Psychology on Display: Exhibiting Psychological Research on Capitol Hill

APA has always taken seriously its mission to educate the public and policymakers about the importance and utility of behavioral research. Over the years we have tried several means to show what behavioral research is all about: bringing congressional staff to universities to show them research in progress, or bringing psychologists to Washington to give talks or visit congressional offices. Since 1997, we have had important opportunities to participate in Capitol Hill exhibits that focused on the importance of research. We put considerable time and resources into choosing and displaying good examples to show why psychological research is important to the missions of the federal research funding agencies. We hope these web features will give psychologists good ideas of how scientific research can be displayed for a lay audience.

The exhibitions shown here were like science fairs, tailored to the educated, lay audience of Capitol Hill. In each case, interested organizations and/or universities were invited to set up a booth. Each congressional office and other special guests were invited to attend a reception and to tour the exhibits. APA put together displays that showcased the work of one or more psychologists funded by the featured agency or department. With the featured psychologists, we put together short handouts or news releases, something for visitors to take away with them.

We strongly believe that psychological research should be seen side by side with physics, astronomy, microbiology and other scientific research. We work towards a time when nobody is surprised to see us in the room!