When the COVID-19 pandemic began, most of us viewed it as an acute crisis—a stressful, but defined, event. Then we realized that addressing the pandemic would be more like a marathon—a crisis needing a sustained effort, but one that we would find a way to get through and recover from. As time has gone on, it has become clear that the pandemic may be a phenomenon we will be living with in some way for much longer.
This change to viewing the coronavirus as something we must live with for an extended period versus something we could overcome and “return to normal,” has profound implications for our lives and the role our discipline and profession can play in assisting our society.
Moreover, the major societal issues we are grappling with, like climate change and racism, are fundamentally rooted in human behavior, reaffirming that solutions require psychological expertise. The nation’s COVID-19 recovery involves not only containing the virus but addressing the related effects of these societal issues on people’s health and well-being.
As a nation, we need a new mental model for thinking about the rapidly evolving world around us and the various roles we play in it. We must deal with multiple complex issues simultaneously. We must get used to the notion that many of our most vexing issues will not just disappear, but—like the coronavirus—will require us to develop new long-term strategies to cope. This means recognizing that the rapidity of change going forward will only increase, making change the “new constant.” All these realities have implications for how psychological knowledge and expertise is applied to real-world problems. Using conceptual frames that routinely incorporate themes like intersectionality and working increasingly beyond the individual level of analysis are strategies critical to ensuring our success. We also need to be intentional about creating new processes to draw out psychological knowledge needed and efficiently and effectively apply it.
During the development of APA’s strategic plan in 2018, a strong and consistent theme from our members was a desire to see psychology have more impact on the critical issues of the day. Since then, APA has made building our capacity to do this a significant goal for the association. As our world becomes increasingly complex, both APA and the broader field of psychology must continue to explore new ways to apply knowledge from the field in innovative and impactful ways.