Psychologist testimony in Congress 1946 - 2016

by Liz Cory

The United States Congress frequently calls on experts to discuss policy and weigh in on proposed legislation. This project presents a brief history of US Congressional testimony given by psychologists. Keep scrolling for testimony highlights by decade.

Overview

As Thomas Maher and colleagues discuss in their recent investigation of Congressional testimonies, psychologists have been called as witnesses less and less often since the late 1980s, even when accounting for the change in total testimonies over time. While this pattern is similar for sociologists and anthropologists, political scientists and economists have been called as witnesses at an increasing proportion of hearings. To better contextualize the roles psychologists have historically played in policy making, let's take a look at their Congressional testimonies by decade.

1940s

Following a hearing held in 1946 by the Committee on Education and Labor featuring testimony from Thomas Moore, the National Mental Health Act was passed, establishing the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). During another hearing in the same committee held in 1949, industrial psychologist Arthur Kornhauser testified in support of workers' rights under the National Labor Relations Act.

1950s

There were seven psychologist testimonies in the Committee of the Judiciary, six of them centered on combatting "juvenile delinquency." The Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency first met in 1953, and their years-long series of hearings investigated the potentially nefarious influence of comic books on young minds. In 1958, Congress passed the National Defense Education Act (NDEA) to promote STEM education in competition with Russia, and C. Carpenter testified.

1960s

There were thirty-five testimonies in the Committee on Education and Labor. In 1964, psychologist Urie Bronfenbrenner testified in support of the Economic Opportunity Act, urging lawmakers to recognize environmental influences on child development, alongside biological ones. The next year, Bronfrenbrenner was instrumental in developing the Head Start program for preschoolers in poverty.

1970s

The Committee on Labor and Public Welfare invited fifteen testimonies. Many were at hearings concerning drug regulation and addiction, including "drug and alcohol abuse in the military" (1970) and "amphetamine abuse among truckdrivers" (1971). Hearings from several other committee in this decade also centered around drug use. In 1973, the Committee on Labor and Public Welfare also passed the Child Abuse Prevention Act, following testimony from Esther Mullen.

1980s

The Committee on Appropriations featured a record-high of 61 psychologist testimonies. This was just a few years after the 1974 passage of the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act, giving Congress back more budgetary control in the face of President Nixon's impoundments. The Committee on Energy and Commerce also invited eleven testimonies, including controversial remarks from Hans Eyseneck in the 1982 Comprehensive Smoking Education Act hearing.

1990s

There were twenty-five testimonies in the Committee on Labor and Human Resources, 40 in the Committee on Appropriations, and 32 across both the Committee on Education and Labor & the Committee on Education and the Workforce. In 1999, Juley Fulcher and Robert Fein both testified in a hearing of the Committee on Education and the Workforce to support strengthening the Violence Against Women Act (1994).

2000s

Testimony dropped precipitously from 216 in the 1990s to 118 in the 2000s. Most were in the Committee on Appropriations (22), and the Committee on Veterans' Affairs (11). A hearing on combatting terrorist biological weapons was held just a month after the September 11th attacks, with testimony from Jerrold Post. The same year, William Iacono testified in the Committee of the Judiciary against the FBI's use of polygraphs given their "absence of a scientific basis."

2010s

Testimonies dove further to just 35 in the 2010s. Most occured in the Committee of the Judiciary (5) and the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (5). In 2011, Stephanie Fryberg testified in the Committee on Indian Affairs about American Indian mascots, underscoring their "negative psychological consequences for American Indians, positive psychological consequences for European Americans and negative effects on race relations in the U.S."

Psychologist testimony in Congress 1946 - 2016

by Liz Cory

Top 5 Committees: Key Witnesses