation Committee (IMOC) provides international students with social support, career exploration and development, and professional exchange or collaboration. The current membership includes international students from more than 26 countries.

Division 19: Society for Military Psychology

• The society's Committee for International Military Psychology oversees all psychological issues that have an international component pertaining to military personnel and their families.

Division 27: Society for Community Research & Action (SCRA): Division of Community Psychology

• One of the guiding concepts behind the division's goals is the increasingly global nature of community psychology. Local communities are affected by global forces, and community psychology must collaborate with these communities so they can adapt to such changes.
• The International Committee helps promote an international field of inquiry and action within the Society that respects cultural differences, honors human rights, seeks out and incorporates contributions from all corners of the world, and is not dominated by any one nation or group.
• SCRA has International Regional Coordinators working in Canada, Latin America, Europe/Middle East/Africa, Australia/New Zealand/South Pacific and Asia.

Division 36: Society for the Psychology of Religion and Spirituality

• In 2012, Div. 36 sent psychologists to both China and Poland to attend symposia that discussed recent research in the field.

Division 38: Health Psychology

• Div. 38 launched the International Partnerships Initiative, which is designed to promote connections with the leadership of health psychology organizations around the world, and to encourage an exchange of information regarding research, clinical and organizational issues.
• The division's International Relations Liaison falls under the umbrella of its Diversity Council and includes representatives from the Graduate Student and Early Career Councils.

Division 43: Society for Family Psychology

• The division's International Committee has hosted panels at APA on family psychology around the world and promotes international family psychology conferences.

• The Florence Kaslow International Family Psychology Award is presented annually to someone from the division who is making a substantial contribution to family psychology in another country or around the globe.

Division 48: The Society for the Study of Peace, Conflict & Violence: Peace Psychology

• Most of the division's research topics are globally inclusive. The current Working Groups and Task Forces focus on issues related to Conflict Resolution, Environmental Protection, Ethnicity, Feminism, Globalization, Structural Violence, Disarmament, Immigration and Humanitarian Practices.

• There is currently a task force on Psychological and Humanitarian Issues in the Israel-Palestine Conflict to engage members in action-oriented dialogue on psychological and humanitarian issues in the Israeli-Egyptian blockade of Gaza.

• A Div. 48 past president discusses the division’s historically international focus and mission statement in Psychology International.

Division 52: International Psychology

• Journal: International Perspectives in Psychology: Research, Practice, Consultation.This publication includes research that addresses international and global issues, while examining human behavior and experiences from a psychological perspective.
• The International Psychology Bulletin is Div. 52’s quarterly newsletter.
• Each year, Div. 52 awards outstanding international psychologists, international mentoring, outstanding international contributions to the psychology of women and gender, graduate students’ research in international psychology, notable books in global psychology and early career professionals.

Division 56: Trauma Psychology

• The International Committee insures that international issues are represented in division business and policies, and fosters international collaboration and communication concerning trauma related issues.
• Liaisons from APA's Committee on International Relations in Psychology (CIRP), the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (ISTSS) and the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation (ISSTD) meet with Div. 56 to communicate trauma related issues.