American psychology in the eighties: Who will buy?

Presents a planning model for American psychology (AP) that leads to 9 concrete action proposals. AP is viewed as a nonprofit business whose products involve the creation, application, and dissemination of scientifically and technologically derived information about the human mind and behavior. Investigation of the present status of these knowledge bases finds psychology wanting and strongly suggests 3 disquieting conclusions: (a) Potential achievements of basic research are being undermined by a misdirected incentive system of publication criteria that disregards many of this field's basic precepts; (b) psychological problem solution can be served by a technological research paradigm qualitatively different from that of basic research; and thus (c) if AP is to compete successfully for future public support, the technological paradigm must be much better articulated, expanded, and integrated into the organization of the discipline. (75 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved).