…In Conjunction with APS Meeting Satellite Meetings to Coincide With Convention

APS Introduces “Biology and Behavior” to ’97 Convention

In recognition of their members’ growing participation as presenters and attendees at the APS convention, a substantial number of psychology-oriented and related organizations have accepted APS’s invitation to hold mini-conventions, workshops, poster sessions, business meetings, and social events in conjunction with the 1997 APS Convention.

Many of these events take place prior to the Opening Ceremony of the APS Convention at 5 PM on Friday, May 23, and (with the exception of closed business meetings) are open to all interested individuals, often at no additional cost. Specific details will be published in the APS Convention Program.

• Academy of Psychological Clinical Science

• American Association of Applied & Preventive Psychology

• American Board of Professional Neuropsychology

• Conference on the Biological Basis of Behavior

• NIDA Conference (Cognitive Science Research: More Than Thinking About Drug Abuse)

• Psi Beta, the National Honor Society in Psychology for Community and Junior Colleges

• Psi Chi, the National Honor Society in Psychology

• Society for Personality and Social Psychology

• National Institute of Mental Health In –Person Consultations

Sixth Annual SPSP Meeting Precedes APS Convention

The Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP), an organization of approximately 3,500 personality and social psychologists, will hold its sixth annual meeting at the Washington Hilton immediately preceding the APS Convention, May 23-26, 1997.

The previous five SPSP conventions (which also took place prior to APS conventions) were enormously successful in terms of attendance and the quality of presentations, and the program for this year’s convention promises to maintain these excellent standards.

As a supplement to the participation of SPSP members in more general psychology meetings, this convention is intended to provide members the opportunity for concentrated contact and interaction with other personality and social psychologists. The convention also will offer other psychologists a chance to learn more about recent developments in social and personality psychology.

All members of SPSP and all individuals attending the APS Convention (whether SPSP members and nonmembers) are welcome to attend the SPSP events. No extra registration fee is required. For further information, contact: Harry Reis, Executive Officer, SPSP (electronic mail: reis@scp.rochester.edu).

AAAPP Conference Joins APS Again in 1997

The American Association of Applied and Preventive Psychology (AAAPP) will hold its sixth annual convention at the Washington, DC, Hilton May 23-25, in conjunction with the APS convention. AAAPP is an organizational affiliate of APS with approximately 1,000 members interested in research-oriented applied and preventive psychology. Its convention is focused on a wide variety of applications of psychological research. The meeting is designed to allow applied psychologists to present their work and to allow other psychologists to contribute their findings to the development of applied and preventive approaches. The program is structured so that attendees have many opportunities for interaction with presenters and other attendees. Scheduled meetings of assemblies, groups representing various specialty areas of psychology or topical interests, provide for more focused interaction. For more information contact: Kurt Salzinger, Department of Psychology, 127 Hofstra Univ., Hempstead, NY 11 550; e-mail: psykzs@vaxc.hofstra.edu.

APS Introduces “Biology and Behavior” to ’97 Convention

O nMay23, 1997,APS will introduce a new convention feature at its Washington meeting. Specifically designed for psychophysiologists, psychobiologists, and behavioral neuroscientists, this one-day meeting will include short paper presentations (15-20 minutes) topically organized into two-hour sessions and an evening postersession. The “Biology and BehaviorConference” was proposed by Joseph Steinmetz, in an attempt to attract more psychophysiologists, psychobiologists, and behavioral neuroscientists, to the APS Annual Convention. Letters were then sent to APS members with interests in this research area to assess their interest in attending such a meeting. The response to this survey was very positive, with over 100 members indicating that they would attend this meeting this year, some bringing postdoctoral fellows and students with them. Steinmetz will serve as the Program Chair for this meeting and will work with a committee of APS members who volunteered to assist in organizing the meeting.

As always, a number of psychobiology lectures, symposia, and poster sessions will be held during the regular APS annual meeting scheduled for May 23-26. There should therefore be presentations of particular interest for the satellite meeting participants during the annual meeting along with the excellent presentations of research from other areas of psychology. Members will be supplied further details concerning the “Biology and Behavior” meeting in the March Observer issue and by mail.

In-person Consultation With NIMH Grants Officials Program officials from the Division of Neuroscience and Behavioral Science of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) will be available from II AM until 3 PM Saturday, May 24, to consult individually with investigators interested in applying for NIMH grants. You can sign up in advance or just drop by. It is anticipated that the following program officials will be in attendance: Mary Curvey, Steve Foote, Della Hann, Lynne Huffman, Henry Khachaturian, Steve Koslow, Howard Kurtzman, and Molly Oliveri. Information will be available during conference registration regarding the specific times individuals will be available as well as their particular areas of responsibility and expertise. The location of the session will be announced in the conference program. In addition, written documentation on fellowship, training, and research grant mechanisms will be available during this time, as well as recent NIMH reports, program announcements, and information on other NIMH programs and staff contacts. This opportunity is open to anyone interested in maximizing his/her chances of obtaining NIMH grant support, from students to experienced investigators.

NIDA Conference to Precede APS Meeting

The Behavioral Sciences Working Group at the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), in conjunction with APS, will be sponsoring an all-day satellite meeting on May 23, 1997, titled “Cognitive Science Research: More Than Thinking About Drug Abuse.” Alan Leshner, director of NIDA, will open the meeting, which will feature many distinguished cognitive scientists. There will be an emphasis on the role of cognitive science in understanding the problem of drug abuse and addiction.

Invited speakers will focus on topics such as animal cognition, the effects of drugs of abuse on cognitive ability, information processing, social cognition, and cognitive aspects of drug treatment and therapy.

The meeting will provide the opportunity for an active interchange between speakers and attendees for discussing cognitive science and drug abuse issues. The meeting will be open to the public. For more information on the NIDA conference, call David Shurtleff at 301-443- 1263. Confirmed speakers include: Ralph Tarter, Carlo DiClemente, Paul Rozin, Ann Streissauth, and Sara Nixon.