INFORMATION FUNCTIONS OF AN INTERNATIOAL MEETING

The effectiveness of the 18th Internat'l Congress of Psychol, held in Moscow, the USSR, Aug 4-11, 1966, is evaluated by means of analyzing reports on the meeting by 94 US participants who had received travel grants. Their reports dealt with the following: (1) scheduled events at the Congress & participation at related meetings; (2) informal interaction; (3) types of information obtained; (4) impact & utilization of information received; & (5) general impressions & suggestions for future internat'l meetings. %'s given, it is noted, are rough indications of responses, since R's were not specifically questioned on all topics. While response toward scheduled events was found in about 33% of the R's to be favorable, some criticisms included problems of org, eg, insufficient time for discussion, & translation difficulties. Some concern was found re the US & USSR domination of the program. Most favorable interactions reported involved Soviet sci'ts. The opportunity to visit educ'al & res facilities in the USSR was found by 40% of the R's to be a major value of the Congress. Complaints about the difficulty of meeting other participants informally were frequent. The type of information communicated between participants was found to center on increasing awareness of the nature of res activity outside the US. Nearly 25% of the R's reported plans to incorporate information they received into their res plans or teaching programs. Such findings suggest that informal interaction & COMM are a major goal of attendance. Some impressions & suggestions include the importance of such meetings to internat'l understanding & the warmth of the reception given the US sci'ts by Soviet sci'ts. In conclusion it is noted that while the meeting was definitely valuable, it could have been made more so by the inclusion of more informal events, a more nat'lly balanced program, etc. Comparisons with reports of the 6th World Congress of Sociol at Evian, Sep, 1966, show a 'marked concurrence' with reactions of psychol'ts to the Moscow Congress. 'These data suggest that internat'l meetings can & do fill certain information needs in spite of org'al difficulties & the problems attendant upon any large gathering in an environment unfamiliar to most of those who participate.' A. Heinrich.