The New Zealand Psychological Society (NZPsS) is one of the professional associations for psychologists in New Zealand. It is the largest professional body for psychologists in New Zealand, providing for both research psychologists and practicing psychologists.
History
The society began as a branch of the British Psychological Society in 1947, becoming an independent body in 1967. The society's first annual conference was held in 1968, when the society had approximately 150 members. Originally the society was dominated by academic psychologists, but by the 1960s and 1970s, practicing psychologists, primarily clinical psychologists, became a growing voice within the society. Between 1968 and 1978, the society grew to over 600 members.
In the 1970s, the society spoke out against unsafe driving practices, and submitted in support of changes to the Crimes Amendment Bill in 1974, the first parliamentary attempt at homosexual law reform in New Zealand. In 1978, Ann Ballin became the first woman president of the society.
The society was an integral lobbying force in passing the Psychologists Act 1981, which established psychology as a registered profession in New Zealand.
The society is a constituent organisation of Royal Society Te Apārangi.
Institutes and divisions
Within the society, a number of divisions exist to promote and foster specific fields of psychology. The Clinical Psychology Division was formed in the 1970s, followed by the Counselling Psychology Division in 1985 and the Community and Social Psychology Division was established in 1987. As of 2022, there are seven institutes and one special interest group:
Institute of Clinical Psychology Institute of Community Psychology Aotearoa Institute of Counselling Psychology Institute of Criminal Justice and Forensic Psychology Institute of Educational and Developmental Psychology Institute of Health Psychology Institute of Organisational Psychology Special Interest Group (Coaching Psychology)
Registration
The society has a two-tier approach to membership and professional regulation: a general-scope registration, followed by a specialist scope registration, in a field such as clinical psychology or educational psychology.
Ethics
Members of the society are signatories to the Code of Ethics for Psychologists Working in Aotearoa/New Zealand, which was established in 2002 due to the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003. Prior to the establishment of the code, each individual professional association for psychologists in New Zealand had their own code of ethics.
Presidents The following have been Presidents of the Society.
PresidentTerm Hubert Sampson 1968–1969 Hugh Priest 1969–1970 Alan Crowther 1970–1971 Clement Hill 1972–1973 T. McKellar 1973–1974 Richard Barham 1974–1975 Jim Ritchie 1975–1976 Michael Malloy 1976–1977 Graham Vaughan 1977–1978 Ann Ballin 1978–1979 John Small 1979–1980 Andrew Hornblow 1980–1981 George Shouksmith 1981–1982 Ross St George 1982–1983 Ted Glynn 1983–1985 Aloma Colgan 1985–1986 Harry Love 1986–1987 Geoff White 1987–1988 Freda Walker 1989–1990 Sharon Driscoll 1990–1991 Michael Hills 1991–1993 Olive Webb 1993–1995 Fred Seymour 1995–1997 Judith McDougall 1997–1999 Ian Evans 1999–2000 Barry Parsonson 2000–2002 Cheryl Woolley 2002–2004 Keriata Paterson 2004–2006 Raymond Nairn 2006–2008 Jack Austin 2008–2010 Frank O'Connor 2010–2012 Peter Coleman 2012–2014 Kerry Gibson 2014–2016 Quentin Abraham 2016–2018 John Fitzgerald 2018–2020 Waikaremoana Waitoki 2020–2022 Tania Anstiss 2022–2024
Publications New Zealand Journal of Psychology Psychology Aotearoa
References
External links Official website