Behavioral contingencies involved in common pool resource management.

Abstract

Scientific psychology has much to contribute to understanding the human behaviors that underlie problems associated with common pool resource allocation, including those at the root of the internship imbalance. By examining the financial contingencies through which professional psychology training programs are supported, the less-than-finite nature of internship resources, and the tendency for humans (and the programs they comprise) to discount the value of delayed contingencies, behavioral theory predicts persistence (and perhaps worsening) of the internship imbalance. Although it is important to understand the nature of our common internship pool resource problem, as illustrated in 2011 by Hatcher, and the behavioral contingencies that cause and maintain it, behavior change will require all shareholders in professional psychology to make a commitment to reducing enrollments into doctoral training programs.