Developmental psychology and society

John Sants

pp. 365-384

in: John Sants (ed), Developmental psychology and society, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 1980

Abstract

It would be reasonable to assume that psychologists in their everyday lives nourish within them, like everyone else, some concept of a better world. Few of them, however, have said very much about the consequences of their work for social policy. Indeed, when the President of the British Psychological Society in 1976 chose as the title of his Presidential Address Psychology and Social Policy (Tizard, 1976) he was breaking new ground and running some risk of offending 'scientific psychologists' who traditionally have not concerned themselves very much with the consequences of their discoveries. Tizard made an explicit plea for the recognition of the interdependence of scientific and professional psychology; he urged psychologists to seek their problems in social issues and devote less time looking in the laboratory for general laws governing behaviour. The view has had growing support from a number of psychologists in recent years.