‘It is in our DNA to change’

Why did you become a Psychologist? The question opened Arthur C. Evans' stirring keynote, with his own answer being that 'Embedded in our DNA is that we want to give back, have an impact… I hear that all the time.' With that, Evans launched into a personal and passionate account of 'The power of Psychology to improve people's lives: Using what we know and applying what we have learned'.

Embedded in his own DNA are his mother and father, a loving couple with their own approach to conflict. 'Emotional vs logical,' Evans noted – 'that was the making of a scientist practitioner.'

Growing up in Melbourne, Florida, Evans was equidistant from Kennedy Space Centre ('I would watch the shots go up, feel the ground shaking', and Disneyworld. 'So I was raised in a place where the sky was the limit, and everybody was happy. Except it was the 1960s and there was another world I was living in. Fighting to get basic rights, to sit at a counter and have a meal.' Evans recalled that his Grandmother 'grew up as a second class citizen even though she was a first class person'.

Originally a music major, Evans believed Psychology 'was about reading minds'. Through one of his teachers, he fell in love with experimental psychology – 'a broad field where, if people are involved, Psychology is relevant'. Getting a masters in experimental psychology, he helped army aviators make the environment more safe. A doctorate at Maryland followed, and then work at the APA as an intern. Evans worked with psychologists doing advocacy on Capitol Hill. 'I started with this idea of being an individual clinican, and left thinking "wow, this is such a neat field" – all the ways psychologists interact.'

Most of Evans' career since has been spent in public policy positions. 'I kept running into issues where Psychology was relevant but they didn't know there was a body of knowledge which could help them. Through the APA strategic plan, our membership, our leaders, wanted to apply Psychology to the critical societal issues of the day. That's needed more now than ever.' Evans recalled a past APA presidential address, from George Miller in 1969, around 'giving Psychology away'.

But a nagging question remained – how do we most effectively apply what we know to the critical societal issues of the day? How do we know we have truly made a difference? Evans spoke of the importance of packaging, partnerships, platforms.

In terms of packaging, Evans gave the example of branding advice on social media use in adolescence as a 'health advisory', in an easily digestible form, achieving '3 billion media impressions'. For platforms, Evans recommended using established organisations, for example attending a consumer electronics show with the most influential people in tech, to talk about what we know on how people respond to humanlike robots. And as for partnerships, Evans recounted how APA input fed into the U.S. Surgeon general report on workplace mental health. We need to reframe issues, incorporating the human element; show impact and benefit to stakeholders; and play the long game.

Playing that game can involve new infrastructure and processes for organisations such as the APA. 'I watch a lot of TV makeover shows,' Evans confessed: 'I like the before and after. The wiring and plumbing behind the scenes… fixing foundations… that's not the sexy stuff. Organisations work the same way – there are things that impede our ability to get the work done, but that might not be the sexy stuff that people want to focus on. People focus on the flashy to help them get on to the next job.'

Evans ended with advice around institutionalising change, for example around issues of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion. Returning to his Grandmother's experiences, he pointed out that 'her grandson is at EFPA. It is in our DNA to change. But unless we're willing to change the organisations, and ourselves, we're never going to have the impact we want to have.'