Coming of age

THE British Psychological Society is a hundred years old this year. On 24 October 1901 ten people met at University College London to form a psychological society: here we all are (over 34,000 members), almost a century later, at the start of a year-long celebration of the Society and psychology in Britain. This centenary gives us the opportunity to reflect upon the achievements of British psychology, and of the Society. Those of you with internet access should take a look under www.bps.org.uk/centenary/centenary.cfm for the highly informative ‘Chronology of psychology in Britain’, which has been assembled by Dr Geoff Bunn, the Society’s Research Fellow in the History of Psychology. The chronology includes highlights of the development of The British Psychological Society, of psychology as a discipline (a fair bit older than the Society), and of the diffusion of psychological thinking and practice into wider society. It is a fascinating digest: to my mind at least it manages both to convey a sense of longevity and establishment and to illustrate how very recently certain developments took place.