| Description | British Psychological Society press releases concerning conferences, publications, policy and events
4 January 1988 Chartered Psychologists Received Royal Approval - invitation to press conference, notes on distribution, copy articles on 'The Register of Chartered Psychologists', ''Psychologists in Education', 'The Clinical Psychologist', 'The Occupational Psychologist', 'Examples of Work in Occupational Psychology, 'Psychologists in Scotland'
4 July 1988 'First Members Join the Register of Chartered Psychologists
8 January 1988 New Publication for Psychologists - press release for new BPS house magazine 'The Psychologist' replace Bulletin of the British Psychological Society
14 March 1988 BPS DCP Division of Clinical Psychology Conference on 'Disaster Management' at the Birmingham Medical Institute
18 March 1988 Response to Report on Community Care: Agenda for Action - press release and BPS Professional Affairs Board statement on Griffiths Report on Community Care, also list of MPs to whom it should be distributed to;
6 April Professor Chapman Takes Over as President - press release for Antony Chapman as President of the BPS;
15-18 April 1988 BPS Annual Conference, University of Leeds
General release about conference
1. Sexual Offenders: Treatment The Best Prevention 'The Management and Treatment of the Violent Offender seminar' - press release
2. [Margaret] Thatcher Skilled at Wrong-Footing Interviews - press release
3. Stopping Them Starting Smoking - press release;
4. Top Athletes Get Psyched-Up - Stress in Sport symposium - press release;
5. Multidimensional Anxiety, Self Confidence and Performance (J Graham Jones); The Inverted-U Hypothesis: A Catastrophe for Sport Psychology (Lew Hardy); Planning Mental Preparation Programmes for Copying with Stress in Sport (Roger Mace); An Overview of Mental Training for Peak Performance in Sport (Tony Morris); - press release
6. Would I lie to You - The Detection of Deception symposium - press release;
7. Media Fails to Change Health Behaviour (David White) - press release';
8. It's Not Fair on Girls at School! (Celia Klitzinger) - press release;
9. Behaviour in Fires (David Canter) - press release;
10. What's Right for Humans? (Celia Klitzinger and Rex Roger) - press release;
11. Child Abuse - Lessons for the Helpers - symposium press release and paper Sexual Abuse - press release;
1 July 1988 Learned Society Says 'No' to the U.G.C. - press release BPS non cooperation with University Grants Committee Research Selectivity Exercise
15-17 July 1988 Psychology of Women At Work Conference, P-Set (Centre for Psychological Services to Education and Training) Psychology of Women and Occupational Psychology Sections
15-17 July 1988 Division of Clinical Psychology Summer School, held at the College of Ripon and York - press release
19 July 1988 Psychology Schools Project Award Winners - press release and abstract of paper 'An Experiment to Establish If The Level of Belief Has An Affect in the Acceptance of Horoscopes As Being Personally Applicable';
20 July 1988 Mental Health At Work - BPS statement responding to Health and Safety Executive HSE report on Mental Health at Work - press release and distribution notes;
30 August - 2 September 1988 First European Conference on Traumatic Stress Studies at Bishop Grosseteste College, Lincoln - press release and distribution notes
16-19 September 1988 Conference of Developmental Section of the British Psychological Society Goes to Wales for the First Time -Developmental Psychology Section Conference at College Harlech
Distribution list
General press release about the conference
1. Special Education Policy Challenged by New Research (Peter Sutherland) - press release;
2. Young Children Affected by Stressful Events (Lynn Beardsall) - press release;
3. Children's Sleep Problems Often Last Several Years (Jim Stevenson) - press release;
4. School Sports Important to Children's Self-Opinions (Jackie Granleese) - press release;
5. Bias Against Welsh Speaking Children Being Corrected (Ann Owen and Mair Humphreys) - press release;
6. Conductive Education's Main Aim Is About Personality Not About Walking (Andrew Sutton) - press release;
7. Babies Suffer By Having Anxious and Depressed Mothers (Lorraine Ludman) - press release
8. Children Are Good Witnesses (David Warden) - press release
23-25 September 1988 BPS Social Psychology Section Annual Conference Eliot Hall, University of Kent -
Distribution list
General press release about the conference
1. Help For Child Witnesses
2. Don't Interrupt A Stutterer
9-12 September 1988 Third Conference of the Cognitive Psychology Section, New Hall, University of Cambridge
Distribution list
General press release about the conference
1. A Triumph of Skill Over Luck? (Mark Griffiths) - press release
2. I'll Never Forget Wat's 'Is Name (Richard Hanley) - press release
25 November 1988 Falklands War Veterans To Be Helped By Counselling Techniques Developed by Vietnam War Veterans (Roderick J Orner) - press release
19-20 December 1988 British Psychological Society Annual London Conference held at City University includes:
Distribution list
General press release about the conference
1. Exploding The Myths about Post Viral Syndrome (Alan Durndell) - press release
2. Is it my Hormones, Doctor?- press release;
3. Assisting The Police With Their Enquiries (David Canter) - press release;
4. Clear or Murky Sir? - press release for 'Psychology and Wine Appreciation: Unlikely Bed Fellows? (Peter Ainsworth);
5. Fear and Aids - Do Shock Tactics Work? (Lorraine Sherr) - press release;
6. The High Price of Love - Caring for Aids Sufferers (John Church and Agnes Kocsis) - press release;
7. Simple Key to Slimming (Alan Blair) - press release;
8. Children and Television: Becoming Competent Viewers (Maire Messenger-Davies) - press release;
9. Kids Cop It ( (Jim Stevenson) - press release;
10. Psychological Impact of Disasters - press release for 'Kuwait Airways Hijack: Psychological Reactions of British Survivors';
11. Fatal Behaviour in the King's Cross Fire (David Canter) - press release
12. Getting Body and Mind into Shape (Andrew Steptoe) - press release
13. Child Abuse - Preventable - press release
14. Every Child Can Be A Genius - Or Can They - (Michael Howe) press release
19 December 1988 Does She Wear the Pants and Does He Do The Washing Up? - distribution list and press release for Annual Occupational Psychology Conference to be held on 6 January 1989 at Old England and Belsfield Hotels, Bowness-on-Windermere, Cumbria |
| AdminHistory | The first report on public relations was in 1946 by T H Pear [see BPS Council Papers 25 May 1946]. A public relations committee was founded in 1955 and was a short lived working party.
The first press releases was for the BPS Occupational Psychology Section Conference in Cambridge, held 3-4 January 1970.
In 1971 Nicholas Georgiades and Professor Arthur Summerfield arranged a press conference at Brown's Hotel to draw attention to the BPS response to Sir John Foster's report on Scientology [See BPS/001/4/01/03/01]. After advice from Mr Christopher Hall, Barbara Castle's Information officer on setting up a press function - a Standing Press Committee was formed in October 1971 under the Chairmanship of Dr Georgiades - they produced press releases and started recruiting spokespeople and setting up a media training courses for them - the first of which was held in June 1972. Early press efforts were concentrated on promoting the conferences and journal articles but later encompassed promoting BPS policy, positions, activities and the profession of psychology.
In 1973 Susan Best PA to the Secretary General took on the additional role of 'Public Relations Secretary', this was later held by Mrs M Clark, the post existed until 1976. A dedicated press officer was recruited in 1991.
Stephen White joined the BPS staff as Director of Communications in 1985 and started organising regular media training from 1986 onwards. Press releases were regularly issued from this time.
By October 1991 the Press Committee was no longer a standing committee but a subcommittee of the Information Committee (which itself took over from the Standing Committee on Communications SCCOMS 1984-1990). The Information Committee became the Communications Committee in 1998 as part of the Society's strategic plan. This became the Publications and Communications Board in 2000. |
| Copyright | Subject to the condition of the original, copies may be supplied for private research use only on receipt of a signed undertaking to comply with current copyright legislation. Permission to make any published use of material from the collection must be sought in advance from the Head of the History of Psychology Centre and Archives and, where appropriate, from the copyright owner. Where possible, assistance will be given in identifying copyright owners, but responsibility for ensuring copyright clearance rests with the user of the material |