Teaching the graduate course in the history of psychology in APA accredited programs

The history of psychology is a required area of study for accreditation by the American Psychological Association (APA). It is also required by some states in order to qualify to sit for the state licensing exam. Several reasons are typically given for the requirement. They include the belief that the study of history is a way of unifying the different branches of the field, that it helps to ground current psychological research in tradition and theory, and that it establishes a framework from which all applications can be derived. In recent decades, applied psychology has replaced research psychology as the leading force within the field, at least numerically. However, the content of the history of psychology courses has been slow to change. Many scholars argue that it is equally important to have knowledge of psychology's history for those entering into applied psychology as it is for those doing research, perhaps even more so.;This study examined the components of history courses as taught in school, clinical and counseling psychology graduate programs accredited by the American Psychological Association (APA). Although all professional psychology programs accredited by the APA require that students acquire some knowledge of the history of psychology, this may be accomplished in two ways: (1) by infusing history into all of the courses, or (2) by teaching a separate history of psychology course. Most programs choose the latter approach.;Despite the history course requirement, few guidelines exist for what should be taught in these classes. Several studies have suggested ways of organizing and teaching the course. For example, Hogan, Goshtasbpour, Laufer, and Haswell (1998) studied various common characteristics from undergraduate psychology course syllabi, such as identifying the most frequently used text, determining whether the course used an "ancient" versus a "modern" approach, noting whether a lecture or seminar format was used, determining the extent to which original sources were employed, and asking whether the course included a discussion of women and minorities. However, from a review of the literature, it appears that no such study has been conducted in graduate psychology classes.;This study gathered syllabi from a variety of APA accredited programs. After examining 103 syllabi received from these programs, several common characteristics emerged. This study examines and summarizes the data available from the graduate syllabi and makes some recommendations about the way in which the course should be taught.