Fellowship Behavior in Division 17 and the MOMM Cartel

Abstract

Graduates and employees of four institutions-the MOMM Cartel-dominate every science and practice organ of Division 17's governing body. Counseling psychologists from the other 60 academic programs (the OUTSIDERs) face numerous barriers to professional ascendancy. Six of 13 fellow nominees during the 1988-1989 year were MOMM members; none were rejected. Three OUTSIDERs were elected; four were rejected. Mean scholarly productivity for each group was 13, 21.3, and 19.7 Psyc LIT citations, respectively. The accepted OUTSIDERs were significantly more productive than the MOMMs; two of the four rejected OUTSIDERs ranked numbers one and two in scholarly productivity among all nominees. No relationship appeared between scholarship and fellow decisions; MOMM membership strongly predicted election to fellow status. Personal familiarity with the evaluators, rather than professional service, apparently accounts for these filings -a variant of the "Matthew Effect" discussed in the sociology-of-science literature Recommendations for reform are offered