Chicago Selection Research: Introduction

During the late fifties and sixties, the Chicago Institute for Psychoanalysis, under the leadership of Dr. Joan Fleming, undertook a systematic investigation of its selection of psychoanalytic candidates. The committee charged with the selection task held a series of meetings in which attempts were made to spell out implicit criteria used by individual interviewers as well as by the committee. These criteria were carefully discussed and refined through actual usage. Procedures were established for gathering data upon which to base selection predictions, and research began. There have been few reports of these studies because both methodological questions and issues of confidentiality have restrained the investigators.

At the May, 1960 meeting of the American Psychoanalytic Association, a panel on selection was chaired by Dr. Fleming and two of the papers from this panel were published: Dr. Fleming's paper, “What Analytic Work Requires of an Analyst: A Job Analysis,” appeared in the 1961 volume of The Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association; and Dr. Pollock's paper, “Historical Perspectives in the Selection of Candidates for Psychoanalytic Training,” appeared in The Psychoanalytic Quarterly in 1961. In addition, a paper prepared as part of the original COPE studies by Dr. Phyllis Greenacre, “A Critical Digest of the Literature on Selection of Candidates for Psychoanalytic Training,” appeared in 1961 in The Psychoanalytic Quarterly. There have been two COPE study groups on selection, but formal reports of these study sections have not been published.

The Chicago Institute hopes to undertake a systematic follow-up study of a large number of applicants who were seen for selection. Some of these individuals went on with their psychoanalytic education; others did not. Such follow-up research could answer some questions but raise