650 Psychological Experimentation Addressing Practical Concerns
generally. Within the psychological research community
some investigators are seen primarily as basic scientists and
others as explicitly applications oriented. The perception of
a cultural divide (Herrmann, Raybeck, & Gruneberg, 1997)
is reinforced by association of theoretically oriented re-
searchers mainly with the academy and of those who are
more applications oriented mainly with industry or govern-
ment laboratories. The perception is further strengthened by
the fact that some research journals emphasize the theoretical
implications of research findings whereas others focus more
on practical implications.
Prominent among the properties that are usually men-
tioned as distinguishing between basic and applied research
is motivation: Basic research is said to be motivated primar-
ily by questions of a theoretical nature, whereas applied
research is motivated by an interest in solving practical
problems. This is not always an easy criterion to apply in
specific instances because researchers’ motivations are gen-
erally more complex than this simple dichotomy suggests.
Many psychologists who do research have both types of in-
terest, although individuals undoubtedly differ with respect
to the relative strengths of the influence of theoretical and
practical concerns on their choices of problems on which to
work.
We believe that basic and applied should not be thought of
as two mutually exclusive categories, into one or the other of
which all instances of research can be placed unambiguously.
Even thinking of basic and applied as representing ends of a
continuum is an oversimplification because research often
yields results that have both theoretical and practical implica-
tions. We view the distinction as better considered a matter
of emphasis than as representing a true dichotomy; and al-
though our focus is on work for which the practical motiva-
tion is relatively strong, we believe that much of the best
research in psychology (as in other areas) is motivated by
both theoretical and practical concerns.
History of Distinction in Psychology
Identifying the origin of the distinction between basic and
applied research in psychology and tracking its history would
prove an interesting study. We make no effort to do this here,
but we do note that the distinction was well established by the
second decade of the twentieth century. It was recognized ex-
plicitly by G. Stanley Hall in an address prepared for the 25th
anniversary of the American Psychological Association
(APA) in 1916 and later published as the lead article in the
first issue of the Journal of Applied Psychology(Hall, 1917).
Geissler (1917b), in the same issue, contrasted pure and ap-
plied psychology this way:
The ultimate aim of pure psychology is... to extend and im-
prove our knowledge of mental life with regard to its structural,
functional, genetic, and social aspects.... On the other hand,
applied psychology aims to investigate and improve those condi-
tions and phases of human life and conduct which involve men-
tal life, especially in its social aspects, since practically all
human activity is nowadays carried on as a function of social
intercourse. (p. 49)In the foreword to the same issue of the Journal of Applied
Psychology,the editors, Hall, Baird, and Geissler (1917), in
explaining the need for a journal focusing on applied psy-
chology, noted that at the time there already existed several
journals and associations that had been established to serve
the interests of psychology, but that “none of the existing
journals devote themselves to the task of gathering together
the results of workers in the various fields of applied psy-
chology, or of bringing these results into relation with pure
psychology” (p. 6). They implied that applied psychology did
not command the same level of respect as did pure psychol-
ogy, at least among some members of the profession: “The
psychologist finds that the old distinction between pure and
applied science is already obscured in his domain; and he is
beginning to realize that applied psychology can no longer be
relegated to a distinctly inferior plane” (p. 6). Unfortunately,
contention about the relative merits of basic and applied work
did not end with this observation; many researchers in psy-
chology and other sciences as well have continued to project
attitudes of superiority with respect to their own approach to
research, whether it is driven primarily by theoretical or prac-
tical concerns.Current Interest in ApplicationsWe believe that interest among research psychologists—and
among organizations that represent them—in seeing the re-
sults of psychological research applied to practical problems
has been on the increase recently and is unusually high at the
present time. In saying this, we are mindful of the fact that the
founders of the Journal of Applied Psychologynoted “an un-
precedented interest in the extension of the application of
psychology to various fields of human activity” when they in-
troduced the new journal (Hall et al., 1917, p. 5), so possibly
our belief is illusory—a consequence of the greater salience
of recent than of more remote events and possibly of some
wishful thinking on our part.
One indication of the currently high interest in applying
psychology to real-world problems is the effort to inform pol-
icy makers and the general public of practical implications of
psychological research through presentations (e.g., Science