Is Psychology a Profession?

Abstract

Psychology has had more trouble than most disciplines in defining itself as a profession. By the lofty ideals of its academic tradition, professional work has often seemed more of an embarrassment than an achievement. Psychology began as philosophy, established its independence as a natural science, and developed its first significant applications as a science-profession. These evolutionary shifts have demanded basic redefinitions of identity not required, say, of medicine, which has always been directly concerned with improving human health, or law, which has always focused on the immediate human application of legal codes. Now psychology appears to be entering another evolutionarv stage. While continuing to develop as a scholarly discipline, it is also becoming an outright profession. The Vail conference of 1973 endorsed the principle of training professional psychologists as well as scientists and scientistprofessionals. If the principle is fully understood and generally accepted, it will have far-reaching influence on our field and ultimately on the public we are supposed to be serving. I t will affect the kinds of work we do and the settings in

Behavioral Concepts and Treatments of Neuroses: Comments on Marks

“…The decade of the 1970s marked a significant swing towards the aggressive implementation of the professional model of clinical psychology training in the U.S. (Caddy, in press). (Peterson, 1976, provides an informative summary of the rationale for this development). One of the strongest arguments that was made for the founding of professional schools was the need to produce more well-trained practitioners to meet service needs that the prevailing scientist-practitioner model of clinical training had ostensibly failed to meet.…”

Professionalisme met verwysing na die posisie van bedryfsielkunde en die bedryfsielkundige in Suid-Afrika

“…Greenwood byvoorbeeld, sien die vorming van professionele verenigings tesame met die professionele opleidingsinstansies as die daarstelling van 'n professionele kultuur (McGehee, 1964;Vollmer & Mills, 1966). Flexner soos aangehaal deur Carroll (1970) en Peterson (1976) vat kriteria (b), (c) en (d) hierbo saam en noem dit professionele organisasie. Flexner onderskei egter ook nog ander kriteria waaraan 'n professie gewoonlik voldoen soos: die doelstellings van 'n professie is prakties in die sin dat die liggaam van kennis gebruik word om sosiale of menslike probleme op te los; 'n professie het tegnieke of vaardighede wat aangelêer kan word en wat as meganismes dien waardeur kennis toegepas kan word om probleme op te los of waardeur die doelstellings van die professie bereik kan word; die aanleer en gebruik van hierdie tegnieke en vaardighede vereis intellektuele prosesse en tesame hiermee 'n groot persoonlike verantwoordelikheid in die oordeel wat aan die dag gelê moet word deur die beoefenaar van die professie.…”

“…Flexner noem voorts dat die doelstellings van 'n professie hoofsaaklik altruïsties is eerder as gemik op die bevordering van eiebelang. Implisiet ingeweef in hierdie altruïstiese benadering is 'n etiese gedragskode (Peterson, 1976). Verwys ook in hierdie verband die aspek van diensoriëntasie in Elliott (1972, p. 94).…”

Should project management aspire to be an archetypal profession: evidence from Australian-based research

“…Such aspiration can be motivated by a desire to "…increase the status, rewards and prestige…" (Sheen & Stevens, 2002, p. 187), "…to increase the income of professionals…" (Gravelle, 1985(Gravelle, , p. 1052 and in the belief "…that they deserve more pay and more honour than they receive" (Moline, 1986, p. 502). Examples of similar debates in other fields abound, from management consultancy (Muzio, 2011), psychology (Peterson, 1976), and auditing (De Beelde, 2002), to aromatherapy (Sheen & Stevens, 2002). This move of occupations to professional status is not new.…”