Finding aid for the Association for Psychological Science archival records

History of the Association for Psychological Science

The Association for Psychological Science (APS) was founded as the American Psychological Society on August 12, 1988 with a mission of advancing scientific psychology and its representation as a science on the national level. In 1987, the Assembly for Scientific and Applied Psychology, a group of 450 scientifically-oriented psychologists, voted to found the American Psychological Society.

Charles Kiesler was elected the first president and Alan Kraut was the first Executive Director. In 1988, the Society began publishing its newsletter, the Observer, and the following year, the first annual APS convention was held in Virginia. In 1992, APS began publishing its first peer-reviewed journal, Current Directions in Psychological Science. The Association now also publishes two other journals: Perspectives on Psychological Science and Psychological Science in the Public Interest. In 2006, the American Psychological Society changed its name to the Association for Psychological Science to reflect its international scope as well as its scientific orientation.

Scope and Content

The Association for Psychological Science records contain detailed documentation of all aspects of the Association's activities from its founding to the present. The majority of the collection consists of the Board of Director's memoranda compiled by the Association's Executive Director. These memorandums include updates on Association activities, board membership rosters, news clippings, convention planning materials, and other routine Association activities. The Association's considerable involvement with federal funding programs is documented extensively throughout the collection. The Association was also very involved in assessing the system of accreditation in psychology and the collection documents their assessments and contributions in this domain as well.

Statement of Arrangement

Restrictions on Use

The researcher assumes full responsibility for observing all copyright, property, and libel laws as they apply.

Restrictions on Access

There are no access restrictions on the materials for research purposes and the collection is open to the public.

Subject Headings

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.

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Preferred Citation

Cite as: [identification of item], [folder number, box number], Archives of the History of American Psychology, The Drs. Nicholas and Dorothy Cummings Center for the History of Psychology - The University of Akron

Acquisition Information

The Association for Psychological Science records were acquired by the Center for the History of Psychology in several accessions between 1990 and 2007. The papers were donated by Alan Kraut, Steven Hayes, Sarah Brookhart, and Elizabeth Ruksznis.

Processing Information

The collection was processed by Cathy Faye in 2010.

Accruals

Future accessions are anticipated.

Detailed Description of The Collection