518 



PERSONNEL RESOURCES 



might eliminate as high as 90% of the 1084. 

 Other considerations such as age and sex 

 would also operate to reduce this number 



TABLE I 



Number of Members and Associate Members 

 OF THE American Psychological Association, 

 AS OF 1945, Expressing Research or Teaching 

 Interests in the Field of Experimental 

 Psychology or Allied Areas 



Expressed Interest* 



Experimental 



Perception (vision, etc.) 



Physiological 



Comparative or animal 



Aviation psychology 



Psychomotor activity 



Psychophysics 



Fellow or associate in The- 

 oretical-Experimental sec- 

 tion! 



Estimated number from those 

 in war work J 



Total 903 181 1084 



Number 



Men Women Total 



572 

 33 



81 

 42 

 31 

 10 

 2 



109 

 23 



114 

 5 

 20 

 16 

 1 

 

 



24 

 1 



686 

 38 



101 



58 



32 



10 



2 



133 



24 



* As indicated in 1945 yearbook. Each member 

 is listed only once. Listing is checked in order of 

 appearance in table. Thus, if interest is both 

 experimental and physiological, the member is 

 counted under experimental. If comparative is 

 listed and the member is also a member of the 

 Theoretical-Experimental Division of the APA 

 (1946) roster, the member is counted under com- 

 parative. 



t The 1946 roster of fellows or associates who 

 belong to the Division of Theoretical-Experi- 

 mental Psychology included 452 people, of whom 

 319 expressed interest in at least one of the 

 experimental psychology categories. However, 

 133 members of the division had not otherwise ex- 

 pressed their interest in experimental psychology. 



X A total of 126 men and 6 women who indicated 

 military or civilian war work did not indicate 

 either research or teaching interest. A check on a 

 limited sample of these persons (Part I, question- 

 naire for 1948 yearbook) indicated that about 2 

 out of 7 of these are interested in experimental 

 psychology. 



still further. Although the available data 

 are scanty, the conclusion seems justified 

 that not more than 100 fully qualified psy- 

 chologists are now available in this country 



to carry on the kind of research and develop- 

 ment on military problems which proved so 

 profitable to the services during World War 

 II. 



TABLE II 

 Percentage of Total APA Membership of 1945 

 Interested in Experimental Psychology 

 and Estimated Number of APA Members of 

 1947 Interested in Experimental Psy- 

 chology 



* Figure from APA office, August 1947. 



t Not including foreign affiliates. 



t Estimated on the basis of 1945 count. This 

 is, however, probably larger than would be ob- 

 tained from a count similar to that of 1945 if such 

 data were available. The increase in membership 

 is among the more recently trained personnel 

 whose practical interests are in line with the 

 needs of the present time and is accordingly un- 

 doubtedly higher in the fields of applied and 

 clinical psychology. 



III. Recommendation 



It appears to the present writer that the 

 military applications of experimental psy- 

 chology will be slow in development, if a 

 special training program is not planned and 

 executed. The training of an experimental 

 psychologist is expensive and time consum- 

 ing. The universities probably cannot af- 

 ford to initiate such training without 

 substantial subsidy from industry and 

 government. 



As a stop-gap measure, it is recommended 

 that part of the funds of the Committee on 

 Undersea Warfare might be earmarked for 

 use in supporting training programs in ap- 

 plied experimental psychology at a few se- 

 lected institutions whose present facilities 

 might be expanded to provide this kind of 

 training with the minimum of expense. 



