Ebook Social psychological foundations of clinical psychology: Part 1

SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGICAL FOUNDATIONS
OF CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY







Social Psychological
Foundations of
Clinical Psychology

Edited by
James E. Maddux
June Price Tangney

The Guilford Press
New York    London


© 2010 The Guilford Press
A Division of Guilford Publications, Inc.
72 Spring Street, New York, NY 10012
www.guilford.com
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced, translated, stored in

a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording,
or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher.
Printed in the United States of America
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Last digit is print number: 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Social psychological foundations of clinical psychology / edited by James E. Maddux,
June Price Tangney.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-60623-679-6 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1.  Clinical psychology.  2.  Social psychology.  I.  Maddux, James E.  II.  Tangney, June Price.
RC467.S63 2010
616.89—dc22
2010015992




About the Editors

James E. Maddux, PhD, is University Professor of Psychology at George Mason University in
Fairfax, Virginia, and former director of its clinical doctoral program. A Fellow of the American Psychological Association’s Divisions of General, Clinical, and Health Psychology, Dr.
Maddux is coauthor (with David F. Barone and C. R. Snyder) of Social Cognitive Psychology: History and Current Domains and coeditor (with Barbara A. Winstead) of Psychopathology: Foundations for a Contemporary Understanding. He is former Editor of the Journal
of Social and Clinical Psychology and has served on the editorial boards of the Journal of
Applied Social Psychology, Self and Identity, and the International Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy. Dr. Maddux’s major interest is the integration of theory and research from clinical, social, and health psychology. His research is concerned primarily with understanding
the influence of beliefs about personal effectiveness and control on psychological adjustment
and health-related behavior.
June Price Tangney, PhD, is University Professor of Psychology at George Mason University.

A Fellow of the American Psychological Association’s Division of Personality and Social
Psychology and of the American Psychological Society, Dr. Tangney is coauthor (with Ronda
L. Dearing) of Shame and Guilt, coeditor (with Jessica L. Tracy and Richard W. Robins) of
The Self-Conscious Emotions: Theory and Research, and coeditor (with Mark R. Leary) of
the Handbook of Self and Identity. She is Associate Editor of American Psychologist and
has served as Associate Editor of Self and Identity and Consulting Editor of the Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Psychological
Assessment, the Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, and the Journal of Personality.
Her research on the development and implications of moral emotions has been funded by
the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the National Institute of Child Health and Human
Development, the National Science Foundation, and the John Templeton Foundation. Dr.
Tangney’s current work focuses on moral emotions among incarcerated offenders. A recipient of George Mason University’s Teaching Excellence Award, she strives to integrate service,
teaching, and clinically relevant research in both the classroom and her lab.


v





Contributors

Jonathan M. Adler, PhD, Department of Psychology, Franklin W. Olin College of
Engineering, Needham, Massachusetts
Lauren B. Alloy, PhD, Department of Psychology, Temple University, Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania
Susan M. Andersen, PhD, Department of Psychology, New York University,
New York, New York
Roy F. Baumeister, PhD, Department of Psychology, Florida State University,

Tallahassee, Florida
Lorna Smith Benjamin, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City,
Utah
Abraham P. Buunk, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of Groningen, Groningen,
The Netherlands
Patrick W. Corrigan, PsyD, Institute of Psychology, Illinois Institute of Technology,
Chicago, Illinois
Ronda L. Dearing, PhD, Research Institute on Addictions, University at Buffalo, The State
University of New York, Buffalo, New York
Rene Dickerhoof, PhD, ICON Clinical Research, Lifecycle Sciences Group, San Francisco,
California
Pieternel Dijkstra, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of Groningen, Groningen,
The Netherlands
Celeste E. Doerr, MS, Department of Psychology, Florida State University, Tallahassee,
Florida
Carol S. Dweck, PhD, Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, California
Sopagna Eap, PhD, Department of Psychology, Pacific University, Forest Grove, Oregon
Elaine S. Elliott-Moskwa, PhD, private practice, Princeton, New Jersey


vii


viii   Contributors

Donelson R. Forsyth, PhD, Jepson School of Leadership Studies, University of Richmond,
Richmond, Virginia
Howard N. Garb, PhD, Psychology Research Service, Medical Center, Lackland Air Force
Base, San Antonio, Texas
Frederick X. Gibbons, PhD, Department of Psychology, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa

Robyn L. Gobin, MS, Department of Psychology, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon
Peter M. Gollwitzer, PhD, Department of Psychology, New York University, New York,
New York, and University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany
Gregory Haggerty, PhD, Department of Psychology, Nassau University Medical Center,
Syosset, New York
Gordon C. Nagayama Hall, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of Oregon,
Eugene, Oregon
Martin Heesacker, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of Florida, Gainesville,
Florida
Brian M. Iacoviello, PhD, Mental Illness Research, Education and Clinical Center, James J.
Peters VA Medical Center, and Mount Sinai School of Medicine, Bronx, New York
Neil P. Jones, PhD, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Ethan Kross, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor,
Michigan
Sachiko A. Kuwabara, MA, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University,
Baltimore, Maryland
Brian Lakey, PhD, Department of Psychology, Grand Valley State University, Allendale,
Michigan
Jonathan E. Larson, EdD, Institute of Psychology, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago,
Illinois
Mark R. Leary, PhD, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University,
Durham, North Carolina
Sonja Lyubomirsky, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of California, Riverside,
Riverside, California
James E. Maddux, PhD, Department of Psychology, George Mason University, Fairfax,
Virginia
Dan P. McAdams, PhD, Department of Psychology, Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences,
Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois
Megan C. McCrudden, MA, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke
University, Durham, North Carolina

Regina Miranda, PhD, Department of Psychology, Hunter College, New York, New York
Walter Mischel, PhD, Department of Psychology, Columbia University, New York,
New York
Janet Ng, MS, Department of Psychology, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon
Gabriele Oettingen, PhD, Department of Psychology, New York University, New York,
New York, and University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany




Contributors   ix

Chandylen Pendley, BS, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, University of
Florida, Gainesville, Florida
Paul B. Perrin, MS, Department of Psychology, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida
James O. Prochaska, PhD, Cancer Prevention Research Center, University of Rhode Island,
Kingston, Rhode Island
Janice M. Prochaska, PhD, Pro-Change Behavior Systems, Inc., West Kingston,
Rhode Island
John Riskind, PhD, Department of Psychology, George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia
Peter Salovey, PhD, Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut
William G. Shadel, PhD, RAND Corporation, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Yuichi Shoda, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of Washington, Seattle,
Washington
Hal S. Shorey, PhD, Institute for Graduate Clinical Psychology, Widener University,
Chester, Pennsylvania
Caleb Siefert, PhD, Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School, Boston,
Massachusetts
Denise M. Sloan, PhD, National Center for PTSD, Boston VA Healthcare Systems, Boston,
Massachusetts

Mary B. Smith, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida
Timothy J. Strauman, PhD, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University,
Durham, North Carolina
June Price Tangney, PhD, Department of Psychology, George Mason University, Fairfax,
Virginia
Eleanor B. Tate, MA, Department of Psychology, University of Southern California,
Los Angeles, California
Cheryl Twaragowski, MS, Research Institute on Addictions, University at Buffalo,
The State University of New York, Buffalo, New York
Joel Weinberger, PhD, Derner Institute, Hy Weinberg Center, Adelphi University,
Garden City, New York





Preface

I

n the 30 years since the publication of the first issue of the Journal of Social and
Clinical Psychology, research on the application of social psychological theories and concepts to understanding the development and treatment of psychological problems has grown
tremendously. Numerous written and edited books have been published dealing with some
aspect or other of this interface, but there has yet to appear a book designed specifically as
a textbook for graduate students in psychology and related fields who are interested in this
topic. This book is an attempt to meet this need.
This book had its beginning 7 years ago when our clinical doctoral program made some
major changes in its focus and curriculum in an attempt to design a clinical psychology
training program emphasizing social psychology and community psychology—both nontraditional and nonmedical model approaches to clinical psychology. One of the new courses
that we developed as a result of this change in focus was one dealing specifically with the

social psychological foundations of clinical psychology, a course that each of us has now
taught several times. We realized that there was no suitable textbook for such a course and
that the only previous book that might have been suitable at one time, Snyder and Forsyth’s
(1991) Handbook of Social and Clinical Psychology, was out of date. In addition, we had
our own ideas of the topics that we wanted to address in the course, and nothing out there
seemed to fill the bill. We first constructed the course around journal articles, and then after
getting a clearer sense of what we believed such a course should cover, we decided to design
our own book to meet the needs of this course. Because coverage of social bases of behavior
is required of all clinical programs that wish to be accredited by the American Psychological Association, we hoped and believed that such a book would be useful to programs other
than ours.
We designed the book specifically to be a textbook for graduate students in clinical and
counseling psychology, although we believe that it will also find a home in other types of
programs, especially programs in social psychology that have an applied focus. Although
not explicitly designed for advanced researchers or experienced practitioners, we believe
that these audiences will find its up-to-date summaries of the empirical literature useful as
sources for research ideas and clinical interventions. We also did not design this volume to be


xi


xii   Preface

an update of Snyder and Forsyth’s groundbreaking and comprehensive book, which includes
every possible topic at the interface of social and clinical, abnormal, and counseling psychology. Instead, based on our combined 50 years of experience working with clinical doctoral
students, we selected for coverage those topics that we believe are most relevant to clinical
and counseling psychology training. Our goal was not to cover everything but to cover the
basics—hence the word foundations in the title. Our ideas about what these foundations are
were shaped not only by our experience in working with clinical students over the years but
also our experience in teaching this course and getting input from the students concerning

what they found relevant and useful.
Our experience has been that clinical students often have difficulty initially seeing the
connections between the various broad subfields of psychology and applied clinical work.
This book was an attempt to make more explicit the connections between social psychology
and clinical practice. We hope that the book will be especially welcome in clinical and counseling psychology programs that adhere to the emerging clinical science model of training.
The book is organized around the three basic questions that confront clinical and counseling psychologists:
1. How do psychological problems develop? (Part II: Psychological Health and Psychological Problems)
2. How can we understand and evaluate them? (Part III: Social Psychology of Psychological Assessment and Diagnosis)
3. How can we design effective interventions for ameliorating them? (Part IV: Social
Psychology of Behavior Change and Clinical Interactions)
Each section offers a selection of chapters that take an important social psychological
theory or concept that offers an answer to one of these questions. We asked our chapter
authors not only to be scholarly in approaching their topics but also to keep in mind the need
to make their chapters accessible to and of value to students and practitioners. We believe
that they have succeeded admirably, and we hope that the readers will agree.
                      James E. Maddux
                      June Price Tangney
Reference
Snyder, C. R., & Forsyth, D. R. (Eds.). (1991). Handbook of social and clinical psychology: The health
perspective. New York: Pergamon.




Contents

Part I. Introduction
  1 Social Psychological Foundations of Clinical Psychology:

History and Orienting Principles

3

James E. Maddux

Part II. Psychological Health
and Psychological Problems
Self and Identity
  2 The Role of Self-Awareness and Self-Evaluation in Dysfunctional

Patterns of Thought, Emotion, and Behavior

19

Mark R. Leary and Eleanor B. Tate

  3 Autobiographical Memory and the Construction of a Narrative Identity:

Theory, Research, and Clinical Implications

36

Dan P. McAdams and Jonathan M. Adler

  4 Social Psychology of the Stigma of Mental Illness:

Public and Self-Stigma Models

51

Patrick W. Corrigan, Jonathan E. Larson, and Sachiko A. Kuwabara

Self-Regulation
  5 Self-Regulatory Strength and Psychological Adjustment:

Implications of the Limited Resource Model of Self-Regulation

71

Celeste E. Doerr and Roy F. Baumeister

  6 Self-Regulation and Psychopathology: Toward an Integrative Perspective

84

Timothy J. Strauman, Megan C. McCrudden, and Neil P. Jones



xiii


xiv   Contents

  7 Strategies of Setting and Implementing Goals: Mental Contrasting

and Implementation Intentions

114

Gabriele Oettingen and Peter M. Gollwitzer

  8 Self-Theories: The Roots of Defensiveness

136

Carol S. Dweck and Elaine S. Elliott-Moskwa

Interpersonal Processes
  9 Attachment Theory as a Social–Developmental Psychopathology

Framework for the Practice of Psychotherapy

157

Hal S. Shorey

10 Social Support: Basic Research and New Strategies for Intervention

177

Brian Lakey

11 Social Comparison Theory

195

Pieternel Dijkstra, Frederick X. Gibbons, and Abraham P. Buunk

12 Self-Disclosure and Psychological Well-Being

212

Denise M. Sloan

Social Cognition and Emotion
13 A Construal Approach to Increasing Happiness

229

Sonja Lyubomirsky and Rene Dickerhoof

14 Emotions of the Imperiled Ego: Shame, Guilt, Jealousy, and Envy

245

June Price Tangney and Peter Salovey

15 Social Cognitive Vulnerability to Depression and Anxiety

272

John Riskind, Lauren B. Alloy, and Brian M. Iacoviello

Part III. Social Psychology
of Psychological Assessment and Diagnosis
16 The Social Psychology of Clinical Judgment

297

Howard N. Garb

17 Sociocultural Issues in the Diagnosis and Assessment

of Psychological Disorders

312

Sopagna Eap, Robyn L. Gobin, Janet Ng, and Gordon C. Nagayama Hall

18 Clinical Assessment of Personality: Perspectives from Contemporary

Personality Science
William G. Shadel

329


Contents   xv



19 Interpersonal Assessment and Treatment of Personality Disorders

349

Lorna Smith Benjamin

Part IV. Social Psychology
of Behavior Change and Clinical Interactions

20 Enabling Self-Control: A Cognitive–Affective Processing

System Approach to Problematic Behavior

375

Ethan Kross, Walter Mischel, and Yuichi Shoda

21 The Social Psychology of Help Seeking

395

Ronda L. Dearing and Cheryl Twaragowski

22 Social Cognitive Theories and Clinical Interventions:

Basic Principles and Guidelines

416

James E. Maddux

23 Self-Directed Change: A Transtheoretical Model

431

James O. Prochaska and Janice M. Prochaska

24 Social Influence Processes and Persuasion

in Psychotherapy and Counseling

441

Paul B. Perrin, Martin Heesacker, Chandylen Pendley, and Mary B. Smith

25 Implicit Processes in Social and Clinical Psychology

461

Joel Weinberger, Caleb Siefert, and Gregory Haggerty

26 The Social Psychology of Transference

476

Regina Miranda and Susan M. Andersen

27 Group Processes and Group Psychotherapy: Social Psychological

Foundations of Change in Therapeutic Groups

497

Donelson R. Forsyth

Part V. Current Status and Future Directions
28 Social Psychological Foundations of Clinical Psychology:

Initial Trends, Current Status, and Future Directions

517

June Price Tangney



Author Index

525



Subject Index

543






SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGICAL FOUNDATIONS
OF CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY



PART I

INTRODUCTION

1 Social Psychological Foundations


of Clinical Psychology

History and Orienting Principles
James E. Maddux

T

his chapter attempts to build a foundation for the application of theory and
research from social psychology to clinical psychology. According to Baron, Byrne, and
Branscombe (2006), social psychology is “the scientific field that seeks to understand the
nature and causes of individual behavior and thought in social situations” (p. 6). According to the Society of Clinical Psychology (Division 12 of the American Psychological Association, [APA] www.apa.org/divisions/div12/aboutcp.html), the field of clinical psychology
“integrates science, theory, and practice to understand, predict, and alleviate maladjustment,
disability, and discomfort as well as to promote human adaptation, adjustment, and personal
development [and] focuses on the intellectual, emotional, biological, psychological, social,
and behavioral aspects of human functioning across the life span, in varying cultures, and at
all socioeconomic levels.”
Both of these definitions are wide-ranging and cover a lot of territory. In fact, it is difficult to imagine a situation involving any human being that does not involve the “actual,
imagined, or implied presence” of another human being. Likewise it is difficult to imagine a
situation involving any human being that does not involve some aspect or another of “the
intellectual, emotional, biological, psychological, social, and behavioral aspects of human
functioning.” Can we, therefore, draw any meaningful distinctions between social and clinical psychology? Perhaps not. Although social psychology traditionally has been concerned
with more or less “normal” social and interpersonal behavior, and clinical psychology traditionally has been concerned with “abnormal” or “pathological” social and interpersonal
behavior, the differences between the fields depend largely on our ability to draw distinc

3


4   INTRODUCTION

tions between normal and abnormal behavior. As discussed below, research strongly suggests
that this distinction is difficult, if not impossible, to draw. The field of social psychology
has become more difficult to define as social psychologists have become more concerned
with topics traditionally viewed as “clinical” (e.g., the cognitive and interpersonal aspects of
depression and anxiety). In addition, the field of clinical psychology has become increasingly
difficult to define over the past several decades as we have learned more about the generality
of psychological change processes, the relationship between normal and maladaptive development, and the continuity between “normal” and “abnormal” and between healthy and
unhealthy psychological functioning.

A History of the Interface
between Social and Clinical Psychology
For most of the 20th century, social and clinical psychology remained separate enterprises.
Not only were they concerned with what seemed to be different human phenomena (normal
social behavior vs. psychological disorders), but they also employed different methods of
investigation (controlled experiments vs. case studies). Philosophical and conceptual differences hindered attempts to bridge the two disciplines. Although these differences remain
today, to some degree, since the late 1970s theorists and researchers from both sides have
focused more on the commonalities between social and clinical psychology than on the differences. The result has been a wealth of conceptual and empirical articles, chapters, and
books that have attempted to describe and empirically explore an interpersonal and cognitive approach to understanding psychological adjustment and to developing psychological
interventions.
The term clinical psychology was first used by Lightner Witmer (1907/1996), who
founded the first psychological clinic in 1896 at the University of Pennsylvania. Witmer
and the other early clinical psychologists worked primarily with children who had learning
or school problems. These early practitioners were influenced more by developments in the
new field of psychometrics, such as tests of intelligence and abilities, than by psychoanalytic
theory, which did not begin to take hold in American psychology until after Freud’s visit to

Clark University in 1909 (Korchin, 1976). Soon after Freud’s visit, however, psychoanalysis
and its derivatives came to dominate not only psychiatry but also the fledgling profession
of clinical psychology. During most of the first half of the 20th century, psychoanalytic and
derivative psychodynamic models of personality, psychopathology, and psychotherapy were
the predominant perspectives. By midcentury, however, behavioral voices (e.g., Skinner; Dollard & Miller) and humanistic voices (e.g., Carl Rogers) were beginning to speak.
The two World Wars greatly hastened the development of the practice of clinical psychology. During World War I, psychologists developed group intelligence tests, which were
needed by military services to determine individual differences in abilities. Woodworth developed his Psychoneurotic Inventory to identify soldiers with emotional problems (Korchin,
1976). Clinical psychology was given an even bigger boost by World War II because of the
unprecedented demand for mental health services for military personnel during and after the
conflict (Korchin, 1976). Of particular concern was the treatment of “shell shock,” which
had become recognized by the early 1920s as a psychological response to stress (Reisman,
1991). In the mid-1940s, the Veterans Administration recognized clinical psychology as a




History and Orienting Principles   5

health care profession, and this recognition spurred the development of doctoral training
programs in the field. By 1947, 22 universities had such programs, and by 1950, about half
of all doctoral degrees in psychology were being awarded to students in clinical programs
(Korchin, 1976). In 1946 Virginia became the first state to regulate the practice of psychology through certification.
In 1949 a conference on the training of clinical psychologists was held at Boulder,
Colorado (Maher, 1991). An outgrowth of earlier reports by APA committees in 1945 and
1947, it included representatives from the APA, the Veterans Administration, the National
Institute of Mental Health, university psychology departments, and clinical training
centers (Raimy, 1950). At this conference, the concept of the clinical psychologist as a
scientist-professional or scientist-practitioner—first developed in 1924 by the APA’s Division of Clinical Psychology—was officially endorsed. According to the new standards, a
clinical psychologist was to be a psychologist and a scientist first and a practicing clinician
second. Clinical programs were to provide training in both science and practice. Clinical

practitioners were to devote at least some of their efforts to the development and empirical
evaluation of effective techniques of assessment and intervention. However, the integration
of research and clinical work often has been more an ideal than a reality. For example, a
1995 survey (Phelps, Eisman, & Kohout, 1998) found that less than one-third of practicing psychologists bother to measure treatment outcome. A more recent survey (Boisvert &
Faust, 2006) found that, despite the increasing emphasis over the past decade on empirically
supported treatments and evidence-based practice (APA, 2006), practicing psychologists in
general have only a “modest familiarity with research findings” (p. 708).
When the scientist-practitioner model was adopted, social psychology was a required
part of the training of clinical psychologists and remains so today. Several social cognitive
and interactional approaches to personality and adjustment were available during clinical
psychology’s early years, including the theories of Julian Rotter (1954), George Kelly (1955),
Harry Stack Sullivan (1953), and Timothy Leary (1957). Despite these alternatives, clinical
psychology remained, for the most part, wedded to psychoanalytic notions. Social psychology had a limited influence on clinical practice because the academic training of clinical
students took place in universities, whereas their clinical skills training (in particular, their
internships) occurred mostly in psychiatric hospitals and clinics. In these setting, clinical
psychologists worked primarily as psychodiagnosticians under the direction of psychiatrists,
whose training was primarily biological and psychoanalytic. Therefore, despite required
exposure to social, cognitive, and interpersonal frameworks, clinical psychology adopted the
individualist, intrapsychic, and medical–biological orientations of psychiatry rather than an
interpersonal and contextual orientation grounded in social psychology (Sarason, 1981).
By midcentury the practice of clinical psychology had become characterized by at
least four assumptions about the scope of the discipline and the nature of psychological
adjustment and maladjustment. First, clinical psychology is the study of psychopathology.
That is, clinical psychology is concerned with describing, understanding, and treating
psychopathology—deviant, abnormal, and obviously maladaptive behavioral and emotional conditions. Psychopathology is a phenomenon distinct from normal psychological
functioning and everyday problems in living. Clinical problems differ in kind from nonclinical problems, and clinical populations differ in kind from nonclinical populations.
Second, psychological dysfunction is analogous to physical disease. This medical analogy does not hold that psychological dysfunctions are caused by biological dysfunctions,


6   INTRODUCTION

although it does not reject this possibility. Instead, it holds that painful and dysfunctional
emotional states and patterns of maladaptive behavior, including maladaptive interpersonal
behavior, should be construed as symptoms of underlying psychological disorders, just as a
fever is a symptom of the flu. Therefore, the task of the psychological clinician is to identify
(diagnose) the disorder (disease) exhibited by a person (patient) and prescribe an intervention
(treatment) that will eliminate (cure) the disorder.
Third, psychological disorders exist in the individual. Consistent with both intrapsychic
and medical orientations, the locus of psychological disorders is within the individual rather
than in his or her ongoing interactions with the social world.
Fourth, the primary determinants of behavior are intrapersonal. People have fixed and
stable properties (e.g., needs or traits) that are more important than situational features
in determining their behavior and adjustment. Therefore, clinical psychologists should be
concerned more with measuring these fixed properties (e.g., by intellectual and personality
assessment) than with understanding the situations in which the person functions.
An early union between social and clinical psychology was attempted in 1921 when the
Journal of Abnormal Psychology, founded by Morton Prince in 1906, was transformed into
the Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology. Clinical psychologist Prince (the journal’s
editor) and social psychologist Floyd Allport (its managing editor) envisioned an integrative
journal that would publish research bridging the study of normal interpersonal processes and
abnormal behavior. The vision, however, did not become a reality. In the revamped journal’s
first two decades, few of its articles dealt with connections between social and abnormal psychology (Forsyth & Leary, 1991). The social psychological research published by the journal
became increasingly theory-driven, whereas the clinical research was primarily professional
in nature and usually had little relevance to theory (Hill & Weary, 1983).
The failure of this early attempt at integration is not surprising in light of the different paths taken by social and clinical psychologists during this time. Clinical psychology
was developing as a discipline with scientific ambitions, but it continued to be dominated
by psychodynamic perspectives that did not lend themselves to empirical testing and that
emphasized the individual’s inner life over interpersonal, situational, and sociocultural influences. For example, despite the best efforts of Kurt Lewin and the Yale Institute of Human
Relations (IHR) group, psychoanalysis resisted efforts to be integrated with research-based
general psychology. Maher (1991) wrote that, in the 1950s, “as a contributing discipline

to psychopathology, psychoanalysis was scientifically bankrupt” (p. 10). At the same time,
social psychology, however, was becoming more rigorously empirical and experimental, and
thus increasingly irrelevant to the practice of clinical psychology.
Thus, by the 1950s, social psychologists and clinical psychologists were pursuing different paths that rarely crossed, even in the journal devoted to their integration. The questions raised by social psychologists focused largely on the situational determinants of normal
social behavior and the cognitive constructions of presumably normal people. The questions
raised by clinical psychologists dealt with the intrapsychic determinants of abnormal behavior (psychopathology) and the treatment of clinical disorders. Social psychologists conducted
research from a nomothetic perspective that attempted to develop and test elementary principles of social behavior. Practicing clinical psychologists typically employed an idiographic
approach with their clients and were concerned with what works with what client and what
problem and were less concerned with trying to determine the independent influences of
these various factors that seemed to explain a client’s problems and of the various strategies