The state of what art?

Psychological studies need to meet contemporary standards of research design and theoretical relevance within the mainstream of its behavioral science. The use of a clinical-scientist model for psychologists with greater emphasis on clinician than on scientist results in an impoverishment of psychological research and a paucity of stimulating theoretical speculation. Sporadic and pedestrian studies cannot explain why a necessary and sufficient relationship should exist between the presence of a cleft and the dependent measures used. As a result, psychological studies about cleft palate have managed to achieve a state of invisibility as far as most psychologists are concerned. As long as the present status remains at the current level, real progress is impossible, and we will be content with mediocrity.