British Psychological Society

The British Psychological Society (BPS) is a representative body for psychologists and psychology in the United Kingdom. The BPS is also a Registered Charity and, along with advantages, this also imposes certain constraints on what the society can and cannot do. For example, it cannot campaign on issues which are seen as political.

Founded on 24 October 1901 at University College, London (UCL) as The Psychological Society, the organisation initially admitted only recognised teachers in the field of psychology. Its current name of The British Psychological Society was taken in 1906 to avoid confusion with another group named The Psychological Society.

Under the guidance of Charles Myers, membership was opened up to members of the medical profession in 1919. In 1941 the society was incorporated and following the receipt of a royal charter in 1965, the society became the keeper of the Register of Chartered Psychologists. A member of the British Psychological Society who has maintained chartered status has the right to the letters "C. Psychol." after his or her name. The highest designation the Society can bestow is a Fellow of the British Psychological Society(FBPsS), showing a significant contribution and understanding of the discipline.

In 2010 the BPS had 48,195 members in all fields of psychology. As of 2011^[update] its president is Dr. Gerry Mulhern.

Every year, in April or May, the British Psychological Society holds its Annual Conference. In 2008, this was in Dublin; in 2009, this was in Brighton; in 2010, the conference was in Stratford-on-Avon. In 2011, the conference was in Glasgow and in 2012, the conference will be in London.

Mission

The Society aims to raise standards of training and practice in psychology, raise public awareness of psychology, and increase the influence of psychology practice in society. Specifically it has a number of key aims, as described below.

• Protecting the public by maintaining a Register of Chartered Psychologists and a Code of Conduct.
• Setting standards of training for psychologists at graduate and undergraduate levels.
• Providing information about psychology to the public.
• Providing support to its members via its membership networks and mandatory continuing professional development.
• Hosting conferences and events.
• Preparing policy statements.
• Publishing books, journals, The Psychologist monthly magazine, a free Research Digest, and various other publications (see below).
• Setting standards for psychological testing.
• Maintaining a History of Psychology Centre.

Journals

The BPS currently publishes 11 journals:

• British Journal of Clinical Psychology
• British Journal of Developmental Psychology
• British Journal of Educational Psychology
• British Journal of Health Psychology
• British Journal of Mathematical and Statistical Psychology
• British Journal of Psychology
• British Journal of Social Psychology
• Journal of Neuropsychology
• Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology
• Legal and Criminological Psychology
• Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice

The Research Digest

The BPS also publishes a free fortnightly email digest of recent psychology research, which now has over 20,000 subscribers. The Digest also appears online as a blog where people can read and comment on featured research. From students to researchers, the Digest is ideal for anyone interested in psychology.

Subsystems: Sections, Divisions and Branches

The British Psychological Society currently has ten divisions and thirteen sections. Divisions and sections differ in that the former are open to practitioners in a certain field of psychology, so professional and qualified psychologists only will be entitled to full membership of a division, whereas the latter are interest groups comprising members of the British Psychological Society who are interested in a particular aspect of psychology.

The Divisions include the Division of Teachers and Researchers in Psychology, the Division of Health Psychology, the Division of Forensic Psychology, the Division of Child and Educational Psychology, the Scottish Division of Educational Psychology, the Division of Occupational Psychology, the Division of Counselling Psychology, the Division of Clinical Psychology and the Division of Neuropsychology.

The sections include the Consciousness and Experiential Psychology Section, the Cognitive Psychology Section, the Developmental Psychology Section, the Psychology of Education Section, the History and Philosophy Section, the Lesbian and Gay Psychology Section, the Psychobiology Section, the Psychotherapy Section, the Qualitative Methods Section, the Psychology of Women Section, the Social Section and the Transpersonal Psychology Section.

The term "division" in the American Psychological Association does not have the same meaning as it does in the British Psychological Society, coming closer to what the British Psychological Society refers to as "sections". Branches are for people in the British Psychological Society who are in the same geographical region.

Consciousness and Experiential Psychology

The Consciousness and Experiential Psychology Section (CEP) is a section of the British Psychological Society for those interested in the psychology of consciousness and experience. Initiated in 1994 by Jane Henry, Max Velmans, John Pickering, Elizabeth Valentine and Richard Stevens, the Section promoted and supported the reincorporation of consciousness studies into mainstream psychology.^[1] Official approval for CEP was announced in 1997 during the BPS Annual Conference. The Section’s mission is ‘to advance our understanding of consciousness,^[2] to bring scientific research on consciousness closer to other traditions of inquiry into the nature of mind, and to explore how this research can be used to improve the quality of life’.^[3] As of 2010 Susan Stuart is the Section Chair. Every year in September the Consciousness and Experiential Psychology Section holds its annual conference,^[4][5] usually in Oxford.

The Consciousness and Experiential Psychology Section is one of thirteen sections of the British Psychological Society.^[6] This section is for anyone interested in broad-based, rigorous academic exploration of consciousness and experience. The Section is an interest group comprising members of the British Psychological Society and also unaffiliated members. The Consciousness and Experiential Psychology Section was the first, and remains the only, section of a nationally representative body of professional psychologists devoted to the study of consciousness.^{[citation needed]}

Statutory regulation

Following a number of scandals arising in the 1990s in the psychotherapy field, the UK Government announced its intention to widen statutory regulation, to include inter alia psychologists. The BPS was in favour of statutory regulation, but opposed the proposed regulator, the Health Professions Council (HPC), preferring the idea of a new Psychological Professions Council which would map quite closely onto its own responsibilities. The Government resisted this, however, and in June 2009, under the Health Care and Associated Professions (Miscellaneous Amendments) Order, regulation of most of the psychology professions passed to the HPC.

Society offices

The Society's main office is currently in Leicester in the United Kingdom. Before the transfer of registration and associated functions to the HPC, there were over 100 staff members at the Leicester office. There are also smaller regional offices in Belfast, Cardiff, Glasgow and London.

The current (2010–2011) President of the Society is Dr Jerry Mulhern. He succeeded Sue Gardner, who is now Vice President.^[7]

Logo

The British Psychological Society's logo is an image of the Greek mythical figure Psyche, personification of the soul, holding a Victorian oil lamp. The use of her image is a reference to the origins of the word psychology. The lamp symbolises learning and is also a reference to the story of Psyche. Eros was in love with Psyche and would visit her at night, but had forbidden her from finding out his identity. She was persuaded by her jealous sisters to discover his identity by holding a lamp to his face as he slept. Psyche accidentally burnt him with oil from the lamp, and he awoke and flew away.^[8]

A note about psychotherapy

The BPS does not supervise the separate profession of psychotherapy (including hypnotherapy and the like), which is covered by the overarching body, the United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP). As a special member of the UKCP [1] the BPS views "psychotherapy, as well as the use of hypnosis with psychotherapy, is most appropriately regarded as a post-qualification specialisation for members of one of the primary professional groups such as medical practitioners, applied psychologists or social workers". The UKCP maintains a register of psychotherapeutic counsellors who are not necessarily BPS members [2]. The BPS maintain a register of BPS member psychologists working as psychotherapists.

See also

• American Psychological Society
• Association of Business Psychologists
• Personality and Preference Inventory

References

1. ^ www.issuu.com/thepsychologist/docs/bpsannualreview2009
2. ^ Velmans, M. (2009) Understanding Consciousness (2nd Ed). London: Routledge/Psychology Press
3. ^ .www.bps.org.uk/cep
4. ^ www.imprint.co.uk/pdf/17_11-12Conference%20Report_FINAL.pdf
5. ^ www.psylin.plymouth.ac.uk/psypag/wp.../2010/.../PsyPag-75-June-2010.pdf
6. ^ www.bps.org.uk
7. ^ The Trustees - President (2010-2011) at bps.org.uk
8. ^ Steinberg, H. (2001). A brief history of the Society logo. The Psychologist, 14, 236–237.

External links

• The British Psychological Society web site
• History of the British Psychological Society