Philosophy and psychology at the Sorbonne, 1885–1913

The first university course in experimental psychology in Paris was located in the Faculty of Letters rather than the Faculty of Sciences or Medicine. The historical association of psychology with philosophy helps explain this placement, but this choice reinforced the philosophical character of the position at the expense of the experimental. In fact, the course included no laboratory instruction, with the exception of optional demonstrations conducted at psychological laboratories associated with the Faculty of Medicine. The fragmentation of the emerging discipline, distributed among divergent and competing Faculties, meant that training in experimental psychology may have been more difficult in France than in the United States or Germany, where laboratory research and training were more integrated. The first three instructors of the course—Théodule Ribot, Pierre Janet, and Georges Dumas—had a coherent vision of psychology as a synthesis of medical and philosophical approaches, but the matrix of institutional and disciplinary boundaries prevented them from bringing these approaches together.     

The golden section and American psychology, 1892–1938

The golden section has been said by many to be the most beautiful proportion. Fechner was the first to investigate it experimentally, and several late‐nineteenth‐ and early‐twentieth‐century American psychologists followed up on his work. Among these were four prominent names: Lightner Witmer (1867–1956), Edward L. Thorndike (1874–1949), Robert S. Woodworth (1869–1962), and Robert M. Ogden (1877–1959). Why did such well‐known psychologists bother with the golden section? In attempting to answer this question we discovered that the golden section was surprisingly well known during this period, not only in psychology but also in advertising and design. It would have been entirely congruent with their stature for prominent psychologists to take an interest in it. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Publication trends in school psychology: 1963–1973

Articles appearing in three school psychology journals from 1963–1973 were classified and organized into 16 topic areas. Trends of published interests over the years 1963–1966, 1967–1969, and 1970–1973 were identified. Articles concerning Professional Identity were most prominent in the early years of the decade covered; Instrument Development and Evaluation, an area which was consistently popular over the decade, ranked highest during the last period evaluated. The most noteworthy trend in publication has been the growing diversification of published interests in the field of school psychology.     

A psychology of the human brain–gut–microbiome axis

In recent years, we have seen increasing research within neuroscience and biopsychology on the interactions between the brain, the gastrointestinal tract, the bacteria within the gastrointestinal tract, and the bidirectional relationship between these systems: the brain–gut–microbiome axis. Although research has demonstrated that the gut microbiota can impact upon cognition and a variety of stress‐related behaviours, including those relevant to anxiety and depression, we still do not know how this occurs. A deeper understanding of how psychological development as well as social and cultural factors impact upon the brain–gut–microbiome axis will contextualise the role of the axis in humans and inform psychological interventions that improve health within the brain–gut–microbiome axis. Interventions ostensibly aimed at ameliorating disorders in one part of the brain–gut–microbiome axis (e.g., psychotherapy for depression) may nonetheless impact upon other parts of the axis (e.g., microbiome composition and function), and functional gastrointestinal disorders such as irritable bowel syndrome represent a disorder of the axis, rather than an isolated problem either of psychology or of gastrointestinal function. The discipline of psychology needs to be cognisant of these interactions and can help to inform the future research agenda in this emerging field of research. In this review, we outline the role psychology has to play in understanding the brain–gut–microbiome axis, with a focus on human psychology and the use of research in laboratory animals to model human psychology.     

The psychology of voting action on the psychological origins of electoral research, 1939–1964

This article examines the development of psychologically oriented voting behavior research between 1939–1964. It intends to show the psychological basis of the Columbia and Michigan approaches and its implications for the analysis of electoral behavior. It is argued that, in spite of the large differences commonly perceived between these two approaches, there is much similarity between them, both with regard to their psychological roots as to their principal conclusions.     

Contesting the “territorial aggression thesis” in environmental psychology,ca. 1965–1980

In the latter part of the 1960s, the ethologically derived idea of territoriality as an explanation for human aggression became widely debated among social scientists. The instinctual basis of human territorial aggression was promoted by so‐called popular ethologists and consequently embraced by lay audiences. The article examines how the emerging field of environmental psychology adopted the notion of human territoriality from ethology and made it into a part of their own research agenda. It shows how environmental psychologists were inspired by the fashion around the claimed relevance of human territoriality for the large‐scale social problems, such as aggression, war and population growth. Despite of the obvious influences and comparisons between animal and human behavior, many environmental psychologists wanted to contest not only the ‘territorial aggression thesis’ but also the relevance of animal studies for the analysis of human behavior.     

Research and publication trends in experimental social psychology: 1971–1980—a thematic analysis of the journal of experimental social psychology,the european journal of social psychology,and the zeifschrift für soziaipsychologie

The present study was designed to map out the area of research in experimental social psychology during the past decade. First of all, we found a broad range of topics that can be grouped info 21 general content domains. Theories in Social Psychology, Group Processes and Social Interaction, Social Judgement, Personality Variables and Specific Social Behaviour as well as Attitudes were the jive most widely researched fields of study. During the ten-year period 1971–1980 Attribution Theory showed a significant increase in the number of articles published. Cooperation and Conflict as well as Risky-Ship are lines of research which have nearly been abandoned. Finally, in rigorous experimental social psychology the analysis of Social Problems is evidently underrepresented. But a survey of the literature on Social Problems in the Psychological Abstracts from 1971 to 1980 revealed that social psychologists are currently serving both theoretical and practical ends.     

A social historical note on the formal emergence of community psychology

Recent interviews of 15 eminent community psychologists, 6 of whom attended the founding conference at Swampscott, highlighted some historically significant aspects of community psychology's emergence and provided background information concerning the conference's processes and content. The interview informants described the idealism of the era in the context of societal unrest, the struggle with psychiatrists' control of extant mental health services, and the uncertain role of a community orientation within academic psychology as key social historical factors. The informants identified some of the behind-the-scenes preparations for Swampscott as well as the conference climate and emergent ideology. The report concludes with a note on the historical status of women in the subdiscipline.