The following article was reprinted from Psychological Science Agenda (Vol. 11, No.1; January/February 1998), with permission of the American Psychological Association (APA) Science Directorate

APA Launches Decade of Behavior
By Richard McCarty

No doubt you have already heard many references to the end of the 20th century and the start of a new millennium. Indeed, many interesting events will occur over the next several years, not the least of which will be a New Year’s Eve Party to end all parties on December 31, 1999. Not to be outdone by all of the activities, the APA Science Directorate is building a campaign that will launch the Decade of Behavior (2000-2010). To accomplish this, APA is soliciting the active involvement of other scientific societies, federal funding agencies, private foundations, academic departments, and many other organizations. 

This initiative will be only as successful as the level of investment made by you and other members of organizations. For example, as the Decade of Behavior takes shape, we’ll be calling on you to contact your members of Congress to support the legislation that will designate the Decade. 

Why launch a Decade of Behavior? Hard choices are being made in these days of fiscal constraint. Federal agencies need to be informed about the critical value of behavioral science research in addressing national problems. Even in agencies where funds appear to be flush, allocation to the behavioral and social sciences is an uncertainty.

Moreover, our nation is poised to enter the next century with many significant problems that will be carried over from the previous century, such as challenges in our educational system, violence, the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, drug and alcohol dependence, racism, sexism, and so on. In many instances, significant behavioral elements are contributing to these problems and their associated solutions. Individual and group behaviors are at the root of many troubles in our society, and we must convince policy makers-- including members of Congress and high-ranking administration officials-- and the public that the behavioral and social sciences offer valuable insights into and solutions for many of the difficulties facing our nation. Despite the fact that the behavioral and social sciences are among the most popular majors in our colleges, the public’s understanding of what our scientists and practitioners actually do is quite limited. Hence, a public education campaign will also be an important focus of the Decade of Behavior. 

We must also be concerned about the next generation of researchers and academics. Graduate programs in the behavioral and social sciences are not competing effectively for the best minds among our college students. Only with a steady flow of talented people into our disciplines will the long term health and vitality of the behavioral and social sciences be assured. 

Other large-scale initiatives have been successful in recent years (e.g., the Decade of the Brain and the Human Genome Project), but behavioral issues have been on the periphery of these campaigns. The Decade of Behavior, however, will create an opportunity for our disciplines to be in the spotlight. 

What will be the role of APA in the Decade of Behavior? The plan of the APA Science Directorate is to serve as the catalyst for launching the Decade of Behavior. For it to be successful, we must work cooperatively with a broad coalition of our colleagues in the behavioral and social sciences, whom we are already approaching to enlist their support in this effort. The APA Board of Directors recently approved a resolution supporting the Decade and forwarded it to the Council of Representatives for action in February.

In addition, we are developing a resolution on the Decade of Behavior that we hope to have approved by both Houses of Congress and signed by President Clinton. Now is the time to prepare yourself for a decade of great behavior!