psychology experts singapore

psychology experts singapore

The Evolution and Impact of Psychology Expertise in Singapore

1. Introduction to Psychology Expertise

A person’s working knowledge is embedded in his or her cultivated experiences, personal circumstances, education, training, and interactions with others. Professionals such as lawyers, doctors, or IT consultants who have developed specialized knowledge, expertise, and proficiency in their respective fields are generally sought for advice and solutions. In the same way, each of us has personal insights about psychological aspects such as personality, development, communication, emotions, and relationships drawn from our daily lives. Truly though, how much of our informal understandings are scientifically accurate and proven? Given the complexity, diversity, and challenges of psychological issues, ought we not to approach psychological knowledge with more deliberateness, in order to realize the benefits that we can achieve with greater clarity and accuracy in our interpretations and practices? Can we truly understand our psychological experiences solely with the expertise of professionals? These are some of the fundamental questions that this chapter seeks to address in introducing the role and impact of psychology expertise in shaping human capital in Singapore.

2. The Development of Psychology as a Field in Singapore

One theme is how the field has evolved since 1950. Discussed in this section are developments in clinical and applied psychology at the University of Singapore, which was then the main training ground for psychology expertise in the country. The clinical program was established in 1954 and was followed by the honors year program in applied psychology. Over time, psychology evolved from a specialized discipline used mainly within the schooling system for educational and vocational guidance, as well as for personnel selection, to one that was also contributing to mental health services using rehabilitative and preventive approaches. The development of community mental health services in the 1970s saw clinical psychology playing a significant role in non-institutional treatment and community rehabilitation.

Professional education in psychology was broad-based and not closely aligned to the British or the US models. Between 1957 and 1964, at the bachelors and honors levels, students took courses across a broad range of topics in psychology and from the additional perspectives of sociology or economics, as well as statistics and research methodology. Optional fieldwork or practical placements were integrated with academic coursework into the final year of the honors program. To contextualize the academic programs, teaching staff were involved in surveys of the foreign student community and in policy work for social welfare planning. A notable member of the team was Emidio do Nascimento, the first local graduate in social work. Although offered by the University of Singapore, social work and psychology programs were not based within a common faculty unlike in some emerging departments in British universities.

3. The Role of Psychology Experts in Various Sectors

Extensive literature has highlighted the positive implications of psychology in various professions, including the therapeutic, educational, and forensic settings. Forensic research has mainly focused on the evaluation and forecasting of various criminal behaviors, the assessment of criminal defendants, and consultation on court policies. While forensic psychology and expert testimony are widely observed in the West, not much attention has been given to judicial experts’ opinions in countries like Singapore. The current study aims to extend the exploration into the role of psychology experts in different professional sectors using content analysis. Singapore’s judicial setting is no exception. Psychology-related expert testimony used in criminal court proceedings at the State Court and the High Court has not been systematically examined.

It is about time that such expert opinions are studied, as there has been an increase in the presence of psychological evidence in criminal cases in recent years. There is a sense in attempting to understand the role of these psychology experts in several different sectors, as criminal cases differ in type (for example, sexual assault, theft, and charges) and level (for example, whether the cases are heard by the lower courts or the higher courts). There is also a difference in the professional disciplines that psychology experts provide their services to. Taken together, the differences in the manifestation of these psychology experts in different settings would render the study of interest to a larger audience and provide a more panoramic picture of its current practice in Singapore.

4. Challenges and Opportunities in the Field of Psychology in Singapore

Psychology as a field faces many of the same challenges as other emerging fields. Professions that are regulated in other countries are not yet recognized as regulated professions in Singapore. We are at a place of being neither here nor there. This represents both a challenge as well as an opportunity. What does regulation bring? It enables certain activities to be undertaken only by those who have met certain standards. Practice is regulated, i.e., those who do not meet such standards are not allowed to call themselves ‘clinical psychologists’, for example. Protective functions are also part and parcel. Professional bodies set standards that form the basis for self-regulation in the absence of statutory or other regulatory structures. Codes of Ethics are commonly endorsed, if not issued, by statutory bodies. Similarly, professional bodies have disciplinary processes to assert their authority and maintain standards.

Regulation has its cons as well: gatekeeping and corporatism. These are also challenges as well as an opportunity. To ensure that what is in place for regulation is not too restrictive and therefore a barrier to entry or practice: gatekeeping. Certainly, it requires a regulatory function. Over-regulation can give rise to corporatism. The concern with corporatism is that the fostering of limited memberships to a select few, with the implicit endorsements of only some members of the profession, can harm the general impression, not only to the profession but also that of the general public. The talent pool ceiling lowers without public trust and confidence.

5. Future Directions and Implications for Psychology Experts

The chapter outlined some historical markers of interest in embedding psychological knowledge into Singapore’s varied and evolving institutions, including through formal education, the practice of psychology, and research. Embeddedness as an overarching construct was used to delineate the many ways in which such expertise has been taken up and used across public and private sectors and institutions. The term captures how psychological knowledge has been included, licensed, or acknowledged in areas from therapy services to national policy decisions, to justice or media; how psychology has been taught in formal education or entwined in conceptualizations of leadership, or management among others; and how psychology has been researched to contribute to questions of national interest, challenges and needs. Placing embeddedness on center stage has allowed the chapter to offer a novel historical perspective of the evolution of psychological expertise. The subsequent sections ‘Local Reflections on Embeddedness and Psychological Expertise in Singapore’ elaborated insights and implications across three main dimensions of embeddedness – Reflect, Practice, and Challenge and Guiding Principles, which has in turn revealed significant issues and considerations that are highly relevant globally. This chapter would like to extend the discussion by offering some directions and implications specifically for the psychological community in Singapore in refining practices and deepening psychological knowledge in taking advantage of psychology’s past, present and future.