Unity through diversity: An achievable goal
In her 1999 Presidential Address, Ingrid Lunt outlined her belief in the Society’s ability to draw strength from the many facets of the discipline of psychology.
18 October 1999
The Society has a complex structure. It has survived for almost 100 years, reacting to expansion and gaining accretions without radical change to its fundamental structure. With more than 30,000 members, it has over 100 committees, with 1200 or so members serving on them, and, at the last count, 37 different grades of membership. As the membership has grown and the discipline has diversified, so have subsystems. There are now 14 scientific Sections and nine professional Divisions and Special Groups, admittedly still a small number compared with the 52 Divisions of the American Psychological Association (APA), which are not separated into further subgroups along the lines of our own Sections and Divisions. This diversification follows the increasing specialisation and professionalisation of the discipline, and the expansion is to be welcomed as a sign of its health and success. Nevertheless, there are two problems for the Society that might be addressed.
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