1.0 Outsider Perspectives
1.1 Other Sciences:
1.2 Industry:
1.3 The Public:
2.0 Insider Perspectives
2.1 Academic vs. Applied:
2.2 Other Degrees:
3.0 References
3.1 Developmental psychology
3.2 Ratings of scholarly impact
3.3 Health issues
3.4 Ethical issues
3.5 Feminism in psychology
3.6 Applied psychology
3.7 Cognitive psychology
These articles from the Canadian Psychologist highlight some of the main concepts that affected Psychology in Canada then, some of the most notable being those from the United States, Industry, other established sciences and the general public. Through these four perspectives and Canadian Psychologists responses to them, it is possible to gain insight into why psychologist's graduate training programs are shaped the way they are, from both an insider and outsider perspective. Over time some of these arguments and influences began to wane, leaving a main emphasis to reside in the debate over applied vs. academic psychology.
At the time of the early 1960s, psychologists were becoming increasingly concerned with the competition for both money and prestige, from the other sciences (Bindra, 1960); yet compared to other more established sciences, psychologists were seen as having a discipline that is pre-paradigmatic. Thus, as Payne (1960) points out, concerned with problems common to all pre- paradigmatic fields. He saw Psychology as mainly consisting of knowledge that was still purely academic and not advanced enough to have practical applications. Payne went on to state that "Professional training should be in the hands of universities if there is a sufficient body of scientific knowledge to require a specialized training program" (p. 57), otherwise they were claiming expertise they did not possess.
Post W.W.II industry made an increasing demand for people possessing skills in psychology, yet Poser (1961) shows that employers considered Ph.D. training and salaries inappropriate to the jobs they wanted done. Dixon (1960) writes of his employment of Psychologists with only BAs in the Child Guidance center with positiveness and enthusiasm. In fact as he points out, they had yet to even hire someone with a Ph.D. He encouraged the CPA to see these individuals contributions and experience as relevant to the licensing of Psychologists. There appeared to be little demand for the 'specialized knowledge' a Ph.D. program would provide, and Poser even suggested that technicians with high school education be trained to give psychometric tests, such as the M.M.P.I. and Sentence Completion, in order to answer some of the increased demand for Psychologists.
The public did not seem to see psychology as a serious or even necessary science needing advanced training and education, as shown by Gaddes' (1960) study on Canadian attitudes towards psychology. In it a surprisingly large number of responses were negative, seeing psychology as a pseudo-science, "a form of spiritualism with out psychic powers" (p. 55), that unnecessarily attempted to solve the problems of everyday people, which individuals could solve themselves through common sense and experience. Gaddes further states that "[a]ny mother with at least three children is as good as any psychologist" (p. 55). Many of the attitudes found in the study suggest the public saw Psychologists as having to much 'education' and not enough practical experience, thus not seeing a need for a Ph.D. program.
Canadian Psychology, with the push to define and defend its stand as a 'real science', saw graduate training as necessary and beneficial. As they tried to solve this problem they began to look at other sources for answers, most notably the United States. In the January, 1960 issue of Canadian Psychologist, Bindra wrote of the December, 1958 A.P.A. conference in Miami. He outlined the directions taken in the conference with both agreement and horror. The conference touched on two important issues with respect to the training of psychologists. The first is over the distinction between academic verse applied orientations while the second is over the problem of having people working as psychologists who are not fully trained. This second concern is due to what the A.P.A. saw as a shortage of qualified professionals - something in direct contradiction to what industry and the public were saying.
At the Miami conference a stand was taken on the issue of academic vs. applied with the term "Academic-Professional". These were Psychologists
who can choose sound procedures and reject worthless ones because [they] can react critically to the evidence behind new theories and methods - in short, an alert and constantly growing, rather then a passive and stagnating, member of the profession (p. 4).
This statement, supporting the need of both applied and academic researchers who could scientifically solve problems was echoed in many Canadian articles of this time (Payne, 1964, MacDonald, 1960, Douglas, 1961).
Though Bindra agreed with the research emphasis he was horrified by the 'scientism' surrounding it in the United States and included several examples in his article. He stated that they used the word research as a "prestige word" and made "cavalier use of it", even to the extent that "at one point it was asserted by some that the practice of psychotherapy is in itself a research activity!" (p. 6).
In 1960 the Canadian Psychological Association held the Opinicon Conference. In July of 1961, C.M. Mooney reviewed the book on this conference called Training for Research in Psychology. Edited by CPA's president Karl S. Bernhardt, this book joined the many articles in 1961 and the following years in discussing the role of research in the training of psychologists. The other chief emphasis found in the Canadian Psychologist during that month and throughout 1962 is a focus on the various roles of psychologists in the school system. Related to this last emphasis are various articles concerned with books or issues related to child development.
A review of Karl Bernhardt's book characterizes this 1960 Opinicon conference as "an exercise in leadership by the CPA in finding ways and means of correcting short-comings in training and qualifications of psychologists, improving the professional stature of applied psychologists, and enhancing the calibre of psychological research" (Mooney, 1961, p.99). The conference's contribution to this issue joins the 1955 Macleod Report on psychology in Canadian Universities and Colleges and Meyer's 1958 article called 'Professional Psychology in Canada' which Mooney notes also raised the concern. The book presents the conference as affirming that psychology is a science first and a profession second. It recommended that in order to be called a psychologist in Canada, a person must 1) have a Ph.D., 2) have training preeminently as a research scientist, and 3) ground their work in scientific methods of inquiry. The conference "endorsed fifty pronouncements" on training research at all educational levels and in applied psychology as well (Mooney, 1961, p.100).
Seemingly to promote further reflection on this issue, articles appeared highlighting research training objectives and procedures at the University of Ottawa (Sheverell, 1962) and the extensive research facilities at the University of Manitoba (McCormack, 1962). Another Canadian article proclaims that "doctoral training in psychology can best occur within an active research setting" (Ferguson, 1962, p.86) and points out the need for more Canadian based funding for research as well as more training facilities to meet projected future need. Norman Lamont's (p. 62) review of E Bruno Peller's book Clinical Process emphasizes the empirical aspects of clinical psychology. These articles, which are seen throughout the Journal, are supportive of the Boulder model's emphasis on the scientist- practitioner regarding ideal psychological training. Further in support of this ideal, two articles appeared from the University of North Dakota, one emphasizing the need for 'hands on' exposure of undergraduates to research as early as possible (Rosenthal, 1962), and the other suggesting the reevaluation of the theoretical guidelines for clinical training (Sattler, 1962). Along with the Boulder model emphasis, these exemplify the tendency to follow what is going on in psychology in the US. While this practice is beneficial, it can prevent Canadian psychology from developing its own-better?-identity if it is done uncritically.
The struggle for the legitimization of psychology was not just centered in North America, but was worldwide. An article by Berlyne (1963) discusses the form psychology took in the former Soviet Union. As Berlyne (1963) argues, the distinction between psychology and physiology has been blurred for years. For instance, many Russian researchers were doing psychological experiments under the title of physiology and were more likely to have degrees in physiology or medicine. Moreover, there was no distinction between either pure or applied psychology in the U.S.S.R. (Berlyne, 1963). However, there has been a considerable change in the atmosphere between Russian and Western researchers. Prior to 1953, western psychology was bitterly vilified due to its capitalist nature, but since the mid-1950s, psychologists on both sides have become more open, share ideas, and work on similar problems (Berlyne, 1963). In other words, we can see that there was an attempt to join the discipline of psychology as a united whole and differentiate it from other disciplines.
To this extent, psychologists around the world have argued for the creation and use of standardized reporting and a global rating scale by Clinical psychologists (Hamilton, 1963). Hamilton (1963) argues that in order to unite and legitimize psychology, published reports should show high reliability and validity. In other words, any clinical psychologist should be able receive a report and be able to read, understand, and replicate the findings using a standardized reporting scheme and a global rating scale.
The outcome of the Opinicon conference ended up much the same as the ones of the Boulder and the Miami conferences, that the psychologist should be "first and foremost a scientist and only secondarily a professional" (Sutherland, 1964). In Canada and the United States, there was an increasing concern over the training of psychologists. An agreement was needed to be reached regarding the training of academic and clinical psychologists. There was an increasing growth towards applied psychology and away from research. Instead of turning away from professionalism, there should be an increased effort to improve training and in developing a professional discipline. If psychology continued to focus on research in the lab, psychology as a whole would be doomed (Boyd,1964).
Spires' (1964) article questioned why so many Canadian Universities accepted such young and bright graduate students and only turned out mediocre clinical psychologists. Spires (1964) criticized the inadequate training programs which did not meet the needs of the applied setting nor adapted to changing roles and functions The training programs should meet the needs of the clinical psychologist in the applied field and not just the research field; a background in psychological science, theory , testing and measurement is not enough (Spires, 1964). For adequate training, exposure to clinical material needs to be increased and with a greater intensity in later training. Spires (1964) points out that MA students are not prepared to deal with the problems in real life settings and that PhD graduates are also unprepared with their training in traditional research and their traditional theses. New clinical training for the clinical psychologist would make them prepared to fit new roles, to be alert and responsive to the changes in techniques and theory (Spires, 1964).
The Miami Conference also realized the need to adopt terminal Master's degrees to meet the growing demand for psychological services and even complimented the system from McGill, which had been in place for ten years. Thus there was a response to growing outsider pressure to produce more people that could fill roles, but at the same time they could not budge too far on the research emphasis, for only through this did the hope of becoming a true science lie.
The articles which dealt with applied psychological subjects tended to highlight the role of psychologists in the school systems and the mental health system. The articles which dealt with the role of the psychologist in the educational realm varied from Sheverell's (1962) describing the training of educational psychologists at the University of Ottawa and highlighting the need for them. Laver (1962) indicates that the role of psychologist in programmed education would be to team up with teachers and other professional to tailor programmes to the children and develop curriculum. Keating (1962) shares his experience as a counselling psychologist in an Ontario Junior High, where his objectives are to "foster optimum intelligence and the psycho-social development of the students" (p.14). Bower (1962) relates that as a school psychologist her job is to identify high needs students, tailor material to meet their needs, and counsel parents and students. She echoed Opinicon's exhortation to do research and experiments whenever possible (Bower, 1962). In another applied field, however, that of mental health services (Spires, 1962) psychologists were reprimanded for their poor participation and representation at the 2nd Annual Canadian Institute on Mental Health Services. Spires (1962) also points out that not all research in this field need be done by psychologists, nor is research the only role for psychologists in this field. Finally, a research article by Crawford and Signori (1962) studied the teaching methods at the university level and its presence in the journal echoed the presence of 8 research papers read at the General meeting of the Ontario Psychological Association (1962).
In the April, 1963 issue of Canadian Psychologist, Ewing wrote of the need to make a distinction in the education and training of a "psychologist-practitioner" and a "psychologist- scientist". In particular, it was argued that all psychologists should have the same basic training up to the M.A. level, which would include an emphasis on biology, physiology, experimental psychology, statistics, and research methods (Ewing, 1963). However, after completing the M.A. level, the experimental - academic group should continue with the Ph.D. program; while "psychologist-practitioners" should be exposed to situations in which they can learn to apply psychological techniques and psychological instruments (Ewing, 1963). Moreover, Ewing (1963) states that this post-graduate training should be rewarded with an applied degree that is equivalent in status to a research oriented Ph.D. degree.
Berlyne, D.E. (1963). Psychology In The U.S.S.R. Canadian Psychologist, 4a, 1-14.
Bindra, Dalbir (1960). The Miami Conference on graduate education in psychology. Canadian Psychologist, 1a (1), 2- 8.
Bowers, J. E. (1962). Wanted: Trained psychologists for the schools. Canadian Psychologist, 3a(2), 51-2.
Boyd, J.B. (1964). Some comments on professional being and becoming. Canadian Psychologist, 5.46-49.
Dixon, Jean L. (1960). The use of "untrained psychologists" in a child guidance clinic. Canadian Psychologist 1a(3), 45-49.
Ewing, R.M. (1963). Some Thoughts On The Education And Training Of Clinical Psychologists. Canadian Psychologist, 4a, 55- 59.
Ferguson, G. A. (1962). Financial aspects of research in Canada. Canadian Psychologist, 3a(3), 82-87.
Gaddes, William H. (1960). What do Canadians think of psychology. Canadian Psychologist, 1a (4), 50-58.
Hamilton, John T.(1963). The Use Of Global Ratings As A Means Of Improving The Reliability Of Clinical Reports. Canadian Psychologist , 4a, 51-53.
Keating, A.C. (1962). A counselling psychologist in an Ontario junior high. Canadian Psychologist , 3a(1), 14-17.
Lamont, N. (1962). A review of Clinical Process by E. Bruno Butler. Canadian Psychologist , 3a(3), 116-117.
Laver, A. B. (1962). A role for psychologists in programmeded. Canadian Psychologist, 3a (1), 2-5.
McCormack, P. D. (1962). Psychology at Manitoba. Canadian Psychologist, 3a(2), 38-42.
Mooney, C.M. (1961). A review of Training for research in psychology, by Karl S. Bernhardt, (Ed. ). Canadian Psychologist, 2a(3), 99-101.
Payne, R.W. (1960). Professional training in psychology. Canadian Psychologist, 1a(4), 92-96.
Poser, Ernest G. (1961). The case for psychology technicians. Canadian Psychologist, 2a(1), 2-5.
Rosenthal, R. (1962). Toward earlier research activity in psychology. Canadian Psychologist, 3a(2), 43-49.
Sattler, J. (1962). Viewpoint: The clinician maturing. Canadian Psychologist, 3a(4),150-151.
Sheverell, R.H. (1962). The school of psychology and education of the University of Ottawa. Canadian Psychologist, 3a(1), 7-10.
Spires, A. M. (1962). Canadian mental health association report on mental health services. Canadian Psychologist, 3a(2), 56- 59.
Spires, A.M. (1964). Training of professional psychologists. Canadian Psychologist, 5, 90-93.
Sutherland, J.S. (1964). The case history of a profession. Canadian Psychologist, 5, 209-223.
During the early 1970's, the journal, Canadian Psychologist, has been focusing on many things. Psychologists researched on education, social psychology, traffic fatalities, people's stereotypes, methods of experimentation, behaviour therapies, and many others. It can be said that their main theme then was education because they wrote mostly about it. They also wanted the field of psychology to improve because the education of graduate psychology students was being questioned. Most of the studies eventually point to the development of the identity of Canadian psychology.
The interest in the study of psychology in Canada is probably a result of the commissioning by the Science Secretariat, part of the Privy Council, in 1966. "The objective of the study was to identify an appropriate role for psychology with respect to individual scientific disciplines" (Solandt, 1970). This quotation implies that as psychology is developing as a single discipline of its own, there should be the task of providing advice on how the discipline is to be funded. To get the discipline funded though, psychology has to establish needs and opportunities in science in order to see the usefulness that it can provide.
There also seems to be a focus in evaluating the quality and quantity of psychologists in Canada. For example, the current programs available at that time were inadequate to train graduate students and, there were fewer Canadian psychologists compared to those from the United States. Graduate programs, too, were examined in detail. The overall conclusion, of the people evaluating all these programs, was that Canadian psychology did not really provide high quality and, at the same time, no quantity. The researchers also pointed out that the government should try to pay more attention and give more support by providing more fundings. Concerning the quantity of Canadian psychology, it was said to have been growing well along with the American psychology until the 1950's. After that, the APA have been growing whereas the growth of psychology in Canada seems to have slowed down. These evaluations are probably few of the precursors that have awakened psychology in Canada once again. There was also general concern that there would be too little job openings for graduates in the academia.
First, it seemed that the psychological community was concerned with how graduate students were being educated. For instance, were psychology graduate students only carrying on their teachers' ideas or were they developing their own? In addition to that, were there new ideas or theories that could be provided for the next generation of psychologists? There were also articles that briefly mentioned the future occupations of post-graduate psychology majors. What does the future hold for Canadian Psychologists? How would their success be achieved?
The topic of education was still the concern during 1972, although other parts of education were discussed. The Canadian Psychologist was interested in the relationship between a person's background and education. For example, does a person's social class have an effect on education? The psychologists sought to improve the low aptitude scores of the lower social class by improving their education. There was also a suggestion that culture plays a role in learning. There were social problems that were encountered which may interfere with children's learning. Examples included racism, different interests of different groups, etc. Because Canada was seen as a bilingual country at that time, these issues were quite important to be dealt with.
Not only the realm of education was affected by different cultures. The whole Canadian society was also affected. This can be seen from the experiments carried out. There were articles that talked about people's impressions and stereotypes. Social interactions between people were also researched. Psychological testings, as well, were being evaluated as to how they were being carried out. There were guidelines set for the administrators of tests in the end.
The journal's interest in the improvement of Canadian psychology was side-tracked in the early part of 1973. In the first number of volume 14, almost all of the articles written were about traffic safety. This was due to the high rates of traffic fatalities. They wanted to find out why there were a lot of accidents happening. Much research tested looked at how social psychological factors might influence road-user behaviour and the effectiveness of traffic markers. These studies also recommended many programs that might lessen traffic fatalities. For instance, there was the Impaired Drivers' Project, counter-measure for drinking drivers and drinking pedestrians, and Driver Improvement Program. It was also suggested that people's behaviour towards traffic might be modified by using a mass communication theory. During this time, traffic markers were also changed in the streets.
The interest in education and experimentation was maintained. Psychologists wanted to see how psychology could be put into schools. One idea involved counseling services for students at their schools. Academic stability of schools was also looked into. In the area of research, psychologists' views on experiments were discussed. For example, how should they choose their subjects and, what were their attitudes towards the experimenters and the experiments.
The following year, 1974,The Canadian Psychologist shifted its interest to behaviour modification. The main focus was on the identity of behaviour modification. "What is behaviour modification? and who are the modifiers?" were the main concerns. It was said that the field was having an identity crisis. This was probably due to the great deal of skepticism towards behaviour modification during the 1960's. People did not really know how much the procedure worked. In the 1970's, behaviour modification was distinguished from its heritage, operant conditioning and behaviour therapy, with its heritage in Pavlovian conditioning and Hullian learning theory. Although many of the proponents and critics of behaviour therapy tried to distinguish behaviour modification, they were not consistent with one another.
Solandt, O. M., (1970). Foreword: The science council and psychology in Canada. The Canadian Psychologist 11(2), 100.
In January 1975, a new era in Canadian psychology was born when the Canadian Psychologist/Psychologie Canadienne became known as Canadian Psychological Review/ Psychologie Canadienne. This seemingly small cosmetic change was actually significant in that it represented the next step in the continuing evolution of the publication. The previous journal, which was re-established itself in 1964, was primarily concerned with accommodating the growing sector of applied research. However, with the closing of the division between academic and field psychology in the late 1960s and early 1970s, a new direction was in order. In the view of editors David Gibson, Adrien Pinard, and T. B. Rogers, the new English title was necessary to more accurately depict future content. Furthermore, any submissions to the journal were encouraged, with considerations including the "soundness of scholarship and uniqueness," and a unification between "pure and applied across subspecialty and between those disciplines which deal with behaviors."
Although the editors of the newly designed journal intended to strike a balance between academic and field psychology, nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, if one examines every quarterly issue for the entire year of 1975, one will discover a surprising lack of emphasis on pure topics. Nevertheless, the ones which were published were generally oriented towards what psychology was or should be as a science. For example, Hebb claimed that science is an imagined world, and thus has implications for our behavior and teaching. On the other hand, Brandt argued that psychology offered researchers survival, power and meaning in their lives but hindered the growth of the discipline. In yet another differing opinion, Berlyne believed that psychology is going through a paradigm shift away from behaviorism, but must retain some its elements in order to avoid the limitations of upcoming orientations. Finally, Hunt supported the idea that psychology should be interactive, developmental, reciprocal, and practical.
While the pure articles in the 1975 issue of Canadian Psychological Review/Psychologie Canadienne addressed some important goals within science, they were completely overwhelmed by their applied counterparts. In fact, applied subjects outnumbered pure ones by roughly a two to one in ratio, and in later years this would become over greater, about four to one. Therefore, it seems that the journal was continuing the mandate of its predecessor by focusing only upon the technical uses of psychology.
During 1975 to 1979, a number of volumes included commentaries on various issues. These critiques and commentaries argued about topics such as developmental psychology. For example, Juan Pasual-Leone (1976) was a strong critic of Piagetian view on learning and development. Some articles in 1978 also revolved a controversy over Piaget's theory of cognitive development. Sziraki contended that Piaget's theory is adequate if one made a distinction between invariant functions and variant structures. However, MacNamara stood on the other side of the debate when he pointed out that Piaget offered no explanation of mental development, and did not succeed in developing a sufficient theory of cognition from a biological theory. Moessinger in the same year discussed Piaget's unnoticed work on interpersonal balance. These pros and cons triggered other concerns and investigations on the developmental psychology (Rourke, 1976; Hunt, 1976; Gilmore, 1978; Kozma & Stones, 1978). Developmental psychology was again mentioned in January 1979 by a couple of articles, but this issue mainly pertained to critical analysis on education.
Besides the critiques of Piaget's theory, there was an even more vigorous debate about the use of citation counts to measure the "scholarly impact" of departments of universities. The use of Science Citations, Social Science Citations and Citation Indices offer a thorough and objective means of assessing scholarly impact by consensus (Bavelas, 1978). This use came prominently to the attention of Canadian psychologists when Buss (1976) and Endler (1977) ranked Canadian psychology departments by citation counts, then followed by a flurry of comments, mostly critical (Bavelas, 1976; MacDonald, 1976; Schaeffer, 1977; Garfield, 1977; Bavelas, 1978; Schaeffer & Sulyma, 1979) and a panel discussion at the 1977 Annual Meting. Most of them debate over the evaluative use of citations -- that is, to measure scholarly impact -- has focused on technical deficiencies, as suggested by Bavelas (1978).
First started by Buss (1976), in the "Evaluation of Canadian psychology Departments based on Citation and Publication Count", he evaluated thirty-two Canadian psychology departments offering graduate programs in terms of productivity and impact upon discipline. Publication and citation counts were tabulated for each individual staff member in each department and totaled with each department. Shortly after, MacDonald (1976) commented on his article about the methodology of the study and its results. He also made criticisms of the use of citation and publication analysis for evaluation purposes. In the same year, Bavelas pointed out that bias and systematic errors with Buss's evaluation. In 1977, Schaeffer later re-examined Buss's (1976) data and criticized his results by 'g' factors that influenced the department. For examples, granting, university's funds, fertile climate... etc. Not only the critiques of articles were made, but also a letter to the editor by Garfield (1977) commented on MacDonald's (1976) criticism should have been directed at the rankings, not at the purpose of doing rankings or the techniques of using citation analysis.
Despite the criticisms about Buss's evaluation, Endler came up with a similar job in 1977 and concluded that a disproportionately small number of psychologists had the major impact, and a ranking of psychology department of different Canadian universities. Bavelas (1978), in a social psychology aspects, proposed that citation counts measure social consensus and social-historical climate. In 1979, Schaeffer and Sulyma conducted an evaluation on the citation rates again, stressed that citations and graduate-placement provided the best index of department quality. It seems that the evaluation on the use of citation rates to measure the scholarly impact of universities, departments or individuals was a never ending controversy in Canadian psychology during that era.
The journal in 1975 to 1979 had also concerned on the health issues. In 1976, Jeffrey Harsco's existential interpretation of schizophrenia, Michael Peter's case report on conditioning and alcoholism, and Shady's review on death anxiety for the terminally ill were some publications about health. In 1978, Sadava contributed another piece to the Journal when she suggested that personality is an important factor in alcoholism. In the same year, Spevack reviewed the behavior therapy treatment of bronchial asthma. Pauze and Roskies (1978) explained a typical eating behavior of obese people. In addition, LeBow (1979) concerned about treatment issues relevant to the topic of the behavior control of childhood obesity. Mostly, these health issues involve the application of behavior therapy techniques. An ethical issue that was of great concerned at that time.
The ethical problems in social psychological experimentation in the laboratory were concerned by Eisener in 1977. Eisener suggested that psychologists need to replace deception by observational research and correlational studies in providing both knowledge and challenge without the gross ethical and methodological problems of traditional laboratory experimentation. In the article "Practice Wise" Pettifor (1979a) provided five different ethical issues with which psychological practitioners should be concerned in judging the application of the principles of professional standards and ethics. The five facets are: concerned due with traditional codes, complaints, government regulation, advertising and conflicts with employers. In the same year, Pettifor (1979b) suggested that discrimination should be avoided in good ethical practice. He also listed examples of vulnerable groups: prisoners, the mentally ill, women, handicapped...etc. James and Allon in 1979 also mentioned the legal issue in the use of behavior modification techniques. The juridical decisions of a US case have limited some aspects of the application of behavior modification techniques in that country. A series of guidelines was thus presented to prevent a potential similar legal-behavior modification conflict from developing in Canada. Petiffor (1979c) reflected on this legal issue by suggesting special treatment modalities to avoid ethical complaints and trial suits.
In January, 1977, there was the emergence of a major issue concerning feminism in psychology. The whole special issue, titled as "Report of the Task Force on the Staus of Women in Canadian Psychology"was edited by Barbara Wand, with the help of other women in Canadian Psychological Association (CPA). The report, originally prepared for presentation to the Board of Directors of the CPA in April, 1976, described the formation of the Task Force on the Status of Women in Canadian Psychology, states the terms of reference adopted, summarizes the supporting papers prepared by members of the Task Force, and presented recommendations for action by the CPA mainly on four areas: the status of women within the discipline of psychology, the education and training of women in psychology, sex bias in psychological research, and psychological services provided to women.
In the report, the Task Force attempted to formulate recommendations which could be carried out directly by the CPA, by members of university departments of psychology or by individual psychologists. The importance of encouraging further research in a number of areas relevant to an understanding of women has been emphasized throughout the report. It was the view of the Task Force that members of the discipline of psychology could support the efforts of women to develop their potential, to achieve equality and to participate fully with examples of bias or discrimination within our own ranks. The discipline could act by ensuring equal status and by encouraging full participation of women psychologists within the discipline, as suggested by Pyke. Burwell also suggested that the discipline can exert efforts to use objective criteria in administrations to graduate studies in psychology and by providing support and encouragement to students regardless of sex. Gray and Favreau said that the discipline could exercise care in avoiding special pleading or bias in writing textbooks and in conducting research. Finally, it could endeavour to increase the level of knowledge and the degree of sensitivity and understanding of its members in dealing with the problems of women who seek psychological services (Woolsey; Luce & Wand; Carver).
Throughout the period of 1975 to 1976, most of the applied articles emphasize cognitive research of some sort. Suedfeld (1975), for example, suggested that sensory and social deprivation in infancy might result in irreversible damage, and similar brief periods during adulthood may have severe effects. Turning to another topic, Paivio (1975) argued that imagery involves concurrently organized informational structures that help create richness, flexibility, and speed of thinking. Lastly, Kearsley (1975) believed that problems with problem- solving were not necessarily due to the effects of previous performances on comparable tasks.
During 1976 a strong emphasis on cognitive psychology was also apparent. For example, Pascual-Leone, a neo-piagetian, mentioned problems with the constructive cognition model and introduced the theory of constructive operators. In the first quarter of 1976, Kirby and Das commented on Paivio's (1975) imagery theory and discussed the difference between this theory and the model of simultaneous and successive processing (Das, Kirby & Jarman, 1975). Within this issue of Canadian Psychological Review , Paivio discussed Das, Kirby, and Jarman's theory and defended his own imagery and dual coding research explaining that it was misunderstood. It was clear that rival points of views were habituated throughout the volumes of this period.
In January, 1979, the Canadian Psychological Association decided a name change to the publication Canadian Psychological Review. As of 1980, the journal was known as Canadian Psychology. A reason in the title change was to align it with the French version. Thus, the name Canadian Psychology/Psychologie Canadienne came into effect. The journal welcomed submissions in various social aspects and contributions to psychology as a profession and as a science. Specialist experimental, theoretical or review articles were not encouraged. After eleven years of service, David Gibson, the editor of CPR resigned and was succeeded by Daniel Pearlman, a social psychologist. Pearlman's influence was noticed in future publications.