The higher mental processes in the American Journal of Psychology

Research on the higher mental processes throughout the history of The American Journal of Psychology is reviewed. The domains covered include reasoning, judgment and decision, problem solving, and metacognition. Within each domain, the earliest contributions to the Journal are discussed, as is the development of the research domain over time. The increasing refinement of research methods and theoretical tools over time is accompanied by much consistency in research questions.     

125 years of the American Journal of Psychology: a historical overview

The American journal of Psychology celebrates 125 years of publication this year. From its inception, the Journal has attempted to record and communicate the results of research conducted in laboratories of psychology. It has also provided its readers with laboratory plans and designs for apparatus for research and demonstrations and described experimental procedures to facilitate the conduct of research. Its attention to reviews of books over a wide range of psychological topics and its inclusion of articles that provide historical perspectives on the development of psychology and its concerns broaden the context in which laboratory research is carried out. This brief overview of the Journal's history offers a perspective on the role of the Journal in, and its contributions to, the development of scientific psychology.     

The Psychology of Referencing in Psychology Journal Articles

ABSTRACT— Citation statistics can affect major professional decisions, but little is known about how important a particular reference is to the citing document. We asked 49 psychologists to rate the importance of every reference in their own empirical paper and to indicate the primary citation reason. References cited for conceptual ideas or to justify methods and data analyses were regarded as more important than references cited for general background, limitations, or future research. The location, frequency, and length of a citation predicted its importance, but such relationships were weaker for self-citations. We make suggestions about referencing for authors, editors, and bibliographic database designers.     

125 years of intelligence in the American Journal of Psychology

A survey is made of intelligence research in the 125 years of The American Journal of Psychology. There are some major articles of note on intelligence, especially Spearman's (1904a) article that discovered general cognitive ability (g). There are some themes within intelligence on which articles appeared over the years, such as processing speed, age, and group differences. Intelligence has not been a major theme of the journal, nor has a differential approach to psychology more generally. There are periods of time--especially the 1970s--during which almost no articles appeared on intelligence. The key articles and themes on intelligence differences are discussed in detail.     

American Psychology and Schools: A Critique

No one denies that the Boulder Conference on Clinical Psychology marked a turning point on American psychology. This paper by one of the three or four living participants lists the conference as one in which psychology was at a choice point, went in one and only one direction, without examining the possible consequences or the possibility of going in more than 1 direction. A second theme is that the APA has to be faulted for a lack of searching self-scrutiny of its past. Organizations, like individuals, resist such self-scrutiny.     

Editorial: Journal of Comparative Psychology

Both continuity and change typically mark the changing of editors at a long-established journal with extended editorial terms. Change is inherent in any dynamic field and is independent of editorship, but editors have an influence that should be wielded in a fair, responsible, judicious, and scientifically rigorous manner, while inevitably reflecting their own perspectives and values. The Journal of Comparative Psychology will continue to publish exciting, fascinating, assessable, controversial, and well-written reports on research, be the topic traditional, interdisciplinary, applied, or one breaking risky new ground. Editorial standards must be high, but appropriate for various subfields, and as editor the author will try to make those judgments carefully. The author would also like to see more submissions of brief reports describing exciting developments as well as submissions on significant theoretical, conceptual, and methodological issues during his tenure as editor.     

The British Journal of Psychology centenary: A preliminary content survey and its problems

The preliminary findings are reported of a review of the contents of the British Journal of Psychology 1904–2003 undertaken to mark the journal's centenary. This identifies (a) the top 11 categories of paper published and their patterns of distribution, (b) an apparent change in the nature of papers published after 1983, (c) the overall pattern of category‐introduction, showing a dramatic change in 1965 and (d) a provisional typology of the principal patterns of distribution over time. Major conceptual and practical problems arising in the categorization of papers, and their implications, are discussed. Some reflections are offered on the possible value of research of this kind and on the nature of the journal itself.     

American Psychology of Religion and the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion

It is doubtful whether there ever has been a rise‐fall‐rebirth of the psychology of religion. While the claim has marginal merit for American academic psychology, it has little application in other cultures or even within American psychology of religion outside mainstream psychology. The psychology of religion has always been and remains tied to key individuals who sustain the field. This historical fact is important in understanding the role of the JSSR in the field. Early psychologists of religion such as Hall and James set the pattern for two distinctively different approaches to the psychology of religion. Hall's approach was methodologically restrictive, inherently reductive, and came to dominate the academic psychology of religion. James ‘approach was methodological plural, receptive to the evidential force of religious experience, and quickly marginalized within American psychology. These opposing orientation continue to influence the psychology of religion in societies such as the SSR and its journal. A review of the psychologist editors of JSSR illustrates that the psychology of religion remains a marginal interest of mainstream psychology. It survives because of the interdisciplinary nature of the SSSR and its journal.