Ludy T. Benjamin

Bio: Ludy T. Benjamin is an academic researcher from Texas A&M University. The author has contributed to research in topics: Critical psychology & School psychology. The author has an hindex of 23, co-authored 70 publications receiving 1676 citations. Previous affiliations of Ludy T. Benjamin include American Psychological Association & Wesleyan University.

The affirmation of the scientist-practitioner. A look back at Boulder.

Abstract: In the aftermath of World War II, several influences were paramount in forcing academic psychology to recognize, albeit reluctantly, the coming professionalization of psychology. The federal government, wishing to avoid a repeat of blunders following World War I that led to significant dissatisfaction among veterans, took proactive steps to ensure that mental health needs of the new veterans would be met. The USPHS and the VA were mandated to expand significantly the pool of mental health practitioners, a direction that led not only to the funding of the Boulder conference but also to the development of APA's accreditation program, funded practical and internship arrangements with the VA, and the USPHS grants to academic departments for clinical training. The GI Bill, amended to include payment for graduate education, created tremendous interest in graduate programs in psychology. As a result, psychology programs were inundated with funded applicants, most of whom were interested in the application of psychology to clinical and other applied fields. Graduate psychology departments were mixed in their views of this "blessing." The reality of a separate curriculum for professional training in psychology was a bitter pill for some academic psychologists to swallow. Graduate departments feared that control of their programs would be taken over by external forces and that they would lose their right to determine their own curriculum. Further, they feared the domination of clinical training within their own departments and the effects of such educational emphasis on their traditional experimental programs. The Boulder conference brought together these disparate needs and concerns, although one can argue about how well some points of view were represented with respect to others. It was a time of high anticipation and fear. The conference could easily have ended in failure, with such diverse interests being unable to reach any consensus. There are many letters in the correspondence of committee members that suggest disagreements serious enough to prevent the development of any single model of training. Instead, by most yardsticks that one could apply, the conference succeeded, perhaps beyond the dreams of many of those in attendance who were most invested in a model for professional training. In evaluating the legacy of Boulder, several points are apparent. First, the conference succeeded because 73 individuals were able to agree to some 70 resolutions in 15 days, creating the scientist-practitioner model of professional training. Such consensus was arguably a remarkable achievement. The endorsement of the model by academic units followed with little evident resistance, although it is clear that some Boulder-model programs were developed that bore little resemblance to the model's insistence on significant training in both research and practice. Second, as a response to social and political needs, the conference was clearly a success. The cooperation of the APA, the USPHS, and the VA benefited all three entities. Clinical psychology was given the financial support and backing to advance it as a profession, and the federal government was able to begin the process of securing the personnel needed to address the mental health needs of the nation. The architects of Boulder were clear that their vision of training for professional psychology should be viewed as dynamic and experimental rather than fixed and prescribed. Certainly there are several variants of professional training extant today, yet the overwhelming majority of currently accredited programs in psychology label themselves as "Boulder-model" programs or "scientist-practitioner" programs. Still, new national conferences on professional training in psychology occur with some regularity as participants seek to resolve many of the same concerns debated by those at Boulder. The grand experiment goes on.

A Brief History of Modern Psychology

Abstract: List of Illustrations ix Preface x 1 Pre-Scientific Psychology 1 2 Physiology, Psychophysics, and the Science of Mind 20 3 Germany and the Birth of a New Science 38 4 Origins of Scientific Psychology in America 58 5 The Early Schools of American Psychology 77 6 The Birth of the New Applied Psychology in America 98 7 Psychoanalysis 118 8 Behaviorism 139 9 The New Profession of Psychology 160 10 A Psychology of Social Action and Social Change 182 11 Cognitive Psychology 203 Epilogue 224 References 229 Index 244

Staying with Initial Answers on Objective Tests: Is it a Myth?

Abstract: Since 1928, at least 33 studies have been published concerning a number of issuessurrounding answer-changing behavior on objective tests. Although results in these studies have sometimes been at variance, the one consistent finding is that there is nothing inherently wrong with changing initial answers on objective tests. In fact, the evidence uniformly indicates that: (a) the majority of answer changes are from incorrect to correct and (b) most students who change their answers improve their test scores. None of the 33 studies contradicts either of those conclusions. Most of the research in this area has been aimed at testing the accuracy of \"first impressions\" in test-taking. This bit of academic folk wisdom is typically stated as the belief that one should not change answers on objective tests because initial reactions to test questions are intuitively more accurate than subsequent responses.

A history of teaching machines.

Abstract: " The development of teaching machines is traced from the patented educational devices of the 19th century through the initial teaching machines of Sidney Pressey in the 1920s to the machines invented by B. F. Skinner in the 1950s. The obscurity of Pressey's pioneering work in this field contrasted with the fame achieved by Skinner is discussed in a historical context. The final sections discuss the short-lived success and eventual failure of classroom teaching machines in the 1950s and 1960s. The latest report from the Dean Concerning the teaching machine Is that Oedipus Rex Could have learned about sex By machine and not bothered the Queen. --(cited in Skinner, 1983, p. 200) The December 1957 issue of Contemporary Psychology (CP) marked the completion of the journal 's second year of publication under the editorship of America's premier historian of psychology, Harvard University's Edwin G. Boring. In his monthly column, entitled "CP Speaks," Boring praised the recent publication of a laboratory manual of operant conditioning methods authored by Lloyd Homme and David Klaus. As an aside, he commented that Homme was visiting at Harvard where he was "working on another idea that originated with [B. F.] Skinner, the technique for teaching by machine" (Boring, 1957, p. 313). Boring, who in his historical writings had cautioned that origins are rarely unequivocal, should have known better than to make such an assertion of priority. What historians call an origin myth might have been in the making except for the action of Ohio State University psychologist Horace English who wrote to Boring on January 30, 1958: When the public press gave Skinner credit for originating "teaching by machine," it did not seem worth while to protest. But when the scholarly editor of CP falls into this trap; dear, oh dear. Be it known that Sidney Pressey published descriptions of machines which gave reinforcement by immediate knowledge of results and of one machine which gave reinforcement in the form of a piece of candy--when the child pressed the right lever, if you please. There have been at least six doctoral dissertations devoted to finding the effectiveness of such machines . . . . Most of this was before our friend Skinner even finished grade school. Originate, indeed! . . . . This note is not for publication but it should lead to some sort of correction. Sidney hasn't said beans in my hearing; maybe he does not know of Skinner's new proposal. Does Skinner have any idea of the wealth of research that has preceded him? In fact, B. E Skinner did know about Pressey's work, and Pressey was familiar with what Skinner was doing. Of the foursome, only Boring was unaware of Pressey's early work, and the letter from English elicited the following prompt response from the embarrassed 71-year-old

Personalization and Active Learning in the Large Introductory Psychology Class

Abstract: Addressing selected issues and strategies in teaching the large introductory psychology class, this article focuses on personalizing the large class, making large classes into small classes to faci...

Positive psychology: An introduction.

Abstract: A science of positive subjective experience, positive individual traits, and positive institutions promises to improve quality of life and prevent the pathologies that arise when life is barren and meaningless, The exclusive focus on pathology that has dominated so much of our discipline results in a model of the human being lacking the positive features that make life worth living. Hope, wisdom, creativity, future mindedness, courage, spirituality, responsibility, and perseverance are ignored or explained as transformations of more authentic negative impulses. The 15 articles in this millennial issue of the American Psychologist discuss such issues as what enables happiness, the effects of autonomy and self-regulation, how optimism and hope affect health, what constitutes wisdom, and how talent and creativity come to fruition. The authors outline a framework for a science of positive psychology, point to gaps in our knowledge, and predict that the next century will see a science and profession that will come to understand and build the factors that allow individuals, communities, and societies to flourish.

Two Treatises of Government.

Abstract: All these premises having, as I think, been clearly made out, it is impossible that the rulers now on earth should make any benefit, or derive any the least shadow of authority from that, which is held to be the fountain of all power, Adam's private dominion and paternal jurisdiction; so that he that will not give just occasion to think that all government in the world is the product only of force and violence, and that men live together by no other rules but that of beasts, where the strongest carries it, and so lay a foundation for perpetual disorder and mischief, tumult, sedition and rebellion, (things that the followers of that hypothesis so loudly cry out against) must of necessity find out another rise of government, another original of political power, and another way of designing and knowing the persons that have it, than what Sir Robert Filmer hath taught us.

"Cognitive, social, and physiological determinants of emotional state": Erratum

Abstract: The problem of which cues, internal or external, permit a person to label and identify his own emotional state has been with us since the days that James (1890) first tendered his doctrine that \"the bodily changes follow directly the perception of the exciting fact, and that our feeling of the same changes as they occur is the emotion\" (p. 449). Since we are aware of a variety of feeling and emotion states, it should follow from James' proposition that the various emotions will be accompanied by a variety of differentiable bodily states. Following James' pronouncement, a formidable number of studies were undertaken in search of the physiological differentiators of the emotions. The results, in these early days, were almost uniformly negative. All of the emotional states experi-

Guidelines on Multicultural Education, Training, Research, Practice, and Organizational Change for Psychologists

Abstract: Preface All individuals exist in social, political, historical, and economic contexts, and psychologists are increasingly called upon to understand the influence of these contexts on individuals’ behavior. The “Guidelines on Multicultural Education, Training, Research, Practice, and Organizational Change for Psychologists” reflect the continuing evolution of the study of psychology, changes in society at large, and emerging data about the different needs of particular individuals and groups historically marginalized or disenfranchised within and by psychology based on their ethnic/racial heritage and social group identity or membership. These “Guidelines on Multicultural Education, Training, Research, Practice, and Organizational Change for Psychologists” reflect knowledge and skills needed for the profession in the midst of dramatic historic sociopolitical changes in U.S. society, as well as needs of new constituencies, markets, and clients. The specific goals of these guidelines are to provide psychologists with (a) the rationale and needs for addressing multiculturalism and diversity in education, training, research, practice, and organizational change; (b) basic information, relevant terminology, current empirical research from psychology and related disciplines, and other data that support the proposed guidelines and underscore their importance; (c) references to enhance ongoing education, training, research, practice, and organizational change methodologies; and (d) paradigms that broaden the purview of psychology as a profession.

A Complete Bibliography of Publications in Isis, 2000{2009

Abstract: accademiche [38]. Ada [45]. Adrian [45]. African [56]. Age [39, 49, 61]. Al [23]. Al-Rawi [23]. Aldous [68]. Alex [15]. Allure [46]. America [60, 66]. American [49, 69, 61, 52]. ancienne [25]. Andreas [28]. Angela [42]. Animals [16]. Ann [26]. Anna [19, 47]. Annotated [46]. Annotations [28]. Anti [37]. Anti-Copernican [37]. Antibiotic [64]. Anxiety [51]. Apocalyptic [61]. Archaeology [26]. Ark [36]. Artisan [32]. Asylum [48]. Atri [54]. Audra [65]. Australia [41]. Authorship [15]. Axelle [29].