From the ‘Big brother’ controversy to the Brain hype – The psychologist in practice. Dutch. Van Big Brother tot Hersenhype – De psycholoog in de praktijk (Amsterdam: Boom, 143 p., colour illustr.; notes, lit., register. ISBN 9 789461 058867).

Published on the occasion of the 75^th anniversary of the major organization of Dutch psychologists, NIP. As there had already been a thorough study on the first 50 years of the organization and the profession, this new book mainly focuses on their last quarter century.

After discussing relevant social changes in The Netherlands, its separate chapters look at ten different fields, and especially at the issues that generated public controversy. The first chapter starts with media attention for the field and for psychologists, the second focuses on academic reforms, and the fourth on the further expansion of the professional organization. But the main focus is on various fields of application: to children and employees, to body and mind, and even to the courts and the law. The book concludes with a discussion of discredited research, and with a peek at an increasingly digital future. 

(A further chapter on cultural matters was simultaneously published in the professional monthly De Psycholoog, Dec. 2013).