Psychology in America, a History

"When we think of science in the World War II era, we tend to think of physics and engineering, as embodied in the Manhattan Project. But in his classic history, Psychologists on the March (1999), James H. Capshew reconstructs the mobilization of psychology for the war effort and the way that agencies like the Office of Scientific Research and Development established the pattern of federal contracts with research institutions to meet national needs."

"Today, amid diminished government funding, the American scientific community is experiencing a moment of collective trauma. The assumptions about the relationship between the federal government and the science establishment, especially as mediated by research universities, are no longer reliable, if they ever were. What is puzzling is how so many smart people failed to appreciate the vulnerability to political fortune of the system of funding science in America that has prevailed since the 1940s, including for psychology."

Federal funding and wartime mobilization transformed American psychology into a large, institutionally supported profession. Agencies such as the Office of Scientific Research and Development created federal contracts with research institutions, and the National Institute of Mental Health supported clinical training. American Psychological Association membership rose dramatically during World War II and accelerated thereafter. The American scientific community now faces reduced government support and a broken assumption that postwar funding patterns were permanent. Many scientific leaders failed to foresee the political vulnerability of the funding system that emerged in the 1940s, leaving psychology and other fields exposed to changing political fortunes.

Read at Psychology Today