Addiction NIDA Director Alall Lesllller Wallis to Illtroduce Cogllitive Scielltists to Drug Abuse Alld Addictioll Research
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i OBSERVE4:R Published by the American Psychological Society Vol. 10. No.4 July/August 1997 Art imitates life science... • Budgetary Politics ... In an editorial in The Chronicle of Higher On the Cover of a Magazine Education. APS looks at Advancement ofpsychological science is in vogue as behavioral science where science funding fits in strikes a pose on the cover of the nation's premier science journal the federal budget ............... 3 • Human CapiJallnitiative... cience magazine's June 6, 1997, cover looks a little APS and NSF sponsor unusual. Instead of the usual cancer cell stain, workshop to develop report on simulated 3-D protein molecule, or sun spots. the research opportunities ......... .4 S cover on this issue sports behavioral research! Portray • Health and Well-being... ing the science of behavioral genetics. the cover APS and SPSSI jointly sponsor represents a significant departure from Science's seminar at Smithsonian seemingly monotonic focus on things purely biology Institution ................. ... .... ..... 6 and physics-related. • Giving Away Psychology ... A time-lapse-like pose of two aging human New Observer feature beings, monozygotic twins to be specific (and a rare examines public health and occurrence it is indeed), graces the world-known tobacco farming ................. 12 magazine's facade. Not that a cover says every • Ninth Annual APS thing. But. sure enough. the magazine is wrapped Convention ... in behavioral science and psychologists are spilling Coverage of annual meeting out from between the issue's covers: APS Fellow Irving includes highlights of Gottesman explains in a PERSPECTIVES column some of the basics symposia, sessions, satellite --rS~E=E?S~c=m=N~C=E~O~N~P~AG~E~8 meetings, and more ............ 14 PLUS ... • Research in a Free Market... Psychology United at Letters to the Editor features several views ..................... 26 Ninth Annual Convention INSIDE Strong federal presence enhances meeting's utility for behavioral researchers APS Call for Fellows 10 The CognItion 01 Well-Being PS conventions always seem to deliver more than SSRC Fellowships 44 . ...... I7'Cly 01 Amos T~ ol!£')' promised. Last year APS promised "earth Departments C<>1 tebomof1;: shaking science" at its eighth annual convention \Lrt)ru"a Flecnc>.soo A Presidential Column 2 n..""",,,l<,an,, in San Francisco and "delivered" a bona fide earthquake Miscellany 11 "-I'Ila" Nl), emsky Aebecea t> .. :r... • measured at 3.5 on the Richter Scale during the meeting! Giving Away Psychology 12 [)'<" ~ >lO- - •• ' 0 .. ,-.0 5:::"4<::, This year again, some 2,000 APS convention attend Letters to the Editor 26 Ch, ,<"'" J." .. S" ees got an extra bonus when they gathered for the Ninth Teaching Tips - c. Exemplary Examples 28 ', ' Annual APS Convention May 23-26 in Washington, DC. People 31 Under the unifying slogan "The United States of Psychol Members in the News 32 ogy," attendees not only enjoyed a serving of76 program Obituaries 36 The Student Notebook 40 hours--<listributed among 23 addresses, 28 symposia, 860 Organizational Profile - posters, and other events emphasizing the unity of Women in Psychology 43 A highlight of the APS psychological science and major trends in psychology's Announcements 50 Convention was Daniel subspecialties-they were treated to what might be called Meeting Calendar 52 Kahneman. who gave a Employment Bulletin 55 keynote address on the cognition of well-being. SEE CONVENTION ON PAGE 14 American Psychological Society + 1010 Vermont Ave, NW + Suite 1100 + Washington, DC 20005-4907 + 202-783-2077 •The Future of Basic Research in Psychology Human Capital Initiative report to highlight new directions in research asic research in social psychology, cognitive science, The notion of "human capital," Brewer said, has been developmental psychology, behavioral neuroscience, broadened by psychologists to "represent the goal of optimizing B perception, attention: What has it discovered about human talent and productivity in aU spheres of life." Accord human functioning? What are the most promising future ingly, the report will "highlight areas of psychological research directions for basic psychological research? Pondering these that have implications for improving human potential," she said. and similar questions, some of psychology's most distinguished (See this issue's page-2 "Presidential Column" by guest colum scientists are charting what could be the future for many areas of nist Milton Hakel, chair of the HCI Coordinating Committee, for basic psychological research. a related discussion.) Funded jointly by the National Science Foundation (NSF) Brewer hopes the report on basic research in psychology and APS, experts in these areas and others are compiling a report will help "renew the di scipline-wide commitment to the scien as part of the Human tific priorities repre Capital Initiative (HCI), a sented by the HC!." national behavioral science Luce adds that basic research agenda begun in I think that the Hel workshop-with the continu psychological research the early I 990s under the ing dialogue among its participants and the will be presented in auspices of APS by resulting report-will have a dual benefit. It will tenns of "what we now representatives of a host of provide us with a portable summary of current know about the phenom psychology organizations. psychological knowledge and a guide to their ena and processes; some The HCI has since been practical implications. At the same time, it of what we need to learn, embraced and expanded by which will drive basic NSF, which funds basic should help to make our collective inquiry more research for the nex t fi ve research in virtuaUy all effective and cumulative. to 10 years; areas where scientific disciplines. (For ELKE WEBER the new know ledge may background on the HCI, OHIO STATE U NlVERSITY be applicable; and how see tbe accompanying these lines of research box.) The report wiU interact wi th other highlight some of the disciplines, in not only major theoretical and methodological accomplishments in the social sciences but the biological and physical sciences as psychology and identify specific basic research questions that well." need to be addressed to continue the momentum of discovery in the field. Capital Ideas In addition, the report will be used to "coordinate The workshop participants themselves express a great deal psychology's HCI with NSF's broader HCI program, which of enthusiasm for the project, both in tenns of the process and encompasses the social and behavioral sciences more generally," the goal. said APS Executive Director Alan Kraut, who is managing the "The process generated an exciting discussion of how basic project. "We need to make sure there's balance and a good fit research in core areas of psychology is relevant to the Human between the NSF initiative and the research agenda for basic Capital Initiative," said Roberta Klatzky of Carnegie Mellon research in psychology." University. "The result of the workshop was a broad and fruitful perspective on the importance of basic psychological research Mined and Refined for developing human capital." The HCI effort is co-chaired by Marilynn Brewer from Ohio Because they are so focu sed on advancing the science and State University, and R. Duncan Luce, of the University of the foundation of knowledge in the field, it is sometimes a California-Irvine. A several-day workshop was held in late challenge for basic researchers to talk in terms of the potential April to hammer out a framework for the document. Since then, uses for the knowledge that they produce. However, participants Brewer and Luce have been overseeing the drafting process in in the workshop seem to share a long-tenn vi sion in which basic which "nuggets" on basic research are being mined and refined. research in psychology plays a central role in addressing the (See the box listing workshop participants appearing at the end nation's problems. of this article on page 46.) "Although the problems facing our society appear over- APS OBSERVER July/August 1997 American Psyc/wlogica/ Society whelming," said participant John • Cacioppo, "psychology has much to contribute toward solving these problems and much to gain from working toward solution s." Cacioppo, of Ohio State University, predicts that basic research in psychology can lead to improved techniques in decision-making and judgment, which in tum would allow people to change their health and social behaviors for the better. Such changes would represent Pictured (left to right) are (standing): Anne Treisman, Roberta Klatzky, Carol Fowler, Patrick "significant progress" to society Cavanagh, William Greenough, Joseph Young, Robin Vall acher. Susan Carey, Elke Weber, Alan "even if only a fraction of affected Kraul , Douglas Medin, John Cacioppo, Ervin Hafter, Dan iel Schaeler; (sitting) Daniel Kahneman, individuals can be persuaded to Steve Breckler, Michael McCloskey. Marilynn Brewer, Duncan Luee, Michael Gazzaniga. alter maladaptive behaviors," he said. Similarly, Daniel Schacter, of Harvard University, talks recovered memories and the effects of suggestion on children's about the "strength and importance of the basic research that recollections vividly underscore the importance of mnemonic psychology can offer." The noted expert and author on memory processes in everyday life- and the need for more basic research says: "The explosive controversies concerning the accuracy of that clarifies the relevant underlying mechanisms" of those processes. Basic Benefits The Human Capital Initiative Developing reports like the one currently BACKGROUND in progress is seen as an essential aspect of making the benefits of basic psychological research visible to the public. The Human Capital Initiative (HCI) is a national behavioral "We have learned a great deal about science research agenda that was developed over a several-year human cognition and behavior that has criti period by representatives of more than 70 scientific psychology cally important implications for human capital organizations, following a series of Behavioral Science Summits iss ues," notes Schacter. "We need to commu organized by the American Psychological Society.