How Psychologists Help Solve Real-World Problems in Multidisciplinary Research Teams: Introduction to the Special Issue

Real-world problems are not confined to a single discipline. Multidisciplinary team research combines the methods and theories from different disciplines to achieve a common goal. It fosters collaboration among researchers with different expertise, which can lead to novel solutions and new discoveries that could not be achieved otherwise. This special issue of the American Psychologist consists of 10 articles that cover a range of research areas within the discipline of psychology. The authors of the articles describe the content of the research conducted by their teams and the ways in which the teams operate. In this introductory article, an overview of the topics covered in the special issue is provided. The overview shows that most areas of psychology are involved in the various multidisciplinary projects and emphasizes the fact that psychologists have many skills that put them in a good position for collaborating with specialists from other disciplines. This introduction to the special issue also highlights key points from the lessons learned covered in the articles and discusses tradeoffs of specific recommendations made by the authors. The conclusion reached is that there is much value in conducting multidisciplinary research and that the benefits of such research far outweigh the challenges that may be encountered along the way.