The necessary common knowledge approach to broad and general education for professional psychologists.

Abstract

This paper advocates the necessary common knowledge approach to meaningful broad and general scientific education (as distinct from professional/clinical education) for professional psychologists. Adopting this plan leads to an explicit core curriculum. The current view of the American Psychological Association's Commission on Accreditation regarding broad and general is described. "Common" and "essential" knowledge in medicine are described along with law's core curriculum. A general rationale for broad and general education is developed, and preferred kinds of experiences are suggested. As an example for psychology, a broad and general course on cognitive and affective bases of behavior is described. The way the necessary common view fits with the educational competency movement is explained. High quality broad and general education will have a positive impact on both research and professional practice.

Application of Instance Theory to Real-World Professional Vision: A Randomized Controlled Parallel Design in Clinical Psychology Education

“…However, in contrast to what instance theory predicts, provision of exemplars only also worked to enhance professional vision quality within a limited time. Provision of declarative knowledge with exemplars appears to provide the best model for training programs for both self-motivated professional learners (Borko, 2004;Cohen et al, 2003;Peterson et al, 2011) and general learners (Erickson & Kruschke, 2002;Nosofsky & Palmeri, 1998). Provision of exemplars only could be effective for self-motivated learners (Grossman et al, 2001;Stein et al, 1999) for a short term but not general learners (Logan, 1988;Tanaka et al, 2005).…”

“…First, declarative knowledge-based training should increase the quality of professional vision while narrowing scope of the vision. Declarative knowledge of psychotherapy is fundamental to the development of clinical psychologists (Peterson et al, 2011) and specific knowledge about disorders helps prevent psychologists from holding biased views toward clients with such disorders (Kemp & Mallinckrodt, 1996). Specific hypotheses are as follows.…”

“…4, No. 2;127 Carpenter et al, 1996Cohen et al, 2003;Putnam & Borko, 2000;Simon & Schifter, 1991) and clinical psychology training (Henry et al, 1993;Kemp & Mallinckrodt, 1996;Peterson et al, 2011;Stein, & Lambert, 1995) literatures. Our findings support the generalizability of instance theory to the domain of real-world professional vision.…”

“…care education (Crowley, Naus, Stewart III, & Friedman, 2003;.Naghshineh et al, 2008;Peterson, Vincent, & Fechter-Leggett, 2011). Nevertheless, factors that contribute to the development of professional vision remain unclear.…”

Professional psychology competency initiatives: implications for training, regulation, and practice

“…Important to the philosophy of the NCSPP model are the notions of broad and general training necessary for psychological practice, including the importance of applied science to clinical practice, and the centrality of attitudes, involving interpersonal and cultural sensitivity and reflective professional practice. For relevant issues in the application of broad and general training to various models of training, see Zlotlow, Nelson, and Peterson (2011);Peterson, Vincent, and Fecther-Leggett (2011); Collins and Callahan (2011); and Berenbaum and Shoham (2011).…”