Week 3-Professional Associations Review and Report

Professional Associations Review and Report
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Professional Associations Review and Report
Academic researchers, practitioners, and scholars of psychology have a set procedure and guidelines when it is about seeking knowledge, information and research, when it comes to professional development, networking academic and career guidance, research resources among others. The guidelines and options include the way their work should be researched, compiled and formatted. This paper seeks to review the professional associations and report on them. These affiliations are the American Psychology Association (APA), American Counselling Association (ACA), and American School Counselling Association (ASCA), Society for Industrial Organization and Psychology (SCIOP) and the American Psychology and Law Society.
American Psychology Association (APA)
Established in 1892, by a group of about 31 young psychologists at a time when the field of psychology was at its initial stages of development, the APA came in to revolutionize not only the field of psychology but also the field of academia. Before the war, the APA worked as a disciplinary society that did minimal more than publish a couple of scientific diaries (Cashew, 2018). Having embraced psychology as one of the major branches of science, the organization was established to further both academic and political agendas. In the educational agenda, it tasked itself to start exploring psychology as a science, which necessitated deep research and experiments, with evidence, a set mode and model of communication, which encompassed a specific style of writing academic papers and journals. On the political agenda, considering founding members of the association were progressives, they set out a path that would change the social order of things that supported economic use of resources, encouraged honesty integrity practices. In its organizational structure, the Association segmented its divisions and department, according to the 50 branches of Psychology, meaning, it has more than 50 branches, all of which work in tandem to achieve the association’s goals, mission, and vision. In 1944, the first divisions were established, which were a total of 19, a number that has multiplied over time to the current 54 decisions. The largest divisions are the clinical and counselling divisions, while the most recently created divisions are international psychology, history of psychology, and women's and men's psychology.
The American Psychology Association has tasked itself with some functions, tasks, and responsibilities. Initially, APA has a mission while performing the functions, its mission reads, "The core vision and mission of APA is to enhance creation, correspondence, and utilization of mental learning to profit society and enhance individuals' lives''. From this we can pick out its major functions, two of which is, Advancing and Promoting Psychology. The founding guideline which was responsible for the creation of this organization was to enhance psychology as a discipline, a profession, and as a method for advancing well-being, education, and human prosperity. This they would do by promoting the growth of psychology, encouraging psychology research, setting profess...