Psychological Society of South Africa (PSYSSA)

Address:
PO Box 989
Houghton
South Africa 2041

Website: http://www.psyssa.com

Phone: +27-486-3322
Fax: +27-486-3266/77
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

PsySSA is the nationally representative professional body for psychology. Recognised internationally, PsySSA is committed to the transformation and development of South African Psychology to serve the needs and interests of all South Africaís people. PsySSA advances psychology as a science, profession and as a means of promoting human well-being. PsySSA ensures quality of psychological services, safeguards ethical standards, builds professional relationships in South Africa and abroad, promotes collective bargaining for better remuneration, new work opportunities and conditions of service for psychologists, and provides numerous benefits to its members.

The first professional psychology association in South Africa, the South African Psychological Association was established in 1948 with a membership of thirty-four. A second organization, the Psychological Institute of the Republic of South Africa, allowed only whites as members and was formed primarily by Afrikaner psychologists who had resigned from the South African Psychological Association. The South African Psychological Association and the Psychological Institute of the Republic of South Africa merged in 1983 to form the Psychological Association of South Africa, which had no racially exclusive clause. During the 1980s, the Psychology and Apartheid Committee and the Organisation of Alternative Social Services mobilized black and progressive white psychologists. Psychology in South Africa historically has been minority-white dominated. The Psychological Association of South Africa, confronted with internal and external pressures to focus on how apartheid affected psycho-social well-being and the limitation of black involvement in psychology, and the other bodies, dissolved to form the Psychological Society of South Africa in January 1994.

Current members (2007): 1334