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Perspectives on Psychology in Schools of Communication and Journalism, Architecture, and Gerontology Gerald C. Davison, Ph.D. Dean, USC Davis School of Gerontology Executive Director, USC Andrus Gerontology Center The Learners • Annenberg School for Communication – Bachelors, Masters, Ph.D. • Architecture – Bachelors and Masters • Gerontology – Bachelors, Masters, Ph.D. Is Psychology Required? • Only in Gero and for Undergraduate and Masters Students – Human Development and Aging (gateway course); Psychology of Adult Development Role/Rationale • Gerontology – psychology key core discipline along with biology, sociology, and social policy. • Psychology key for both its content and its methodologies. Special Issues • Making science relevant in a professional school like the Davis School of Gerontology – the familiar science-practice dialectic. • Inherently interdisciplinary nature of psychology makes it easier for our psychologists to collaborate or at least tolerate the biologists and sociologists and vice versa. Opportunities and Barriers • Great importance of psychology in analysis of the human condition • Relevance of psychology in cautioning about bias in perception (especially for journalists) • Centrifugal forces in psychology threaten our institutional and scientific-applied identity. Implications for Psychology • Complex social problems, more and more a mandated focus for higher education, require approaches that go beyond the expertise of today’s existing fields and administrative structures. • Narrow psychology education at all levels will vitiate our ability to integrate with and contribute to interdisciplinary research and training. Preparing for the Future • Broad and general in psychology is key. • Concentrate on our strengths and evolving knowledge base. • Avoid overly focusing on the applied if it is at the expense of core education and training in the science. Role for APA • Speak vigorously and consistently about psychology’s central role in understanding the human condition, e.g., we do not assess and treat psychiatric disorders; we assess and treat psychological disorders. • Caveat: APA’s focus on prescription privileges distracts and uses resources better allocated elsewhere.