EuroPsy E-Book

Ingrid Lunt

• Herausgeber: Hogrefe Publishing
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 500

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2014

Beschreibung

The only comprehensive professional handbook on EuroPsy, the European standard and benchmark for education and training in psychology. This book is mandatory reading for anyone involved with accreditation, education, quality assurance, and assessment of standards in psychology. EuroPsy has been accepted and adopted as the European standard for education and training in psychology by EFPA. This book, written by its initiator and leading members of the working groups that set EuroPsy up, is the only comprehensive text available about this European benchmark. It first reviews the development of EuroPsy in the historical context of psychology as science and profession and policies for higher education set by international bodies, and in particular the European Union. This handbook then goes on to address the curricula of university courses and programmes following from the Bologna Agreement, the flexibility allowed to reflect diversity in Europe, licencing and accreditation, and benchmarking, as well as other prerequisites for meeting the EuroPsy standards. These include the use of a competence model to assure professional standards, supervision, continued professional development, supervision, and ethics. Finally, the authors examine the current and future role of EuroPsy in psychology in Europe, including practical examples of how EuroPsy has been applied in practice.

Leseprobe

EuroPsy

About the Authors

Ingrid Lunt is Professor of Educational Studies at the University of Oxford, and Vice Principal of Green Templeton College, University of Oxford. She is a Past President of the British Psychological Society (1999), the European Federation of Psychologists Associations (1993–1999), and the United Kingdom Inter-Professional Group (1998–2001). She is currently Chair of the European Awarding Committee for EuroPsy. Her main research interests are higher education, in particular doctoral education and higher professional learning, comparative postgraduate education, and work-based learning.

José María Peiró is Professor of Work and Organisational Psychology at the University of Valencia, Director of the Research Institute of Human Resources Psychology (IDOCAL), and Senior Researcher at the Research Institute of Economics (IVIE) Valencia, Spain. He is President of the International Association of Applied Psychology and a Past President of the European Association of Work and Organizational Psychology. His main research interests are occupational stress and well-being, youth labour market entry, and climate and leadership in organisations.

Ype Poortinga is Emeritus Professor of Cross-Cultural Psychology at Tilburg University in the Netherlands, and at the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium. He has been president of the International Test Commission, the International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology (IACCP), the Dutch Psychological Association (NIP), and the European Federation of Professional Psychologists Associations (EFPA). His most consistent research interest has been in the conditions under which psychological data obtained in different cultural populations can be meaningfully compared.

Robert A. Roe is Honorary Emeritus Professor of Organizational Theory and Organizational Behavior at Maastricht University (The Netherlands) and former Leibniz Professor at University of Leipzig (Germany). He is President of the European Federation of Psychologists’ Associations (EFPA) and was founding president of the European Association of Work & Organizational Psychology. His publications cover a broad range of topics related to work and organization. In his recent work, the emphasis is on temporal facets of behavioral and organizational phenomena, on research methodology, and on the interface between psychology and other disciplines.

EuroPsy

Standards and Quality in Education for Psychologists

Ingrid Lunt, José María Peiró, Ype Poortinga, & Robert A. Roe

Library of Congress Cataloging information for the print version of this book is available via the Library of Congress Marc Database

National Library of Canada Cataloguing in Publication Data Lunt, Ingrid, author     EuroPsy : standards and quality in education for psychologists / Ingrid Lunt, José María Peiró, Ype Poortinga, & Robert A. Roe.

Includes bibliographical references and index. Issued in print and electronic formats.

ISBN 978-0-88937-438-6 (pbk.).–ISBN 978-1-61676-438-8 (pdf).–ISBN 978-1-61334-438-5 (html)

    1. Psychologists–Certification–Europe. 2. Psychologists–Licenses–Europe. 3. Psychologists–Training of–Europe. 4. Psychologists–Professional ethics–Europe. I. Poortinga, Ype H., 1939-, author II. Roe, R. A. (Robert A.), author III. Peiró, José M. (José María), author IV. Title.

BF80.8.L85 2014

150.23’4

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Foreword

Psychology is a global profession. Like many other such professions, there is significant variability in how psychology is defined and regulated throughout the world. The challenge for internationalists is to understand how individual countries construct and implement systems of education, training, credentialing and regulation to conform to the local definitions of the profession, and devise ethical codes that meld universal and local contexts. In addition to languages spoken, the historical and political diversity in countries make comprehensive comparisons difficult. Multiple professional gatherings aimed at understanding psychology’s global diversity have attempted to map similarities and differences over the past 20 years, with some success.

The United Kingdom (UK), along with the United States (US), has been one of the primary exporters of global psychology. Many psychologists emigrated to the UK and US for education and training and returned to their home countries to develop similar systems. Initially this educational export then import was seen as helpful, but with time countries also became concerned that UK/US perspectives were not consonant with their own socio-political perspectives, cultural issues or preferences for community service. This is particularly true in Asia, the Middle East, Latin America and other parts of Europe. Now, as universities in these regions have created their own graduate programmes and incorporated their local customs, there is less dependence upon education and training taking place elsewhere.

Psychology in these countries has flourished. Internationalists have great interest in learning how these countries educate, train and credential psychologists, primarily because of a need to promote mobility. Stevens and Wedding (2004) in their comprehensive coverage of numerous countries argue that international psychology should also address issues of global importance. Hall and Altmaier (2008) in their focus on quality assurance stress the importance of promoting an international culture of accountability.

Over 30 years ago in 1981 European psychologists began to systematically and collaboratively develop the structures of European psychology when 12 national psychology organisations signed the enabling statutes and formed the European Federation of Professional Psychologists Associations (EFPPA). Since then, EFPPA General Assemblies have met every 2 years. The four authors of this book have been centrally involved in the development and organization of psychology at European level for most of this period.

At about the same time, the European Union (EU) became interested in fostering mobility of professionals across Europe for economic reasons. This necessitated the development of a European standard of education and training for each of the professions. To support psychology’s efforts, the EU funded two projects proposed by Ingrid Lunt (1999–2005) under its Leonardo da Vinci programme to develop a framework for training psychologists and also a recognition system, via the creation of a European Diploma. EFPA, now named the European Federation of Psychologists’ Associations, agreed to take over these extensive efforts in 2005 and to support the diploma’s implementation. The European Diploma became the EuroPsy and the European Register was officially initiated by EFPA in 2010, listing psychologists who were determined by their National Awarding Committee (NAC) to meet the EuroPsy standards. Thus in 2010 the European Register joined the efforts by the National Register of Health Service Psychologists (US) and the Canadian Register of Health Service Psychologists to identify qualified psychologists who voluntarily applied for credentialing.

In addition to publishing journal articles and book chapters, these four authors have regularly presented the EuroPsy at meetings of EFPA at its European Congress of Psychology, the International Union of Psychological Science (IUPsyS) at the International Congress of Psychology (ICP), the International Association of Applied Psychology (IAAP), at its Congress (ICAP), and numerous other national regional and international meetings. However, this book brings together in one volume all the streams of activity related to creating input and output standards for European education, competency identification, assessment, and revalidation, addressing supervision and training, and developing meta- and ethical codes, all positioned and interpreted within the diverse European sociocultural context. There is much to learn about how the EuroPsy was conceptualised, negotiated and implemented, and where it is going. These authors are some of the people who know it best and first hand. The book’s significance is that it is not just about EuroPsy and EFPA but how psychology organisations and psychologists come together to create systems and standards to reach consensus on national and regional levels and to further mobility. So the Europeans have arrived with their book describing the EuroPsy as a benchmark and quality standard for the 36 member countries of EFPA. Perhaps it is more relevant to today to use the more inclusive term of international. This is what Europe has done for its region, taking the necessary first steps to becoming truly international.

It has been a personal pleasure for me to witness the efforts made by the Europeans over the past 22 years and to learn from their different perspectives. By reading this book, I am certain you will agree.

Judy E. Hall

Executive Officer

National Register of Health Service Psychologists

1200 New York Avenue, Suite 800

Washington, DC 20005, USA

Table of Contents

Foreword

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Preface

1   The Emergence of the Psychological Profession in Europe

2   The Creation of EuroPsy

3   What is EuroPsy?

4   EuroPsy and the Psychology Curriculum

5   The Competences of Psychologists

6   Supervised Practice and Professional Education

7   Continuing Professional Development

8   The Ethical Base of Professional Practice

9   EuroPsy In Context

10 EuroPsy and the Future of Psychology in Europe

References

Glossary of Acronyms

Appendix 1. Member Countries of EFPA (36)

Appendix 2. Members of Leonardo 1 Project 1991–2001

Appendix 3. Members of Leonardo 2 Project 2001–2004

Appendix 4. EFPA Regulations Concerning EuroPsy, the European Certificate in Psychology (2013)

Appendix 5. EuroPsyT Framework for First Phase

Appendix 6. EuroPsyT Framework for Second Phase

Appendix 7. Minimum Requirements in (ECTS) for Education for Independent Professional Practice in Psychology

Index

Acknowledgements

The EuroPsy project is the product of the commitment and efforts of a large number of people whose contributions should be acknowledged. First of all, we are appreciative of the commitment and work of all those who worked in the project teams (listed in Appendices 1 and 2). As is evident from Chapter 2, the EuroPsy project has spanned a number of years, involving considerable effort, debate and discussion, negotiation and finally consensus. To benefit from continuity and experience, members from this team agreed to form the first phase membership of the European Awarding Committee (EAC); this has now been extended as further members join this important committee: to all members of EAC our appreciation and acknowledgements. There is now a National Awarding Committee (NAC) in 20 countries; their contribution to the success of the EuroPsy endeavour is acknowledged. EuroPsy began as a research and development project, and was handed over for implementation to EFPA in 2005 at the European Congress of Psychology in Granada, Spain. We are enormously grateful to the head of the EFPA staff, Sabine Steyaert, and to her colleagues, Ivana Marinovic and Valérie Boni, who have worked so hard to effect the implementation of EuroPsy and to enable the EuroPsy Certificate to be accompanied by a Register and an effective administrative system which contributes to enhancing the quality of psychology education in Europe. Finally, we would like to mention Dr. Judy Hall, a loyal supporter of the project over all its years, who generously agreed to write the foreword, and Robert Dimbleby at Hogrefe Publishers who patiently allowed repeated delays in the agreed date of submission of the manuscript. Beyond those mentioned we greatly appreciate the support and interest from our colleagues in the wider international community of psychologists and we are grateful to the large number of individuals and organisations that have contributed to making EuroPsy a reality.

Preface

There are a number of challenges – and opportunities – facing the profession of psychology as we move through the early years of the 21st century. The implications of a rapidly changing world, with increased globalisation and internationalisation, the expansion of new technologies and concomitant developments, changes in demography, economy, and in the relationship between the professions and the state, create new challenges for the profession of psychology. While psychology both as a science and as a profession has a relatively short history, it has achieved remarkable success and significance over a period of less than 150 years, contributing substantially to understanding and explaining human behaviour, and improving human welfare.

The changing context of the 21st century poses new challenges for the profession of psychology. On the one hand there appears to be a greater need than ever before for psychological interventions in a range of fields: hospitals and clinics, schools and education, companies and organisations, and a growing number of other contexts. There is an increasing demand for psychological services to address mental health problems, disaster and crisis situations, trauma of all kinds, stress in the workplace, the well-being of those incarcerated in prisons, or those migrating as refugees, as well as the challenges created by demographic changes, such as ageing, family breakdown or the adverse effects of poverty, unemployment and other social problems. This demand is fuelled in part by psychology’s success and the contribution that psychology has made, as well as the promises made to improve human welfare and well-being in a wide range of contexts. We should note here, too, the importance of psychology’s contribution to health and well-being in preventing distress as well as developing successful curative interventions.

These societal changes have been accompanied by changes in the role, status and position of professions, and a proliferation of other groups offering similar services in the different areas of practice that are also covered by our profession. The push for greater accountability and the changed relationship between the state, professionals and the client, demands for greater protection of the recipients of psychological services and increased transparency have all had an impact on the position of psychologists in society and the ways in which they provide services. The recent economic crisis and financial arrangements linked with welfare state reforms in European countries equally are affecting the provision of psychological services in various countries.

Psychology is a science-based profession, committed to a scientific perspective towards professional activity and the scientist practitioner approach to education and practice. In its purest form this means a commitment to hypothesis-testing and data-gathering in search of evidence that disconfirms or validates theories, models and interventions and the use of scientific evidence to inform professional practice. This commitment is frequently held up as a feature that distinguishes psychologists from other allied professions. Evidence-based or evidence-informed practice is increasingly held up as the gold standard. This quality standard demands professional aspirations for rigour, for a robust and reflexive interaction between the science and practice of psychology, and for a striving for continuous evaluation and improvement of interventions and professional practice. Nevertheless, given the complexity of the demands, the scientific evidence available needs to be complemented by other sources of evidence, such as those arising from professional experience, stakeholders’ demands and clients’ experience. A wise combination of all these sources of evidence may help to contextualise the theoretical models inspiring professional interventions in specific environments and for specific individuals and groups.

Although education and training routes for professional psychologists showed some common features in the second half of the 20th century, there continued to be notable national differences across European countries. These are understandable and reflect the considerable diversity in history, politics, culture, languages and so on found in this region. Such differences have been a matter of concern to the European Union since the formation of the European Economic Community (EEC) in 1957, when its founders articulated a vision of free movement of professionals across the region. The European Union itself has attempted to address this concern through European Directives promoting mobility, and through funds supporting exchange and collaboration across the Member States. The balance between pressures for greater “Europeanisation” and impulses by nation states towards nationalism creates a tension which is also reflected in a balance between top–down and bottom–up initiatives to foster greater convergence and harmonisation.

This European regionalism is developing within the wider context of internationalisation. Globalisation means that students, researchers, practitioners and clients are becoming more mobile. The differences in education and training routes across European countries are also evident across other parts of the world. The past 20 years have seen a number of initiatives seeking to explore greater convergence or comparability across regions of the world. International organisations of psychology, such as the International Union of Psychological Science (IUPSyS), the International Association of Applied Psychology (IAAP) and the International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology (IACCP), have held regular congresses and fostered international collaboration, capacity building and exchange. A recent and focussed initiative of this kind has been the IUPSyS initiative of 2012, the so-called Dornburg Conference, which aimed to examine psychology education and training at a global level (Silbereisen, Ritchie, & Pandey, 2014). At about the same time (2013) the 5th International Congress of Certification, Licensing, and Credentialing was organised to consider the possibility of identifying core competences of psychologists at a global level. These initiatives reflect a wide interest in comparing systems of education and training for psychologists, making these transparent and comprehensible, and seeing how far it might be possible to develop over-arching frameworks such as those already achieved for ethical principles through the Universal Declaration of Ethical Principles for Psychologists, which was accepted by the major international organisations in 2008 (Universal Declaration, 2008).

This book is about the development of EuroPsy, a European standard and benchmark for psychologist practitioners, which achieved consensus across European countries in 2005. Originally designed as a project to improve transparency and comparability of psychologist qualifications, it quickly became seen as a means for enhancing the quality of psychology education and training across European countries and thus improving services to the public. More recently, and with the modernisation of the EU Qualifications Directive, it has become a potential tool to aid mobility. Europe provides an example of powerful regionalisation and is therefore a fertile context for the development of an international standard. Early on EuroPsy adopted the definition of the key role of the professional psychologist originally formulated by the British Psychological Society (1998), which states that their main role is “to develop and apply psychological principles, knowledge, models and methods in an ethical and scientific way in order to promote the development, well-being and effectiveness of individuals, groups, organisations and society” (italics added here). This commitment to an “ethical and scientific way” demands a robust form of accountability to individual clients, to organisations, to colleagues and to the profession and the public at large.

Like all professions, psychologists commit to abide by ethical codes (see also Chapter 8). As stated above, psychology is a science-based profession, underpinned by the scientist-practitioner model of training (see Chapter 4). Although there are methodological challenges in evaluating the efficacy and effectiveness of psychological interventions and their adaptation in different contexts, it is essential that we use the methods and tools available to seek to ensure the robustness of the methods used by practitioners and to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of interventions. Randomised control trials are difficult to organise and often inappropriate for psychological interventions, yet there is a need for transparency and accountability in relation to the methods used by psychologists. This issue is discussed further in Chapters 7 and 8.

EuroPsy has been developed over the past 15 years or so within the context of the European Union and the European Federation of Psychologists Associations (EFPA; see Chapter 2). EuroPsy has been accepted by the 36 member associations of EFPA, which includes all European Union Member States. EFPA is currently working towards acceptance by the EU of EuroPsy as the basis for a Common Training Framework facilitating automatic recognition of qualifications across Europe (Chapter 3).

As is often the case, the book cannot address all the topics that could have been included. In the course of writing the book, the authors (who have extensive experience both of EuroPsy and of psychology in Europe and its organisation) had a number of productive and informative discussions about the different opinions held within the group. Beyond a description of EuroPsy it is possible to take a view on its long-term development, which can be outlined only when there is a perspective on where psychology as a profession should be heading. The team of authors discussed the strengths and weaknesses of the profession and the science behind it; the mutual relations between science and practice; and different mechanisms of quality assurance for the profession across the different countries of Europe, including their current state and aspirations for the future. Our shared vision includes the future development of a common education framework and of standards for practice rooted in the scientist-practitioner model, a common model of competences, and the generalisation of supervised practice and continuing professional development as strategies to build the core competences of all psychologists in Europe. Last but not least, we unanimously and strongly endorse that psychologists have to be guided by ethical principles in their practice as formulated in professional codes.

We held somewhat differing views on the risks and threats that the profession may be facing in a mid-term future and how these might be pre-empted. A focal point in these discussions was the continued use of methods which empirical evidence has suggested are obsolete. Undoubtedly, this and other issues will need to be addressed in the future development of EuroPsy. However, they are beyond the horizon of the present book, which aims to describe professional standards and competences, where they come from, and where they are today, for the profession of psychology in Europe.

Outline of the book

We start in Chapter 1 outlining the historical context and background to EuroPsy. This is followed by Chapter 2 which provides a description of the process of creating EuroPsy within this context. Chapter 3 moves on to describe what EuroPsy is and how it works. It is followed by five chapters providing detailed information about the major components of EuroPsy. Chapter 4 deals with EuroPsy in relation to the psychology curriculum. Chapter 5 addresses the use of competences to ensure that professionals perform well and safely. Chapter 6 gives a view of supervised practice and professional education while Chapter 7 discusses the issue of continuing professional development in relation to the revalidation of EuroPsy certificates. Chapter 8 reviews the ethical base of professional practice. The remaining two chapters “zoom out” somewhat, with Chapter 9 discussing EuroPsy in the current context of the psychological profession in Europe and Chapter 10 providing a conclusion by presenting a perspective on the future of EuroPsy.

[1]1

The Emergence of the Psychological Profession in Europe

Psychology is multifaceted and encompasses a scientific discipline with a broad array of subdisciplines, and a profession that provides services through a number of specialisms in various fields of practice. As a body of knowledge it is embedded in a cultural and social context, and combines scientific evidence with common sense. Psychology as professional practice provides services to individuals, families, organisations, communities and a wide range of other groups and users. These services are legitimised by the scientific and expert knowledge used by professional psychologists. Assuring the quality of these services on behalf of clients and the reputation of the profession is a critical issue, which has become even more important in an open and global society where mobility of professionals and users, and the virtual provision of services through the Internet are growing fast and expanding widely.

Psychology as a science originated in Europe during the 19th century, where it merged with different philosophical and scientific traditions and took a variety of forms. Applications to the multiple facets of human and social life grew rapidly over the 20th century across the different countries, though at a different pace depending on historical and contextual circumstances. During the century significant socio-political developments occurred in Europe, including divisions of the continent according to lines drawn by changing coalitions and outcomes of warfare, followed by moves towards a European Union with a consequent emphasis on a common market and mobility of professionals, as well as progress towards an extended welfare state. These developments had a clear influence on the development of psychology as a profession, raising challenges regarding education and quality assurance beyond the borders of individual countries; a European approach was required. EuroPsy is a European response to that challenge. In order to fully understand its origins, development and significance, it is important to consider the context in which it emerged.

In this introductory chapter we will provide an overview of this context looking both at internal developments in psychology as a scientific field, an academic discipline and a profession, and at external developments that have occurred over the past century in Europe. The chapter is divided into two main parts, each comprising three sections. The first part takes an internal perspective and describes how the psychological profession has developed with reference to tendencies and trends inside the community of those who consider themselves psychologists. The second part adopts an external perspective and discusses developments in psychology with reference to the national embedding of psychology and changes in the political, economic, social and cultural dimensions of Europe. We believe that both a proximal and a distal approach to the development of psychology in Europe are needed to understand why EuroPsy was conceived and how it was designed and launched. Together, the six sections are meant to provide the reader with a background that is needed to understand the nature and significance of EuroPsy.

[2]In the first section we provide a brief overview of the development of psychology as a science and how different traditions stimulated growth and diversity, resulting in different psychological schools. The second section will show how, almost since its beginnings, psychology aimed to promote its application in different areas of individual and social life. These efforts to apply psychology drew on psychology as a science and in turn contributed relevant inputs to the science. A growing recognition in European societies of the value of applied psychology (initially, psychotechnics) enabled psychology to contribute to the well-being of individuals and the welfare of these societies. The progress of psychology as a science, the developments of psychological technologies and the social recognition of the value of its applications played an important role in the emergence and the consolidation of psychology as a profession. This was in part achieved through the organisation of psychologists in associations, societies and networks. In the third section we describe some of the ways in which psychology became organised and institutionalised through national and international organisations. The fourth section puts the psychological profession in context. It describes its emergence, growth and diversification, with reference to the national and international environments and events. In the fifth section we consider the transformation of Europe during the last decades of the previous century and the first decade of the current century, and the profound impact that this has had on the psychological profession in Europe. It focuses on the process of European integration and unification, and the way in which this has altered the developments of professional psychology and its future. In the sixth section we widen our scope and look at psychology as one of many professions, examining some new challenges and opportunities that have emerged in its relationship with some of these professions – at the European as well as the national level – and the renewed need for a demarcation of the psychological profession.

The Emergence of Psychology as a Scientific Discipline

Scientific psychology emerged during the second part of the 19th century. Its origin is often dated to 1879 when Wilhelm Wundt (1832–1920) established the Institute of Experimental Psychology at the University of Leipzig, Germany. However, some decades earlier, the conditions for the emergence of psychology as a new science had been created by a number of scientific developments in physiology and an increasing interest in mental phenomena in philosophy, coinciding with institutional changes in German universities (Ben-David & Collins, 1966; Peiró & Carpintero, 1978). This led to problems which had previously been analysed from a philosophical point of view being studied using the scientific methods of physiology, an approach which Wundt developed in his Principles of Physiological Psychology (Grundzüge der physiologischen Psychologie) published in 1873–1874, which became the first textbook concerned with the new discipline of psychology. Using the experimental protocols of the natural sciences, Wundt introduced the experimental analysis of what he termed “immediate experience” or “consciousness,” in studies of psychophysics, reaction times, perception and attention, or, as he called it, “physiologische Psychologie.” However he also acknowledged that not all the phenomena of the mind, especially the more complex processes related to society and collective behaviours, could be studied in the laboratory, and proposed to supplement this form [3]of individual experimental psychology with a Völkerpsychologie (a social, cultural or folk psychology). The focus of the new physiological psychology was on general laws of the human mind and its goal was to develop a theory of mental life, with a central interest in the “whole content of consciousness in its immediate being” (Wundt, 1897, I, 3a). Thus, already at this time Wundt established the precedent that there were two very different kinds of methods to investigate psychological phenomena, one laboratory-based experimentation, the other naturalistic observation, which was more suited to the study of psychological processes influenced by social and cultural factors.

A different approach emerged a little later, focussing on individual differences rather than general laws. James McKeen Cattell (1860–1944), a US psychologist and one of Wundt’s students who had gained his PhD from Leipzig in 1886, shifted the focus to individual differences as the most fruitful and productive approach to understanding the human mind, consciousness and behaviour. Returning to the US from Europe in the late 1880s, Cattell developed a series of tests of mental measurement (Cattell, 1890). Around 1891 Hugo Münsterberg (1863–1916), also a student of Wundt, developed tests for verbal associations, arithmetic, reading and memory, before moving to Harvard in 1892. For both, the study of individual differences was no longer to be seen as a secondary issue in the search for general laws of the mind, but rather a valuable field of study in itself. Cattell’s work reflected the influence of Darwinism and the work of the British scientist, polymath and psychometrician Francis Galton (1822–1911). Variation and adaptation to the environment as the basis for natural selection made individual differences crucially important for the individual–environment fit. Galton’s emphasis on individual measurement and the analysis of human differences fitted well with the new developments of functionalism and social Darwinism in the US, where William James, among others, was emphasising a dynamic and functionalist approach to mental phenomena pointing out their central function for adaptation to the environment. In Europe, William Stern (1871–1938) proposed another approach to the study of individual differences, based on the systematic study of diversity and its origins. This approach was more open and programmatic, and included the use of test methods for practical purposes (Stern, 1900, 1911).

Early scholars in the new discipline of psychology were interested both in gaining theoretical and empirical knowledge about mental phenomena, and in seeing how psychological “findings may also contribute their quota to the sum-total of human happiness” (Hall, Baird & Geissler, 1917, p. 6). Psychologists were interested not only in scientific progress, but also in demonstrating the usefulness of psychology in providing solutions to people’s problems and needs in different areas of their lives.

It is important to note that different traditions took root across the countries of Europe. Between 1879 and 1897, following Wundt’s example, other experimental psychology laboratories were set up in Germany (Göttingen, Berlin, München, Würzburg), the Netherlands, Italy, Russia, Denmark, France, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, England and Poland (Misiak & Sexton, 1966). However, psychology in Europe was also strongly influenced by other important developments at that time. Perhaps one of the most significant influences was that of the Viennese physician and neurologist Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) who was using a case study technique to develop psychoanalysis. In 1885 Freud had travelled to France to study with Jean-Martin Charcot, neurologist at the Salpêtrière Hospital in Paris, who was using hypnosis to experiment with the phenomenon of [4]hysteria. Freud later claimed that this visit was instrumental in changing the course of his career and turning him towards clinical psychoanalysis.

Initially, the new scientific psychology was developed almost exclusively at universities, but soon research work began to be undertaken in hospitals, schools and other more “real-life” settings. Concepts and methods from psychology as an experimental science were used beyond the laboratory in order to address issues of practical relevance to the needs and problems of people. This led to the development of psychotechnics and applied psychology, which grew rapidly from the beginning of the 20th century.

The Origins and Developments of Applied Psychology

Drawing from the study of individual differences and an emphasis on the measurement of mental functions, psychology began to focus on everyday issues and questions. Many of the early applications of psychology were developed in the US, often by psychologists who had studied with Wundt (see Benjafield, 1996). As mentioned earlier, Wundt’s student Cattell spent much of his career developing measures of individual differences in order to better understand individuals’ adaptation to their contexts. This led in 1890 to his introduction of the term “mental test,” thus establishing the ground for the development of one of the most important psychological techniques. At around the same period, G. Stanley Hall (1844–1924), also heavily influenced by Wundt and a visit to Germany, began to research children’s development through the use of questionnaires. In the 1880s he initiated what became known as the Child Study Movement which aimed to apply scientific methods to the investigation of children to discover the normal laws of child development. This movement led to links between psychologists and teachers, and in this way psychology became strongly embedded in the American educational system. Also around this time, Lightner Witmer (1867–1956), professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, founded the first psychological clinic to treat children and adolescents with educational, psychological and behavioural problems. This clinic was founded at the University of Pennsylvania where Witmer is also credited for being the first person to define an area called “clinical psychology.”

At about the same time as psychology was beginning to be applied to everyday problems of a mental and developmental nature, Hugo Münsterberg and Walter Dill Scott (1869–1955), both students of Wundt, played key roles in early applied psychology. Münsterberg had an important role in the development of applied psychology, especially clinical, forensic and industrial psychology (Moskowitz, 1977). He studied a range of relevant problems both in the laboratory and in real-life contexts; these included monotony, fatigue and attention, and social influences at work, as well as individual differences and their importance for selection and vocational guidance. Although his early career developed in Germany, he became Professor at Harvard University and in 1898 was elected President of the American Psychological Association (APA). In 1913 he published Psychology and Industrial Efficiency, considered a landmark in the establishment of applied psychology. Walter Dill Scott is perhaps best known for his work in applying psychology to advertising, researching methods of social control, human motivation and suggestibility.

[5]Meanwhile, in Europe, a major contribution to the development of the mental testing movement was made by the French psychologist Alfred Binet (1857–1911) who invented the first useable intelligence test, and developed concepts such as Intelligence Quotient (IQ) and Mental Age (MA). Binet and his colleague, the psychometrician Théodore Simon (1872–1961), developed a series of tests to measure and operationalise the concepts of IQ and MA which had a profound and significant influence on the school context. The contributions by the Swiss neurologist and psychologist Edouard Claparède (1873–1940), to education, vocational guidance and personnel selection, testing and classification were also central for the development of psychological technology or what became known as psychotechnics in Europe. This was a productive period for these developments to which numerous other psychologists contributed in many other countries of Europe.

In parallel to this applied research an effort was made to define and conceptualise applied psychology, and a start was made with its institutionalisation. In his pioneering work, William Stern defined applied psychology as “the science of psychological facts that are relevant for their practical utility” (Stern, 1903, p. 4). From the start, applied psychology was not conceived of as the mere application of theoretical models formulated in experimental psychology. Aiming to provide responses to real-life needs, applied psychology promoted its own study, analysis and research of applied problems. It developed concepts, tools and technologies that in many instances represented rigorous and relevant contributions to society, and can therefore be considered as basic science (Roe, 1996).

Mainly in the European tradition, applied psychology emphasises a contextualised individual not in a laboratory world of stimuli, but in real-life specific contexts, such as the school, the factory, the hospital, etc. The focus is on the adaptation of the person to environments that are not only natural but are also social and constructed by humans, and thus can be changed. The focus of applied psychology is on the processes of adaptation of persons in their different real-life contexts and in redesigning these environments to make them more appropriate for people’s lives. It aims to identify and measure relevant psychological differences for this adaptation and to develop tools and technologies that help individuals to change themselves and their environment for a better adaptation and well-being in interaction with their contexts (see Carpintero, 2002, 2006). An important factor in the development of applied psychology was its institutionalisation beyond the walls of the university, through organisations and institutions both national and international.

Institutionalisation of Psychology

Towards the end of the 19th century and the first decades of the 20th century psychology began to be institutionalised outside universities through national and international organisations across Europe and in the US. This institutionalisation occurred in different ways and helped to promote research and application of psychology in different fields, as well as communication and knowledge sharing among psychologists. The formation of national and international psychology associations created the opportunity for wider academic and professional exchange, while the creation of institutions with a focus on applied psychology allowed for research and practice in this new field.

[6]The first national psychology association, the American Psychological Association (APA), was founded in 1892, with G. Stanley Hall as its first President, at a time “when the new experimental psychology was still in its infancy in America” (Evans, Sexton & Cadwallader, 1992). This was followed in 1901 in Europe by the formation of two national associations, the Société Française de Psychologie (SFP) and the British Psychological Society (BPS). This latter was formed to “advance scientific psychological research and to further the cooperation of investigators in the different branches of psychology” (Lovie, 2001, p. 96; and see Knight, 1954). A few years later the Deutsche Gesellschaft für experimentelle Psychologie was founded in 1904, and the Societa de Psicologia Italiana in 1910. From the beginning these associations were more focused on scientific and academic perspectives; the professional focus emerged only gradually in the course of the 20th century.

At the same time, there was an emerging interest in establishing and promoting international relations. Already at the first International Congress of Psychology in Paris in 1889, a permanent international congress committee was formed in order to ensure the continuation of International Congresses and to provide some form of organisation for international psychology. This international committee, subsequently named the International Congress of Psychology, continued to organise congresses and by 1905 had grown in membership to 76, representing 16 countries (Rosenzweig, Holtzman, Sabourin & Bélanger, 2000). In 1932 at the 10th International Congress of Psychology, the congress committee formed an Executive Committee of seven members, with the Swiss psychologist Edouard Claparède as Executive Secretary. This led, finally, to the creation of the International Union of Psychological Science (IUPsyS) in 1951, with national psychology associations from 20 countries as members; IUPsyS is a union or federation of national psychological association members and now has 82 national members. It continues to organise the International Congress of Psychology every four years.

Claparède had earlier played another important role in the process of internationalisation, leading the organisation of the First International Conference on Psychotechnics, in Geneva in 1920, where the International Association for Psychotechnology was founded. Following a name change this became the International Association of Applied Psychology (IAAP), an organisation with individual members from over 80 countries and which organises the quadrennial International Congress of Applied Psychology. In their study of the early developments in this process of internationalisation, Carpintero and Herrero (2002) have analysed the Congresses of IAAP and have identified interesting trends. Their observations confirm that applied psychology originated not just as the application of previously existing theory, but also as a means to find solutions to people’s practical problems. Its main aim was “the study of human subjects behaving in concrete situations (business, schools, hospitals, traffic …) as conscious and purposeful agents” (Carpintero & Herrero, 2002, p. 51). Thus, attention was paid to specific characteristics of individuals (age, gender, social class, family, group, etc.) and to the particular contexts where they behave and live (school, hospital, industry, etc.), as well as to socially and historically relevant factors. Moreover, “the needs for practical results and useful interventions have always been put above theoretical orthodoxy” (p. 51).

However, at the same time other forms of institution began to emerge with a focus on applied psychology. As mentioned above, in 1897 Wundt’s student Witmer founded a [7]clinic to treat children and adolescents with mental and learning problems (Routh, Del Barrio & Carpintero, 1996). Other early institutions of this period are the Bureau of Vocational Guidance at the Civil Service House in Boston opened by the school counsellor and founder of vocational psychology, Frank Parsons, in 1908, and the Jean Jacques Rousseau Institute for education founded by Claparède in Geneva, Switzerland, in 1912. The second decade of the century saw the creation of a number of other new centres which brought together applied psychologists. These included the Institut für Industrielle Psychotechnik at the Technische Hochschule Charlottenburg, in Berlin, Germany in 1918, the Central Psychological Occupations Office of the Roman-Catholic Trade Union in Utrecht, the Netherlands in 1918, the British Health of Munition Workers Committee formed during the First World War in 1916 and which became the British National Institute of Industrial Psychology under the directorship of Myers in 1921, the Institute for Professional Guidance created in 1926 by E. Mira in Barcelona and many others.

Thus, during the final decade of the 19th century and the early decades of the 20th century important developments took place in applied psychology. These built upon the success and progress of psychology as an experimental and differential science, and were driven by the conviction that psychology has to contribute to the solution of relevant demands and problems that individuals, groups and societies experience in their lives and that occur in different contexts and settings. The new “paradigm” of psychology was successful in producing and “selling” the great value of scientific psychology to provide reliable and effective services contributing to the solution of human and social needs and demands. At the same time, the new approach progressively unveiled the poor psychological services provided by practitioners such as phrenologists, physiognomists, characterologists, mesmerists, mediums and mental healers among others, who offered so-called psychological services “before there were psychological laboratories and scientific psychologists” (Benjamin & Baker, 2004).

The Profession of Psychology in Context

The Emergence of Psychology as a Profession

The profession of psychology began to emerge during the first half of the 20th century with the consolidation of the practice of applied psychology not only by psychologists working in universities but also by those working in institutions or as independent practitioners. Like applied research, the work of professionals addressed the human problems that were prevalent in society, such as fatigue, accidents, vocational choice, worker productivity, employee selection, learning and education, mental retardation, mental illness and so on. These were all related to major trends of the time, for example industrialisation, development of transportation, warfare, demographic trends, the introduction of general education, health care reform, etc. The institutions in which professional work was carried out and in which future psychologists were educated had a strong influence on this. They were instrumental in defining the roles that psychological professionals performed vis-à-vis their clients, developing preferences regarding the knowledge and methods to be used, [8]and developing the rules of conduct that would over time be incorporated into codes of ethics.

It is important to note that the process of professionalisation in psychology has resulted in a remarkable degree of differentiation. Unlike the medical profession, psychology did not develop a generic form of the profession and a series of specialised forms (e.g. general practitioner alongside neurologists, urologists, ophthalmologists), but rather a series of parallel forms – each for a particular field of practice and with a typical professional role. These forms have become known under a variety of names, including clinical psychologist, school psychologist, industrial psychologist, counselling psychologist, forensic psychologist, traffic psychologist and sports psychologist. In this respect psychology resembles engineering with its branches of chemical, civil, electrical, mechanical engineering, etc. It is like a plant that has many branches but lacks a common stem, yet has common roots – in a shared foundation of scientific knowledge and methods. As a result, substantial diversity has remained in approaches to the same problems, particularly in the clinical field. Together with the differences between countries in the array of professional forms, which also reflect philosophical and linguistic traditions, this represents one of the factors that make psychology hard to understand for outsiders.

The diverging development of psychology with many branches and in each of them a progressive specialisation, has not remained without debate among psychologists. For instance, about the middle of the 20th century Robert I. Watson (1954) stated: “Psychology is the profession – not clinical psychology, not counselling psychology, not industrial psychology. To be sure, there is room for specialisation within the profession, but there is one profession, not several” (p. 2). Some years later, Lévy-Leboyer wrote of psychology “bursting into a myriad of specific subfields with not much in common” (1992, p. 281), though she also considered this diversity to be a strength of the discipline. The situation today is described by Peiró as a “dynamic tension between … centrifugal and centripetal forces” (Peiró, 2014, p. 232). On the one hand there is a unified psychology, science or profession, with various subdisciplines or different professional psychologists in different fields, while on the other hand there are strong forces which drive some of these to join other disciplinary fields or professions.

It is not surprising, then, that the development of the psychological profession, out of a completely new and emergent science, and claiming to be applicable to a wide range of human problems that were formerly provided for by other professions, has taken many decades. It required considerable efforts for psychologists to convince the public, other professions and officials of their capacity to effectively diagnose, clarify and solve particular problems. We could quote many examples of enduring competence disputes between psychologists and those practising older professions. An illustration is the dispute about the competence of testing the fitness of car drivers between psychologists and physicians. In many areas of practice it took more than half a century before the psychological profession became established and acquired a place among the already existing professions.

An interesting question is when psychology reached a stage where it could be called a profession and what its status is today. We will try to answer this question with the help of insights from the sociology of professions. Allsop et al. (2009) define a profession as formed by “practitioners who have achieved a degree of closure around an area of work and are governed through a regulatory body and associations that exercise varying degrees [9]of control over knowledge creation, knowledge transmission and work performance.” (p. 489). This implies a collective demarcation of an occupational area or field of practice. Regulation is justified to protect the interest of the public and the clients, although it can also serve to protect the members of the profession (see Chapter 8; Freidson, 1994, 2001). The control exerted tends to regulate the education of professionals, access to the profession and registration as a recognised professional. Control is also intended to guarantee good practice, standards and quality of service and compliance with an ethical code. Moreover, the activities that characterise the profession have to be recognised and identified by outsiders. Professional associations are crucial for the development of the profession and play a critical role in the control of boundaries and normative issues. They also display member socialisation strategies aiming to promote professional ties and loyalties to the profession, and contributing to its identity, good image and reputation.

Similar features as mentioned by Allsop et al. (2009) that are considered distinctive for a profession have been identified by other authors (e.g. Brante, 2011; Evetts, 2011). We mention the following:

1.   the activities of its members are based on and grounded in scientific knowledge, and research is the privileged way of obtaining relevant knowledge;

2.   access to the profession is granted on the basis of education by an established institution, such as a university or polytechnic school;

3.   there exists a professional association with primary aims to enhance the level of competence of its members and maintain the integrity of its members by means of a code of ethics, thereby guaranteeing the quality of professional services and the protection of the public;

4.   the profession has a clear identity and is publicly recognised.

To better understand the background against which EuroPsy has developed, we will consider in more detail how these features emerged and developed in the case of the profession of psychology.

Science as the Ground of Professional Practice

As indicated above, in the early years the applications in psychology were justified by the claim that they were grounded in scientific knowledge. Great care was taken to distinguish these applications from those of pseudoscientists who offered different kinds of psychic services. However, the relationship between science and practice within psychology is not always straightforward, and it soon became clear that the services rendered by psychology for the benefit of clients and the solution of human problems were not merely the application of scientific knowledge gained in experimental research. Using the methods of science, applied psychologists often carried out research to find adequate solutions to meet the needs of people in specific contexts and situations. Their work also led to the development of techniques, such as tests and clinical interventions, and to the emergence of psychological technologies that provided the scientific basis for assessment and intervention. In that way they broadened the scope of psychology as an explanatory (or basic) science and established psychology as a technological or artificial (Simon, 1969) science (Roe, 1996). This does not mean that different groups of psychologists always agreed about what constituted proper [10]research and how the relationship between psychological science and practice should be defined. Some of the tensions became played out within national psychological societies, which were initially dominated by scientists, with subsequent developments such as broadening of their scope, splitting and creating new associations.

Although in some countries professional associations emerged earlier (e.g. NIPP, the Dutch Association for Practising Psychologists which was founded in 1938), the creation of professional associations in most European countries only started after the Second World War. This was also the case in the US where it took until 1945 before the APA bylaws were changed to include profession as the object of the Association “the advancement of psychology as a science, a profession, and as a means of promoting human welfare” (cited in Benjamin & Baker, 2004, p. 75; and see Capshew & Hilgard, 1992, for a detailed account of the transformation of APA following the Second World War). In many countries professional and scientific associations exist alongside each other as separate organisations, while in others they are integrated. In spite of occasional tensions, positive relations are usually maintained, as professionals generally agree about the importance of science as the basis of their activity, and the scientist-practitioner model of training and practice is widely accepted in European countries. This originated at the Boulder Conference on Graduate Education in Clinical Psychology that took place in 1949 in Boulder, Colorado, at which a model for education was agreed upon that included training in research as well as practice (Raimy, 1950; Benjamin & Baker, 2000; Peterson & Park, 2005). The scientist-practitioner model with its commitment for psychologists to be trained both as researchers and as practitioners or clinicians has had a long-lasting influence on psychology education across the western world.

However, Allsop et al. have pointed out that in spite of this, when comparing psychology to medicine and engineering,

psychology does not have a knowledge base that is recognised internationally, and not all professional bodies in countries in this study define the knowledge base of psychology in the same way. For example, in France, psychologists tend to draw on psychoanalysis, while in the UK and Canada, there is a stronger link with the biomedical and scientific disciplines that may include cognitive behaviour therapy, psychological testing or sector specializations such as educational or industrial psychology (Allsop et al., 2009, p. 493).

This observation underlines the fact that psychology is both a natural and a social science, and that its knowledge base is only partly shared across the world. This fact, and the variety of epistemologies and conceptions of science that psychologists embrace, does not weaken the assertion that many psychological interventions and technologies are reasonably well grounded in science and thus benefit from scientific knowledge and research.

Access to the Profession on the Basis of Education by an Established Institution

Most of the early education of psychologists focussed on scientific knowledge and scientific research methods, as obtained through academic study. Psychology as a field of study took many years to develop. Initially being part of the field of philosophy, it was increasingly recognised as a separate field of study with its own experimental methods and empirically founded theories. Its growth is reflected in the growing number of new chairs dedicated to [11]psychological subjects, a trend that was visible all over Europe. For most of the first half of the 20th century, university education remained largely theoretical and research oriented and it was only gradually that it took on a more applied or professional focus.

As the body of specialised and technological knowledge grew and the practice of psychology expanded, it became clear that professional education and training were required. This led to the gradual adoption of courses of psychological assessment and intervention, typically aimed at specific work settings (e.g. schools, industries, clinics) in university education. In most of Europe, psychology as an independent field of study – primarily dedicated to theory and research in basic and applied science, but extended with professional courses – was established during the second half of the 20th century. The development of psychology as a technology and the dissemination of techniques and tools that had been shown to be valid and effective, were very important for the status of psychology as a profession. It meant that psychologists could distinguish themselves from those lacking such a knowledge base, and it provided the basis for competent and accountable practice (Poortinga & Lunt, 1997; see also Chapter 8).

While university education in Europe built on long-standing national or regional traditions, which differed noticeably across countries, there was substantial influence of models from the US – such as the scientist-practitioner model – in the years after the Second World War. Interesting to note is the testimony of the British psychologist H.J. Eysenck about a visit to the US to obtain information on establishing clinical psychology as a profession in England. During this visit he learned that clinical psychologists were subordinate to psychiatrists; their aim was mainly to use psychotherapy and psychoanalysis, and their main tools for diagnosis were projective tests. On the basis of his observations Eysenck decided to “initiate a kind of training in clinical psychology which was in many ways the exact opposite to the kind of training that was popular in the United States” (Eysenck, 1990, p. 6).

With the growth of higher education in the second half of the century, the number of faculties and institutes where psychology was being taught grew exponentially. In some larger countries like Germany, the United Kingdom or Russia, psychology also made its way into polytechnic schools that subscribed to the principle of psychology as a science-based profession but did not offer training in psychological research. Although there have been many changes in university structures and curricula over time, the requirement of having an academic education in psychology to start working as a psychologist was nonetheless widely shared. In Chapter 4 we will discuss how the education systems of different countries and regions of Europe gradually converged and common standards emerged.

A Professional Association Aiming to Enhance the Competence and Maintain the Integrity of its Members, Guaranteeing Quality and Protecting the Public

Part of the process of institutionalisation described earlier, was the creation of psychological associations that had already started by the end of the 19th century. In the course of the 20th century all European countries established at least one psychology association, either focused on science, the profession or both. These national associations have contributed to the professionalisation of psychology and typically have sections for branches of [12]psychology such as educational, organisational, clinical and traffic psychology. In some countries there are also associations for more specific areas such as counselling, addiction or political psychology. We note that there is also an increasing number of international associations, and European associations working, for example, in the professional areas of education, addiction, neuropsychology, as societal and client demands and needs become regional as well as national, and as psychologists engage increasingly in collaborative activity across borders.

The activities of these national associations are largely oriented to keeping members informed about new developments, raising their competence by further training and continuing professional development, setting standards and promoting the interests of psychology and psychologists. Associations often publish journals and organise conferences, to distribute knowledge about psychology and raise the profession’s level of expertise. In addition, they may also provide information to the public about the activities of their members, keep registers of their members’ qualifications and some of them control the professional conduct of members by means of an ethical code. Many are also involved in contacts with national governments and local authorities to improve the conditions under which psychologists operate and render their services to society, serving in some countries the function of trade union. Increasingly national psychology associations have taken on a role in regulating professional practice with the purpose of raising its standards and guaranteeing the quality of services and protecting clients.

A significant development for the advancement of psychology in Europe has been the foundation of an overarching European association, the European Federation of Psychologists Associations (EFPA1