Manifestations of the MOMM Phenomenon II: Relevant Data on Professional Darwinism and Membership Composition.

Horan (1989) reported that graduates and employees of four institutions (Minnesota, Ohio State, Maryland, and Missouri - the "MOMM Cartel") heavily dominate every science and practice organ of the American Psychological Association's Division 17 governing body. Goldman (1990) provided additional data indicating that egregious exclusion of outsiders is characteristic of all Division 17 appointments over the past 5 years. A frequent response to these findings attributes the predominance of graduates and employees from MOMM institutions in all Division 17 governance structures to a sort of "professional Darwinism" (greater achievement by individuals affiliated with MOMM institutions). Others argue that given alternative baselines, MOMMs might prove to be underrepresented. Two studies were conducted to address this debate. The first investigated the professional-Darwinism hypothesis by examining the productivity of appointees to the editorial boards of Division 17's journals. The second study examined the charge of non-representativeness by analyzing Division 17's membership composition at two points in time. Data on the scholarly productivity of MOMMs and outsiders, at the time of their appointment to the editorial boards, suggest that outsiders are more productive than MOMMs, and that there is a significant disposition to appoint relatively unpublished MOMMs to the "Journal of Counseling Psychology" editorial board. Data further indicated that outsiders were indeed underrepresented; data revealed an unexpected and conspicuous decline in their membership percentage between 1973 and 1989. (NB)