Early Psychology Research Articles

Avian cognition and social interaction

The study of animal behavior, and particularly avian behavior, has advanced significantly in the past 50 years. In the early 1960s, both ethologists and psychologists were likely to see birds as simple automatons, incapable of complex cognitive processing. Indeed, the term “avian cognition” was considered an oxymoron. Avian social interaction was also seen as based on rigid, if sometimes complicated, patterns. The possible effect of social interaction on cognition, or vice versa, was therefore something almost never discussed. Two paradigm shifts—one concerning animal cognition and one concerning social interaction—began to change perceptions in, respectively, the early 1970s and 1980s, but only more recently have researchers actively investigated how these two areas intersect in the study of avian behavior. The fruits of such intersection can be seen in the various papers for this special issue. I provide some brief background material before addressing the striking findings of current projects. In some cases, researchers have adapted early classic methods and in other cases have devised new paradigms, but in all instances have demonstrated avian capacities that were once thought to be the exclusive domain of humans or at least nonhuman primates. Keywords: avian cognition; avian social learning; avian observational learning; avian communication

A Resolution Between Mentalism and Teleonomy, or Fodder for a Continuing Dialogue?

Scientists, including psychologists, are often disturbed by the psychological interpretation of animal behavior. Nick Thompson offered a teleonomic approach to the use of psychological terms to describe behavior that avoided the assumption that mental states (or other entities or processes) caused the behavior. I describe tensions between teleonomic and mentalistic conceptualizations of animals by some early comparative psychologists, and offer our skill at kinesthetic-visual matching as an explanation as to why humans so often assume that mental states cohere with behavior. My explanation elucidates why mentalistic interpretations of behavior remain after teleonomic description.

Why aren't the social sciences Darwinian?

At the inception of the social sciences in the late 19th century, early psychologists, anthropologists, archaeologists and sociologists frequently proposed evolutionary explanations for social phenomena. Yet by the mid-20th century Darwin's theory had virtually disappeared from the social sciences, and most social scientists continue to reject evolutionary approaches within their disciplines. This special issue of the Journal of Evolutionary Psychology contains six papers each of which addresses the question of why social scientists rejected evolution, and why they still do. Three broad reasons are identified by our contributors. First, many social scientists past and present hold distorted views of evolution leading to, in our view, an unfounded rejection of evolutionary theory. This distortion might be addressed by improved education and communication of evolutionary theory. Second, many past applications of evolutionary theory to social phenomena have been inadequate for explaining the kinds of phenomena that social scientists are most interested in, such as rapid cultural change and the emergence of large-scale cooperative institutions. This situation is changing as modern Darwinian approaches incorporate behavioural flexibility, group-level explanations and culture. Finally, certain strands of the social sciences have rejected the scientific method in general, instead adopting non-scientific perspectives such as social constructionism. While this is a broader epistemological issue, the application of evolutionary methods to social phenomena may provide the best and most direct support for the value of the scientific method.

Grand challenges in educational psychology

Educational Psychology has a long tradition as a specialty within the field of psychology, formally recognized as a discipline in 1910, when the Journal of Educational Psychology (JEP) began publication. Early psychologists, such as William James and Wilhelm Wundt (e.g., Wundt, 1874; James, 1900) both focused on issues central to educational psychology today (e.g., cognitive processes, memory, and effective teaching).

Transfer of Training: A Meta-Analytic Review

Although transfer of learning was among the very first issues addressed by early psychologists, the extant literature remains characterized by inconsistent measurement of transfer and significant variability in findings. This article presents a meta-analysis of 89 empirical studies that explore the impact of predictive factors (e.g., trainee characteristics, work environment, training interventions) on the transfer of training to different tasks and contexts. We also examine moderator effects of the relationships between these predictors and transfer. Results confirmed positive relationships between transfer and predictors such as cognitive ability, conscientiousness, motivation, and a supportive work environment. Several moderators had significant effects on transfer relationships, including the nature of the training objectives. Specifically, most predictor variables examined (e.g., motivation, work environment) had stronger relationships to transfer when the focus of training was on open (e.g., leadership development) as opposed to closed (e.g., computer software) skills. Other moderators related to the measurement of transfer also influenced transfer relationships, including situations in which transfer outcomes were obtained by the same source in the same measurement context— which consistently inflated transfer relationships. Findings are discussed in terms of their relevance for future research and training practice.

Synopsis of key persons, events, and associations in the history of Latino psychology.

In this article, we present a brief synopsis of six early Latino psychologists, several key conferences, the establishment of research centers, and early efforts to create an association for Latino psychologists. Our chronology runs from approximately 1930 to 2000. This history is a firsthand account of how these early leaders, conferences, and efforts to bring Latinos and Latinas together served as a backdrop to current research and practice in Latino psychology. This history of individuals and events is also intertwined with the American Psychological Association and the National Institute of Mental Health and efforts by Latino psychologists to obtain the professional support necessary to lay down the roots of a Latino presence in psychology.

Professional child rearing advice in the early 20th century: american and international perspectives

Professional advice to parents in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries came first from pediatricians and then gradually began to include psychologists. Many of these early developmental psychologists were trained through efforts of the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial in America in the 1920's. This paper will look at the advice given to parents both from first generation developmental psychologists in America, and from psychologists who were located internationally.

Rhodri Hayward, Resisting history: religious transcendence and the invention of the unconscious, Manchester University Press, 2007, pp. xi, 147, £40.00 (hardback 978-0-7190-7414-1).

Rhodri Hayward, Resisting history: religious transcendence and the invention of the unconscious, Manchester University Press, 2007, pp. xi, 147, £40.00 (hardback 978-0-7190-7414-1). - Volume 52 Issue 4

Psychological Testing in Personnel Selection, Part II: The Refinement of Methods and Standards in Employee Selection

This paper is the second of a three part series that examines the development of selection testing. Part I focused on the historical development of personnel selection testing from the late 19th century to the present, with particular attention given to personality testing. Attention was given to the efforts of early industrial psychologists that shaped and defined the role of testing in the scientific selection of employees. Part II examines the development of methods and standards in employment testing with particular emphasis on selection validity and utility. Issues of selection fairness and discrimination in selection are explored as they relate to psychological testing. Part III explores the development and application of personality testing. The transient nature of models of personality is noted and current paradigms and the utility and fairness of personality testing for modern organizations are discussed.

Marrying Behavioural Economics and Growth Theory

Adam Smith wrote two major books in his lifetime. One of them, the well-known Wealth of Nations (1776) propelled him to be the father of economic theory; whereas the other one, the Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759) did not bring him so much fame. If it had, he might have become the father of psychology as well. Classical economists often moonlighted as early psychologists. Yet, as the use of mathematics gradually became a standard feature of mainstream economics, the profession began to shy away from psychology as it lacked the tools as well as the rules to describe complex human behaviour. However, both mathematical tools and socio-psychological theory have improved a great deal over time, enabling us to build much richer economic frameworks. And indeed over the last couple of decades, we have witnessed a growing number of attempts to bring the two disciplines together once again. The subfield became known as behavioural economics. The objective of this paper is to find out whether behavioural economics could help us gain useful insights into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. The paper consists of two parts. The first part discusses whether we could, and should, build deductive and formalised growth models which incorporate 'irrational' features of human nature. In the second part we attempt to build one such model by including a perception of fairness. Our main conclusion is that although various difficulties arise, it would be beneficial for growth theory if the modern versions of Adam Smiths two professions integrated each other's findings.This is the first draft of the paper.

Missed Opportunities: Speculation on What Japanese Psychology Could Have Been

Takasuna (Integr. Physiol. Behav. Sci. 41, 2007) mentioned the ease with which evolutionary theory was accepted by Japanese psychologists, and certainly this is admirable. He also mentioned the stubborn force which had to be used to gain an understanding of the (thoroughly Western) subjective objective distinction. Alas, during the formative years of Japanese psychology, there was much philosophical work afoot attempting to destroy that distinction. It is speculated that only a small change of which books were translated, or with which Americans early Japanese psychologists trained under, would have made Japan into a haven for these still underdog theories.

Science, applications, and regulation

Science, applications, and regulation

Missed Opportunities in Dialogue between Psychology and Religion

In the Middle Ages, studies of the natural world, human behavior and theology were part of an interwoven body of knowledge. However, in modern times an increasing divide has separated science and religion. A careful review suggests that currents and accidents in intellectual and social history have served to unnecessarily foreclose lines of thought that might lead to rapprochement of religion with science, including psychology. Developments in Western views of epistemology and the philosophy of science have been a major factor in this estrangement. In the early modern period, flexible views of science (e.g. Bacon) were replaced by doctrinaire formulations emphasizing quantitative methodologies. Especially important was the development of positivism, which opened the door to a reductionistic naturalism that intended not only to reduce dialogue with religion but also to replace it with science. Within psychology, Freud and other early psychologists were eager to establish psychology as a “real” science and enthusiastically embraced the positivist perspective and rejected possible alternatives. Although this positivist approach is philosophically untenable, it continues to dominate psychology and obstruct dialogue between science and religion as well as progress in psychology as a whole. A return to a broader and more modest conception of science is warranted.

In Diversity There is Strength: An Autobiographical Memory Research Sampler

Abstract In this introduction, the author argues that methodological concerns induced early experimental psychologists to shy away from research that used autobiographical memories as stimuli. Consequently, no dominant paradigm or theory developed and the study of autobiographical memories was left to various other subdisciplines of psychology. These subdisciplines brought with them a variety of theoretical concerns and empirical methods. The author argues that these concerns and methods have been carried forward into current autobiographical memory research and cites the present compilation as evidence. The author further suggests that the diversity prompted by the early marginalization of autobiographical memory research ultimately may have been a boon to the area, in that it yielded a similar diversity in theories and approaches that makes the area well–positioned for the future.

An Analysis of Industrial-Organizational Psychology’s Indifference to Labor Unions in the United States

Although many writers have bemoaned psychology’s indifference toward labor unions, there has been little critical analysis of why this indifference exists. In this article, several explanations that have been offered to explain this indifference are identified and evaluated. These explanations are: (i) limited access to relevant data; (ii) limited financial rewards;(iii) early psychologists’ attitudes toward unions; and (iv) the failure to appreciate power differences between workers and management. The history of psychology in the US is compared with the history of sociology and economics in order to investigate the viability of these hypotheses. It is concluded that the two crucial reasons for the neglect of labor union issues by applied psychologists are the psychologists’ reluctance to address the presence of conflict between employers and employees and the dearth of early, pro-union psychologists.

Music cognition and the cognitive psychology of film structure.

Abstract Early 20th century psychologists drew attention to similarities between mental processes elicited by film and by music. Contemporary film theorists have also noted analogous film and music structures, and contemporary psychologists have used musical metaphors in discussions of film perception and cognition. These psychological parallels have not been explored through experimental research, in part, because of scarce experimental psychological research on film in contrast to the vast amount on music. The present article proposes that music cognition research provides insight into the perception of formal structure in film, taking as support an analysis of the film The Red Violin. The analysis reveals similarities between film and music with respect to three kinds of musical structure: central reference (tonality), large-scale form (rondo), and small-scale form (motif). Experiments are proposed to reveal the similarity in the mental processes engaged by music and film for each of the three types of structure, respectively. The application of principles and methods of music cognition to film psychology supports the intuitions of early psychological film theorists. The approach also generalizes to other art forms. No systematic study has been made of how films may be based on repetitions and variations, but most critics implicitly recognize the importance of these processes. (Bordwell & Thompson, 1999, p. 87) Like cognitive psychology, the subfield of music cognition has flourished over the last three decades. Recent extensions to the context of film (Cohen, 1994, 2000a) have investigated influences of music on film interpretation (Bolivar, Cohen, & Fentress, 1994; Boltz, 2001; Thompson, Russo, & Sinclair, 1994), film memory (Boltz, 2001; Cohen, 2000b), and visual attention (Lipscomb, 1999; Marshall & Cohen, 1988). The present article, however, focuses on the similarities in cognitive processes that music and film each evokes rather than on the effects of music on the mental processing of film. Emphasis on similarities of music and film finds precedents in early 20th century experimental psychology and film theory. Curiously, these first music-film analogies faded into obscurity, possibly because no experimental psychology of film was developed for comparison with music. Nonetheless, similarities between music and film processes emerge once again in contemporary experimental psychology and film theory. The present article first reviews these historic and recent analogies between music and film and then examines one film in particular from the perspective of music cognition. It is argued that if past precedents are correct and music and film exploit similar cognitive processes, then recent research in music cognition should facilitate understanding of film cognition. EARLY ANALOGIES BETWEEN MUSIC AND FILM IN PSYCHOLOGY AND FILM THEORY Film, unlike most arts, emerged after the beginning of experimental psychology. The first commercial films were shown around the start of the 20th century, and film entertainment became generally accessible about a decade later. Initially the appeal of film was two-fold: first, as the new phenomenal experience of the motion picture medium, or the photoplay as Americans called it, and second, as the content of the film be it story or documentary. Notably, the period just prior to and after the First World War was the only epoch in the Western world during which an audience encountered film first as adults rather than as children. Thus, early psychologists might have had insights about the new film medium that can never again be obtained. Behaviourism, with its focus on observable behaviour, gained a foothold in experimental psychology at this time. Nevertheless, mental experience still found a following in psychology departments. The rise of motion pictures fostered interest in the stroboscopic effect of apparent motion, fundamental to the illusion of continuity on the screen (Ash, 1995, p. …

Mind your attitude: The fundamental issue for clinicians in offender rehabilitation

Forensic psychology is characterised by on‐going debate around the issue of offender rehabilitation. While on the basis of current research findings effective reduction in recidivism is an established reality, an integrated system across the disciplines and into the broader criminal justice system is essential to innovative developments in the field. Beginning with Spencers' 1862 first Principles focus upon the preservation of a ‘right attitude’ to controversy, a philosophical approach is utilised to challenge both the clinician and the ‘anti‐rehabilitation’ and generally ‘anti‐psychological’ bias of mainstream criminology. Echoing historic attitudinal studies of the early social psychologists, this article advances a humanistic yet intellectual framework for the analysis of contemporary research. Positive and constructive views of offender rehabilitation are outlined. The article concludes by promoting an eclectic approach to offender rehabilitation which acknowledges the equally valid potential of contributions from genetics, bio‐chemistry, pharmacology and psychology, the social sciences and criminology.

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.

Phenomenological factors in Vygotsky’s mature psychology

This article examines some of the phenomenological features in Lev Vygotsky’s mature psychological theory, especially in Thinking and Speech and The Current Crisis in Psychology. It traces the complex literary and philosophical influences in 1920s Moscow on Vygotsky’s thought, through Gustav Shpet’s seminars on Husserl and the inner form of the word, Chelpanov’s seminars on phenomenology, Bakhtin’s theory of the production of inner speech, and the theoretical insights of the early Gestalt psychologists. It begins with an exposition of two central Husserlian schemas: part-whole theory and the thesis of the naïve standpoint, both of which Vygotsky was clearly familiar with. This is followed by an account of the reception of phenomenology in early Soviet Russia. The article’s central sections are concerned with a careful unpacking and critique of Vygotsky’s employment of Husserlian method and analysis in his later doctrine of the ‘inner plane of speech’, his use of part-whole theory, and his identification of Husserl’s position with an untenable version of idealism. The article closes with the contention that Vygotsky misrepresents the phenomenological analysis of meaning formation and appropriates basic Husserlian conceptual terms in his elaboration of the ‘inner form of the word’; but Vygotsky does so in such a way that he enriches our descriptive access to the individual development of humans’ dynamic use of language.

“Behavior” Does Not Mean “Behavior of the Organism”: Why Conceptual Revision is Needed in Behavior Analysis

This paper considers two different meanings of the word behavior and the implications of these meanings for how we talk about behavior. The paper argues that discussions about social justice issues would be more effective if these implications were fully grasped. The paper begins by discussing the etymologically-original meaning of behavior, which equates the word with conduct. A second meaning of behavior, introduced when early psychologists attempted to make usage of behavior in psychology consistent with its usage in other sciences, is then discussed. The paper shows that behavior analysts tacitly accept this second meaning when they theorize about operant data. Acceptance is illustrated by discussing the traditional emphasis on body movements ahead of effects and the concept of operant behavior. The paper then reiterates Skinner's emphasis on the central place of data in developing a conceptual framework. It argues that operant data represent changes in the state of various objects that depend on an object and on a participant, among other constituents, which is consistent with the implications of the etymologically-original meaning of behavior. The paper concludes that reformulating behavior analysis to make its theoretical claims consistent with the etymologically-original meaning of behavior would make discussions about social justice issues considerably more widely accessible.