PSYCHOLOGY in 1929

by A. T. POFFENBERGER, PH.D.
Professor of Psychology, Columbia University

THE outstanding event in the psychological world during 1929 was the ninth International Congress of Psychology, held for the first time in America, at Yale University, September 1 to 7. Twenty-one foreign countries were represented by from one to twenty-two psychologists. There was a total attendance of more than 1,000, the largest group of psychologists ever brought together.

Of particular interest were the reports of the ten representatives from the Union of Socialistic Soviet Republics. Their extreme centralization of education, business, and industry offers particularly favorable ground for applying psychology on a grand scale. As an indirect result of the congress, plans have been made for making this work as well as that of other countries more generally accessible, through translations and otherwise.

Particularly significant is the publication by the dark University Press (Worcester, Mass.) of the Psychological Register, containing the names of contemporary psychologists throughout the world, together with a bibliography of the publications of each individual.

The formal announcement of the Institute of Human Relations at Yale University marks a new era in the study of human problems. Its aim is to study man in his social setting, and it will bring together all the sciences which can aid in this undertaking, including—in addition to psychology—sociology, anthropology, law, medicine, and others. Many problems hitherto too complex tor solution by any one scientific group should respond to this joint attack.