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American Psychological Association

American Psychological Association
American Psychological Association logo.svg
Formation July 1892; 124 years ago (1892-07)
Headquarters 750 First Street, NE
Washington, D.C., U.S.
Coordinates 38°54′00″N 77°00′27″W / 38.89988°N 77.00753°W / 38.89988; -77.00753Coordinates: 38°54′00″N 77°00′27″W / 38.89988°N 77.00753°W / 38.89988; -77.00753
Membership
117,500 members
2016 President
Susan H. McDaniel
CEO (Interim)
Cynthia D. Belar
Website www.apa.org

The American Psychological Association (APA) is the largest scientific and professional organization of psychologists in the United States, with around 117,500 members including scientists, educators, clinicians, consultants, and students. The APA has an annual budget of around $115m. There are 54 divisions of the APA—interest groups covering different subspecialties of psychology or topical areas.

The American Psychological Association and the American Psychiatric Association (both known by the acronym APA) are sometimes distinguished as "the bigger APA" (American Psychological Association) and "the little APA" (American Psychiatric Association) because of their relative membership sizes. The terms "psychiatrist" and "psychologist" are often confused. A psychiatrist is a physician who has graduated from medical school, while a psychologist is not a medical school graduate, but generally has a master's degree or a Ph.D.

The APA has task forces which issue policy statements on various issues of social import such as the APA position on psychology of abortion; APA position on human rights (concerning issues such as detainee welfare, human trafficking, and rights for the mentally ill); APA position on IQ; APA position on treating homosexuality (sexual orientation change efforts); and APA position on men and women (gender differences).

APA is a corporation chartered in the District of Columbia. APA's bylaws describe structural components that serve as a system of checks and balances that ensure democratic process. The organizational entities include:

The Good Governance Project (GGP) was initiated in January 2011 as part of the strategic plan to "[assure] APA's governance practices, processes and structures are optimized and aligned with what is needed to thrive in a rapidly changing and increasingly complex environment." The charge included soliciting feedback and input stakeholders, learning about governance best practices, recommending whether change was required, recommending needed changes based on data, and creating implementation plans. The June 2013 GGP update on the recommended changes can be found in the document "Good Governance Project Recommended Changes to Maximize Organizational Effectiveness of APA Governance". The suggested changes would change APA from a membership-based, representational structure to a corporate structure. These motions will be discussed and voted upon by Council on July 31, 2013 and August 2, 2013.


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