Mercer – Is She Competent?

 When I provide a review and analysis of a forensic custody evaluation, I begin by generating my line-by-line notes. I then write a Summary report based on my notes, and I include my notes as Appendix 1 to my Summary report.

I am currently generating my line-by-line notes on a forensic custody evaluation – my-oh-my. The absence of applied knowledge is prominent.

The forensic evaluator cited Jean Mercer for something. My-oh-my. That is a low bar. I guess I’ll need to formally address the Mercer-issue of competence… and incompetence.

Experimental Psychology

The doctorate degree of Jean Mercer is in Experimental psychology (from 1968), not Clinical psychology. She has never been educated or trained in Clinical psychology – they are entirely different fields requiring entirely different educational coursework and training.

Jean Mercer has never been educated or trained in the assessment, diagnosis, or treatment of pathology – any pathology. She is not competent based on her education, training, and experience to opine on the assessment, diagnosis, or treatment of pathology – any pathology.

Let me quote to you from my line-by-line commentary when Mercer is cited by a professional, from Dr. Childress:

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Jean Mercer is not competent to discuss pathology, its assessment, diagnosis, or treatment. She is not a clinical psychologist and never has been, she has never been educated or trained to assess, diagnose or treat any pathology ever in her life.

Nor is she an expert in attachment pathology. She is not an expert in anything of relevance except by her own self-assertion… and what she says is wrong.

She is a retired professor, in Experimental psychology, from many years ago who apparently studied physio-perceptional issues. Here is an excerpt from her vitae when she was still a professor (her name at the time was Lester).

From Dr. Mercer’s Vitae:

EDUCATION:

Mt. Holyoke College, 1959-1961

Occidental College. 1961-63; A.B. in Psychology, 1963

Brandeis University, 1963-67; Ph.D. in Psychology, Feb. 1968

Dr. Childress Comment: Her doctorate in Experimental psychology was from a long-long time ago, she has no relevant current education or training since 1968.

EMPLOYMENT:

Assistant Professor, Wheaton College, Norton, MA. 9/67-6/69

Assistant Professor, State University College, Buffalo, NY 9/69-6/71

Assistant Professor, Richard Stockton College, Pomona, NJ 9/74-9/77

Associate Professor, Professor, Richard Stockton College, Pomona NJ 9/77-2/81

Professor of Psychology, Richard Stockton College, Pomona, NJ 2/81-2006

Professor Emerita of Psychology, Richard Stockton College (now Stockton University), 2006–

Dr. Childress Comment: Her only work experience is as a professor of general education psychology courses for undergraduates at a small college 20 years ago. She has no employment noted on her vitae other than Stockton College from 1974 until she retired in 2006. She has had no employment in any capacity since 2006.

From Wikipedia: “Stockton University is a public university in Galloway Township, New Jersey. It is part of New Jersey’s public system of higher education. It is named for Richard Stockton, one of the New Jersey signers of the U.S. Declaration of Independence. Founded in 1969, Stockton accepted its charter class in 1971. At its opening in 1971, classes were held at the Mayflower Hotel in Atlantic City; the campus in Galloway Township began operating late in 1971.”

From Wikipedia: “Emeritus  is an honorary title granted to someone who retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in “professor emeritus.”

Dr. Mercer is a 20-year retired professor. She attended graduate school from 1963 – 1967. Her doctorate degree was 55 years ago in Experimental psychology, not Clinical psychology. Her ONLY work experience ever in her life was as a professor at one small college teaching undergraduate psychology courses.

She has never received any education or training as a clinical psychologist (assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of pathology), she has never received any pre-doctoral or post-doctoral training as a clinical psychologist. She has never been licensed – or even been qualified to sit for the licensing exam – ever in her life.

Dr. Mercer is not competent by her background education, training, and experience to opine on issues of pathology – any pathology, its assessment, diagnosis, or treatment.

Her research domain when she was still working was in physio-perceptual domains. The following research is from her vitae, her name was Lester at the time, and her domain was physio-perceptual research,

From Mercer Vitae:

Lester, G., & Morant, R. (1967). Sound localization during labyrinthian stimulation. Proceedings of the 75th Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association, 1, 19-20.

Lester, G. (1968). The case for efferent change during prism adaptation. Journal of Psychology, 68, 9-13.

Lester, G. (1968). The rod-and-frame test: Some comments on methodology. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 26, 1307-1314.

Dr. Childress Comment: The rod-and-frame test Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rod_and_frame_test

From Wilipedia: “The rod and frame test is a psychophysical method of testing perception. It relies on the use of a rod and frame apparatus which uses a rotating rod set inside an individually rotatable drum, allowing an experimenter to vary the participant’s frame of reference and thus test for their perception of vertical.”

Lester, G. (1969). Comparison of five methods of presenting the rod-and-frame test. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 29, 147-151.

Lester, G. (1969). The role of the felt position of the head in the audiogyral illusion. Acta Psychologica, 31, 375-384.

Lester, G. (1969). Disconfirmation of an hypothesis about the Mueller-Lyer illusion. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 29, 369-370.

Dr. Childress Comment: Müller-Lyer illusion Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%BCller-Lyer_illusion

From Wilipedia: “The Müller-Lyer illusion is an optical illusion consisting of three stylized arrows. When viewers are asked to place a mark on the figure at the midpoint, they tend to place it more towards the “tail” end.”

Lester, D., & Lester, G. (1970). The problem of the less intelligent student in the introductory psychology course. The Clinical Psychologist, 23(4), 11-12.

Lester, G., & Lester, D. (1970). The fear of death, the fear of dying, and threshold differences for death words and neutral words. Omega,1, 175-180.

Lester, G. (1970). Haidinger’s brushes and the perception of polarization. Acta Psychologica, 34, 107-114.

Lester, G., & Morant, R. (1970). Apparent sound displacement during vestibular stimulation. American Journal of Psychology, 83, 554-566.

Lester, G. (1971). Vestibular stimulation and auditory thresholds. Journal of General Psychology, 85, 103-105.

Lester, G. (1971). Subjects’ assumptions and scores on the rod-and-frame test. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 32, 205-206.

Lester, G., & Lester, D. (1971). Suicide: The gamble with death. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

Lester, D., & Lester, G. (1975). Crime of passion: Murder and the murderer. Chicago: Nelson Hall.

Lester, G., & Rando, H. (1975). No correlation between rod-and-frame and visual normalization scores. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 40, 846.

Lester, G., Bierbrauer, B., Selfridge, B., & Gomeringer, D. (1976). Distractibility, intensity of reaction, and nonnutritive sucking. Psychological Reports, 39, 1212-1214.

Lester, G. (1977). Size constancy scaling and the apparent thickness of the shaft in the Mueller-Lyer illusion. Journal of General Psychology, 97, 307-398.

Dr. Mercer is an “expert” only by self-assertion. The standards for expertise in the family courts are extremely low – self-assertion of supposed “expertise” is apparently all that is required.

Dr. Mercer is not competent based on her background education, training, and experience to opine on issues of clinical psychology, on pathology (any pathology), its assessment, diagnosis, and treatment.

2.01 Boundaries of Competence
(a) Psychologists provide services, teach, and conduct research with populations and in areas only within the boundaries of their competence, based on their education, training, supervised experience, consultation, study, or professional experience.

Dr. Mercer is in violation of Standard 2.01 Boundaries of Competence of the APA ethics code whenever she opines on pathology, its assessment, diagnosis, or treatment.

Google ignorance: lack of knowledge or information

Dr. Mercer’s opinions regarding clinical psychology, pathology (all pathology), its assessment, diagnosis, and treatment, are ignorant by definition of the English language and she is practicing beyond the boundaries of her competence based on her education, training, and professional experience.

That any professional would rely on a low-level self-asserted “expert” like Mercer, speaks to the low caliber of professional work within forensic psychology.

Experts in professional psychology that should be relied on are:

• • • Bowlby – Sroufe: attachment
    • Minuchin – Bowen – Haley – Madanes: family systems therapy
    • Beck – Millon – Kernberg – Linehan: personality disorders
    • Van der Kolk – Cicchetti: child abuse and complex trauma
    • Tronick – Lyons-Ruth – Stern: child development
    • Barber – Cui – Kerig: psychological control
    • Kohut – Stolorow: self psychology
    • American Psychiatric Association: DSM-5

Dr. Childress Vitae

By contrast, I have six domains of specialized expertise supported by my vitae:

Dr. Childress Domains of Specialized Expertise

• • • Diagnostic assessment of delusional thought disorders
    • Attachment system and attachment pathology.
    • Complex trauma and child abuse
    • Factitious Disorder Imposed on Another
    • Family systems therapy
    • Court-involved custody conflict

There are currently no standards of practice for professional psychology in the family courts. We need to begin establishing professional standards of practice by re-establishing the Standards of the APA ethics code for competence:

2.01 Boundaries of Competence
(a) Psychologists provide services, teach, and conduct research with populations and in areas only within the boundaries of their competence, based on their education, training, supervised experience, consultation, study, or professional experience.

2.04 Bases for Scientific and Professional Judgments
Psychologists’ work is based upon established scientific and professional knowledge of the discipline.

Craig Childress, Psy.D.
Clinical Psychologist, CA PSY 18857