544 Professional Organizations
In 1988, the American Psychological Society (APS) was
founded as the major alternative to the APA. The APS was
widely perceived as a fundamental split between those psy-
chologists whose primary identity was that of psychological
scientist and those who thought of themselves as primarily
professional practitioners. The reality was much more com-
plex than that. The reorganization of the APA during the war
gave applied interests a greater voice and created the possibil-
ity of schism within the APA. The infusion of large sums of
money from various federal agencies for psychological re-
search and training, especially clinical training, raised the
stakes over psychology’s identity. The once-small field of
clinical psychology grew out of all proportion to the rest
of psychology and soon threatened the traditional centers of
power in the APA. Tension between scientists and practition-
ers grew in the decades after World War II as clinical psy-
chologists became increasingly interested in independent
practice and all the necessary accoutrements that accompany
such practice: licensure, third-party payment, and the like. In
the 1970s, practitioners began to gain greater influence in the
APA governance structure and by the 1980s were ascendant.
Some scientists and academics who felt threatened by these
changes proposed that the APA be reorganized into a looser
structure that provided more autonomy for academic psychol-
ogists. When the reorganization plan failed in 1988, a large
number of scientists/academics decided to form an alternative
organization devoted to psychological science. Initially
called the Assembly for Scientific and Applied Psychology,
the group incorporated in 1988 as the APS with 450 founding
members. That number grew rapidly to over 5,000 members
within 6 months, and by 2000 the membership was approxi-
mately 10,000. Many members of APS have also maintained
membership in the APA. Although tension between the two
groups ran high in the first years after the split, there was a
steady accommodation to each other through the 1990s.
It has been more common, however, for new organizations
to form simply around a specialty interest in psychological
science. These groups proliferated in the last decades of the
twentieth century and are too numerous to list here. The
reader is referred to the World Wide Web sites of the Federa-
tion of Behavioral, Psychological, and Cognitive Societies
(www.thefederationonline.org) and the International Union
of Psychological Sciences (www.iupsys.org) for links to
many of these societies.
Applied Psychological Organizations
Despite the rhetoric of experimentalism, American psycholo-
gists have been particularly interested in the application
of psychological science from the first days of organized
American psychology (Benjamin, 1997a; Pickren &
Dewsbury, 2002). A small number of psychologists worked in
applied and professional settings in the early years of the dis-
cipline. While many of them had free choice of career sites,
others had few work options open to them by virtue of their
gender or race (Guthrie, 1998; Stevens and Gardner, 1982).
The establishment of the Journal of Applied Psychologyin
1917 provided an outlet for research and a forum for profes-
sional issues. World War I drew public attention to the poten-
tial usefulness of applied psychology, especially in mental
testing (Samelson, 1977). Two privately held companies
were started after the war in an effort to build on this atten-
tion: The Scott Company and The Psychological Corporation
(Sokal, 1981). The number of psychologists interested in pro-
fessional practice grew enough by the end of World War I to
form a new professional organization, the American Associa-
tion of Clinical Psychologists. Apparently threatened by this
move, the APA co-opted the new organization by forming a
Clinical Section in 1919 (Routh, 1994; Samelson, 1992).
During the interwar period, the number of psychologists
engaged in various professional practices dramatically in-
creased. By one count, 39% of APA members were employed
in applied work in 1940. By comparison, only 9.3% of APA
members were employed in a recognizably applied setting in
1916 (Finch & Odoroff, 1939, 1941). It should be kept in
mind that a doctoral degree and publications were required
for APA membership in this period, and many applied psy-
chologists worked at the master’s level. Four semidistinct
areas of practice emerged in this period: clinical, consulting,
educational, and industrial/business. The settings for these
practices included schools, clinics (of various kinds), homes
for the mentally retarded, courts, prisons, police departments,
psychiatric hospitals, guidance offices in educational settings,
psychotherapy offices, social agencies, state and federal
agencies, film and radio studios, personnel offices, advertis-
ing and marketing firms, life insurance companies, and pri-
vate consulting firms. At least 83 APA members earned their
living primarily from fee-based consultations in 1940.
This growth is also reflected in new psychological organi-
zations that were formed between the wars. The APA mem-
bership standards favored academic scientists engaged in
experimental research and made it difficult for psychologists
with applied expertise to either gain membership or wield
significant influence within the organization (Napoli, 1981;
O’Donnell, 1979). Finally, in 1926, the APA established a
second-class associates membership, at least in part to help
finance a new publishing venture. (In 1946, the membership
categories were revised: full members became fellows, asso-
ciates became “members,” and a new category of associates
was developed, primarily for people without doctorates.)