2 Psychologists in C.I.A. Interrogations Can Face Trial, Judge Rules - The New York Times. To get a favorable summary judgment, the lawyers would have needed to prove that the relevant facts were beyond dispute. In recent weeks, each side submitted lengthy filings taking issue with the purported facts offered by the other. They also moved to exclude testimony of medical experts hired by opposing counsel who examined the former detainees for post-traumatic stress disorder. The American Civil Liberties Union and the Gibbons law firm of Newark brought the lawsuit under the Alien Tort Statute, which allows foreign citizens to seek justice in United States courts for violations of their rights under international law or United States treaties. While Dr. Jessen has kept a low profile, Dr. Addressing the Mensa Annual Gathering in Hollywood, Fla., this month, Dr.
The morning after Dr. The sad truth about APA’s ethical lapse is finally out. July 17 Regarding the July 11 news article “Report: APA leaders softened ethics for harsh interrogations”: The American Psychological Association’s response to an independent investigation attempted to strike a tone of shock and dismay, but there was little in the report that has not been communicated repeatedly to APA leadership by concerned APA members (and members who resigned in protest). The APA’s claim that the “report contains deeply disturbing findings that reveal previously unknown and troubling instances of collusion” flies in the face of years of member protests that were met by the APA with denials, obfuscation and attacks on critics.
In 2006, psychologists who raised concerns about possible abuses at Guantanamo Bay were called “opportunistic commentators masquerading as scholars.” I resigned from the APA in 2007, and some colleagues ask if I’m happy the truth is finally out. Irene Smith Landsman, Garrett Park, Md. Report criticizes how psychology association worked with the Pentagon, post-9/11. Logo of American Psychological Association The American Psychological Association on Friday released an independent review of its findings that the association abandoned many of its ethical principles when it advised the Bush administration on interrogation techniques in the wake of Sept. 11. The report (discussed in detail in this article in The New York Times) found that the association seemed to want to please the Pentagon rather than stick up for ethical standards, and that the activities of key leaders of the association buttressed the argument for using interrogation techniques many consider to be torture.
In some cases, administration officials were nervous about some techniques but moved ahead after assurances from APA leaders. APA leaders, in a statement on Friday, apologized for their actions and pledged reforms so that psychologists in the future would not participate in the kinds of interrogations discussed in the report. Lessons must be learned after psychology torture inquiry. An independent report on the American Psychological Association reveals the extent to which some psychologists colluded with US military and intelligence agencies to allow torture of prisoners. In 1917, when the field of psychology was young and struggling to gain acceptance in science, the American Psychological Association (APA) needed a friend. Like many at the time, it decided to assist the war effort by working with the US military. The collaboration was largely benign: efforts to assess which recruits were fit to be soldiers led to the first formal study of variation in human intelligence.
Later, psychologists studied the effects of war on soldiers returning home, fuelling the case for making the First World War “the war to end all wars”. That was not to be, but psychology, and the APA in particular, continued its close bond with military and intelligence agencies. Nevertheless, the tone of the alliance between US agencies and psychologists has darkened over the past century. Coalition for an Ethical Psychology. Roy Eidelson, Ph.D., is a licensed psychologist and president of Eidelson Consulting, where he studies, writes about, and consults on the role of psychological issues in political, organizational, and group conflict settings. He is also a past president of Psychologists for Social Responsibility -- an international organization of psychologists, other mental health professionals, students, and social justice advocates -- and the former executive director of the Solomon Asch Center for the Study of Ethnopolitical Conflict at the University of Pennsylvania, Dr.
Eidelson is currently an associate director of the Asch Center at Bryn Mawr College. "No Place to Hide: Torture, Psychologists, and the APA. " This 2009 video offers a brief overview of the disturbing role that psychologists and the American Psychological Association (APA) have played in the context of detainee abuse and torture at Guantanamo Bay and other national security sites. Lessons must be learned after psychology torture inquiry. Timeline of American Psychological Association Policies and Actions Related to Detainee Welfare and Professional Ethics in the Context of Interrogation and National Security. May 12, 2021 APA President Jennifer F. Kelly, PhD, ABPP, and CEO Arthur C. Evans, Jr., PhD, sent a letter (PDF, 50KB) to President Joseph R. Biden, Jr., in support of his Administration’s efforts to close the Guantanamo Bay Detention Center. September 21, 2018 APA President Jessica Henderson Daniel, PhD, ABPP, responds (PDF, 68KB) to the Defense Department letter of concern regarding APA’s 2015 Council resolution on psychologists and national security.
August 9, 2018 Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs Tom McCaffery sends a letter of concern (PDF, 34KB) to APA’s Board of Directors about APA’s 2015 Council resolution regarding the role of military psychologists in national security settings. May 1, 2018 APA CEO Arthur C. October 22, 2017 APA CEO Arthur C. August 23, 2017 APA President Antonio E. February 16, 2017 Five plaintiffs file a lawsuit against the Association arising out of the publication of the Independent Review. February 13, 2017 January 27, 2017 November 22, 2016. Independent Review Cites Collusion Among APA Individuals and Defense Department Officials in Policy on Interrogation Techniques. WASHINGTON — The American Psychological Association (APA) today announced an initial series of policy and procedural steps in response to findings of individual collusion and organizational failures in the group’s activities related to the Bush Administration’s war on terror.
The actions come as the APA released a 542-page report produced by attorney David Hoffman, of the Sidley Austin law firm, detailing the relationship between various activities of the APA and Bush Administration policies on interrogation techniques. Mr. Hoffman was retained by the APA Board of Directors last November to conduct a thorough and independent review, and the APA cooperated fully during the eight-month process. “The Hoffman report contains deeply disturbing findings that reveal previously unknown and troubling instances of collusion,” said Dr. Susan McDaniel, a member of the Independent Review’s Special Committee. The Board recommended that the Council: The Board voted to: Mr. Coalition for an Ethical Psychology.
Coalition for an Ethical Psychology. The Coalition's petition effort to annul and repudiate the APA's PENS Report is no longer active. The Report was rescinded--but not repudiated--by the APA's Council of Representatives in 2013. Concerns raised by the Coalition, described below and elsewhere on this site, were confirmed by the 2015 Hoffman Report.
A Call for Annulment of the APA's PENS Report The Coalition spearheaded a broad-based effort to annul and delegitimize the American Psychological Association’s deeply flawed 2005 PENS Report. The key conclusion of the Report – despite clear evidence to the contrary – was that psychologists play a critical role in keeping national security detainee interrogations “safe, legal, ethical and effective.” For years thereafter, the PENS Report continued to be used as an authoritative document, especially in national security contexts. See List of Signers Read the Detailed Background Statement. Report of the Independent Reviewer and Related Materials. Responses from those Mentioned in the Independent Report For those people who have been mentioned or otherwise have personal knowledge about the events discussed in the Independent Report, we have established a forum where you may post a response based on the facts presented or address what you believe are factual errors or provide your own account of the issues pertaining to you.
PLEASE NOTE: The "Responses" page is not intended to be an open discussion forum. If you wish to comment on anything posted on that page, please use the public comments section at the bottom of this page. All Public Comments on the Independent Report The following comment section is provided to allow for an online conversation regarding the Independent Report and we ask that you provide helpful suggestions. By posting your comment(s) here, you agree that you shall not upload to, or distribute or otherwise publish any libelous, defamatory, obscene, pornographic, abusive, or otherwise illegal material.
Independent Review Cites Collusion Among APA Individuals and Defense Department Officials in Policy on Interrogation Techniques. Ethics & American Psychological Association. Kenneth S. Pope Valerie A. Vetter ABSTRACT: A random sample of 1,319 members of the American Psychological Association (APA) were asked to describe incidents that they found ethically challenging or troubling. Responses from 679 psychologists described 703 incidents in 23 categories. CITATION & COPYRIGHT: This article was published in American Psychologist, vol. 47, No. 3, 397-411. Founded in 1892, the American Psychological Association (APA) faced ethical problems without a formal code of ethics for 60 years.
In the early years of the American Psychological Association, the problems of ethics were relatively simple. The Committee on Scientific and Professional Ethics was created in 1938 and began handling complaints on an informal basis ("A Little Recent History," 1952). The method used to create the formal code was innovative and unique, an extraordinary break from the traditional methods used previously by more than 500 professional and business associations (Hobbs, 1948 ). Research. The History of Psychology. Functionalism Functionalism, an early school of psychology, focuses on the acts and functions of the mind rather than its internal contents. Its most prominent American advocates are William James and John Dewey, whose 1896 article "The Reflex Arc Concept in Psychology" promotes functionalism.
Psychoanalysis The founder of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud, introduces the term in a scholarly paper. Freud's psychoanalytic approach asserts that people are motivated by powerful, unconscious drives and conflicts. He develops an influential therapy based on this assertion, using free association and dream analysis. Structuralism Edward B. Titchener, a leading proponent of structuralism, publishes his Outline of Psychology. Structuralism is the view that all mental experience can be understood as a combination of simple elements or events.