Public told to be careful in choosing psychologists

DEPOK, West Java (JP): A professor has warned the public against incompetent psychologists providing services that would adversely affect people's life.

Soetarlinah Sukadji, in a speech marking her professorship at the University of Indonesia here, begged that the public differentiate between psychology professionals and psychology scholars.

"Not all psychology scholars have the skills and professionalism to provide psychology services and to conduct psychological tests," she said in a ceremony presided over by university rector Asman Boedisantoso.

Soetarlinah described the dependence of many companies, certain communities, education institutions and individuals on the services of certain "clinics" run by incompetent psychologists.

"Many psychology scholars are not professional in interpreting the results of intelligence tests and in making conclusions from the results because of a poor knowledge of human behavior, a field in which we lag behind developed countries," she said.

She conceded how mistaken conclusions from some psychological tests could affect and cause problems for a person for the rest of his or her life.

In her paper on developing the concept and theory of intelligence measurements, Soetarlinah said tests played an important role in the establishment of psychological decisions which affected the fate of an individual, communities and society.

"But a wrong conclusion could be drawn from a test if instruments used in the test are not valid, the data inaccurate and psychologists not skilled in interpreting the test's results and subjects to be tested," she said.

To Soetarlinah, human intelligence is understood as a basic mental ability to make adjustments, changes and selection to a person's environment. "Of course, the environment influences not only intelligence but behavior in accordance with the environment's demands."

She called on the University of Indonesia to accelerate research to develop psychology science which was in line with Indonesia's cultural context. She also called for the use of valid instruments in psychological tests.

She said that the Indonesian Psychologists Community (HIMPSI), in cooperation with the Ministry of Manpower, would set up an independent body to issue permits for psychology professionals who wanted to set up their own clinics. (rms)