History of the Psychonomic Society IV: The development of the Psychonomic Society

Although there have been many changes in the Psychonomic Society since its founding in 1959, its basic characteristics as a trim organization focused on the conduct of annual scientific meetings and a publication program for scientific research remain unchanged. Because full membership is limited to those who have published appreciable original scientific research beyond the PhD, other means of quality control often have appeared unnecessary. Run by a Governing Board, which elects its own Chair, and a Secretary-Treasurer, the Psychonomic Society has avoided proliferation of administrative structure. Society leaders have worked to maintain a balance between responsible involvement with other organizations and a degree of independence that has enabled the Society to maintain its fundamental simplicity.     

History of the Psychonomic Society III: The meetings of the Psychonomic Society

A primary function of the Psychonomic Society, founded in 1959, has been the conduct of scientific meetings. Its first 37 meetings have been held in 18 different cities, St. Louis being the most popular with 11 meetings. The 5 Chicago meetings have been held at 5 different sites. Although there have been some changes in format and procedure, there has been a general adherence to guidelines laid down by the Society’s founders whereby the format is kept simple, with a strong emphasis on the communication of results of scientific research.     

The founding of the Psychonomic Society

The Psychonomic Society falls within a long tradition of efforts to create organizations of psychologists as alternatives to the American Psychological Association, which has frequently been perceived as failing to meet the essential needs of some of its constituents. As the result of 1950s discussions and correspondence centered on the need for more effective communication among psychologists doing scientific research, an Organizing Committee was formed to undertake the task of designing a new scientific society from the ground up. The Psychonomic Society was founded by a group of experimental psychologists meeting in Chicago, Illinois, in December 1959. They fashioned the Psychonomic Society to provide maximal opportunities for communication about science with minimal bureaucratic structure and without frills unrelated to free and open scientific exchange.     

Index of norms and ratings published in the Psychonomic Society journals

The journals of the Psychonomic Society have served as outlets for numerous stimulus norms and ratings. Such norms are useful to researchers in a variety of areas for manipulating and controlling stimulus attributes. This article presents an index of 142 norms published in the Society’s journals, categorized according to the types of materials and ratings that are included in each.     

History of the Cognitive Development Society: The First 16 Years

This article briefly outlines the history of the Cognitive Development Society (CDS) since its inception in 1999 through 2016. At its biennial meeting in October of 2015 CDS celebrated 16 years of contributions to the community of cognitive development researchers. This article continues that celebration.     

The History Of Applied Mathematics And The History Of Society

Choosing the history of statistics and operations research as a casestudy, several ways of setting the development of 20th century appliedmathematics into a social context are discussed. It is shown that there isample common ground between these contextualizations and several recent research programs in general contemporary history. It is argued that a closer cooperation between general historians and historians ofmathematics might further the integration of the internalist andexternalist approaches within the historiography of mathematics.