American psychology, and the needs for transcendence and community

Abstract In this its centennial year the American Psychological Association has reason to take satisfaction from its past accomplishments. However, as psychologists we know that our view of our history has some self‐serving aspects. There have been some errors of commission and omission. In this paper one of those errors of omission is discussed: the significance of religion, especially of the fundamentalist variety, for understanding the modern psyche. This omission is viewed from a historical perspective in which the relationship between the needs for transcendence and community underwent a fracturing that has had troublesome consequences both for religious and nonreligious people. The nature of those needs are illustrated in the ideas and writings of two people separated by 2500 years: Socrates and B. F. Skinner.