The American Psychological Association (APA) is the main professional organization of psychologists in the United States, and the largest psychological association in the world. It has over 157,000 members, including scientists, educators, clinicians, consultants, and students. It has 54 divisions, which function as interest groups for different subspecialties of psychology or topical areas. The APA has an annual budget of around $125 million.
A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and interpretation of how individuals relate to each other and to their environments.
The American Physical Society (APS) is a not-for-profit membership organization of professionals in physics and related disciplines, comprising nearly fifty divisions, sections, and other units. Its mission is the advancement and diffusion of knowledge of physics. The society publishes more than a dozen scientific journals, including the prestigious Physical Review and Physical Review Letters, and organizes more than twenty science meetings each year. APS is a member society of the American Institute of Physics. Since January 2021 the organization has been led by chief executive officer Jonathan Bagger.
Community psychology is concerned with the community as the unit of study. This contrasts with most psychology which focuses on the individual. Community psychology also studies the community as a context for the individuals within it, and the relationships of the individual to communities and society. Community psychologists seek to understand the functioning of the community, including the quality of life of persons within groups, organizations and institutions, communities, and society. They aim to enhance the quality of life through collaborative research and action.
The Association for Psychological Science (APS), previously the American Psychological Society, is an international non-profit organization whose mission is to promote, protect, and advance the interests of scientifically oriented psychology in research, application, teaching, and the improvement of human welfare. APS publishes several journals, holds an annual meeting, disseminates psychological science research findings to the general public, and works with policymakers to strengthen support for scientific psychology.
The National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) is the major national professional organization for school psychologists in the United States.
Peer mentoring is a form of mentorship that usually takes place between a person who has lived through a specific experience and a person who is new to that experience. An example would be an experienced student being a peer mentor to a new student, the peer mentee, in a particular subject, or in a new school. Peer mentors are also used for health and lifestyle changes. For example, clients, or patients, with support from peers, may have one-on-one sessions that meet regularly to help them recover or rehabilitate. Peer mentoring provides individuals who have had a specific life experience the chance to learn from those who have recovered, or rehabilitated, following such an experience. Peer mentors provide education, recreation and support opportunities to individuals. The peer mentor may challenge the mentee with new ideas, and encourage the mentee to move beyond the things that are most comfortable. Most peer mentors are picked for their sensibility, confidence, social skills and reliability.
The American Psychology–Law Society (AP–LS) is an academic society for legal and forensic psychologists, as well as general psychologists who are interested in the application of psychology to the law. AP–LS serves as Division 41 of the American Psychological Association and publishes the academic journal Law and Human Behavior.
The Society for Occupational Health Psychology (SOHP) is the first organization in the United States to be devoted to occupational health psychology. It is dedicated to the application of scientific knowledge for the purpose of improving worker health and well-being.
The European Academy of Occupational Health Psychology (EA-OHP) is a pan-European organization that was established in 1999. Along with the International Commission on Occupational Health's scientific committee on Work Organisation and Psychosocial Factors, EA-OHP is one of the first organizations of its kind to be devoted to occupational health psychology (OHP).
The Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP) is a professional organization that promotes the "science, practice, and teaching" of industrial and organizational (I/O) psychology. SIOP is also known as Division 14 of the American Psychological Association (APA). The society publishes I/O-related journals, provides its members with resources, and organizes an annual conference.
Wilbert James "Bill" McKeachie was an American psychologist. He served as president of the American Psychological Association, the American Psychological Foundation and the American Association of Higher Education. He was a longtime faculty member at the University of Michigan and the initial author of McKeachie's Teaching Tips: Strategies, Research, and Theory for College and University Teachers, a widely read book on college teaching that was first published in 1951 and more recently in its 14th edition in 2013.
Ludy T. Benjamin Jr. is an American psychologist and historian of psychology. He retired from Texas A&M University in 2012. He is a charter member of the Association for Psychological Science and a former director of the Office of Educational Affairs at the American Psychological Association (APA). He was president of two APA divisions, wrote more than 20 books and authored more than 150 journal articles and book chapters.
Bonnie Ruth Strickland is known for her contributions to the psychology community. From her decades long career at Emory University and University of Massachusetts Amherst to her time as the president of the American Psychological Association (APA) she has contributed a great deal to clinical psychology, social psychology, and feminism.
Founded in 1936, the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (SPSSI) is a group of 3,000 scientists from psychology and related fields who share a common interest in research on the psychological aspects of important social and policy issues. In various ways, SPSSI seeks to bring theory and practice into focus on human problems of the group, the community, and nations, as well as on the increasingly important problems that have no national boundaries. SPSSI affords social and behavioral scientists opportunities to apply their knowledge and insights to the critical problems of today's world. SPSSI fosters and funds research on social issues through annual awards and programs of small research grants and disseminates research findings through its scholarly journals, sponsored books, specialized conferences, and its convention programs. SPSSI encourages public education and social activism on social issues and facilitates information exchange through its newsletter, social media, and electronic discussion groups. With headquarters in Washington, DC, the Society influences public policy through its publications, congressional briefings, and the advocacy efforts of its members, fellows, and staff. The Society's mission is extended to the global arena by a team of representatives who cover developments at UN headquarters in New York and Geneva. SPSSI has been represented at the United Nations as a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) since 1987. SPSSI serves as consultant to the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). An independent society, SPSSI is also Division 9 of the American Psychological Association (APA) and an organizational affiliate of the American Psychological Society (APS).
Todd D. Little is a professor of Educational Psychology in the Research, Evaluation, Measurement, and Statistics (REMS) concentration in Educational Psychology at Texas Tech University.
Florence Harriet Levin Denmark is an American psychologist and a past president of the American Psychological Association (APA) (1980-1981). She is a pioneering female psychologist who has influenced the psychological sciences through her scholarly and academic accomplishments in both psychology and feminist movements. She has contributed to psychology in several ways, specifically in the field of psychology of women and human rights, both nationally and internationally.
Nancy Elinor Adler was an American health psychologist. She was the Lisa and John Pritzker Professor of Medical Psychology at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), and director of UCSF's Center for Health and Community Sciences. Adler was known for her research on health behaviors, health disparities, and social determinants of health.
Virginia A. Andreoli Mathie is a psychologist known for promoting active learning in undergraduate education and her work building psychology partnerships with outside organizations. Mathie was Professor of Psychology at James Madison University until her retirement in 2004. From 2004 to 2008, she served as the first executive director of Psi Chi International Honors Society in Psychology.
Jessica Henderson Daniel is a psychologist and educator, known for her work on mental health in the Black community, racial trauma, and the effects of stress and violence on Black children and adolescents. Daniel was the first African American woman to lead the American Psychological Association (APA), serving her term as President of the organization in 2018.
