Candidates for APA President
Q5. As APA president, on what specific education issue(s) would you focus?
This question can be read as educating the public or educational issues in psychology. For the first, we can be doing more to educate society about what psychology has to offer for improving social structures and personal functioning. For the second, we have a crisis in the discrepancy between students in health disciplines and internship opportunities. This must be addressed. I also have an interest in using the undergraduate psychology major more effectively as a basis for teaching critical thinking/statistical thinking skills.
Q6. What actions would you take to enhance the standing and reputation of psychology around the world?
We must address the damage that has been done to our reputation by reports of psychologists involved in the planning and commission of torture. This issue is far larger than what can be addressed in this brief space, but we must re-establish our moral leadership as a discipline. Second, psychological research can potentially change society in important ways, and we need to start marketing that information more effectively. Third, increased involvement of health-care psychologists in prescriptive authority and primary practice will revolutionize our field and the health-care system generally.
