Journal Article Critique of ‘an Empirical Analysis of Trends in Psychology’ Essay

I.Research Question or ProblemThe daybook article question is clearly stated. The question asks whether the behaviourist, the psychoanalytic, the cognitive, or the neuroscientific view is near intellectually significant and nearly prominent in psychological science today (Robins, Goling, & Craik, 1999, p. 117).II. IntroductionThe introduction presents differing contentions regarding which school of psychological science is most prominent. quin references have been cited in the introduction. It is believed by some that the cognitive perspective reigns over psychoanalysis and behaviourism (Baars, 1986 Gardner, 1985 Hunt, 1993 Sperry, 1988, as cited in Robins, Gosling, & Craik, 1999, p. 117). An opposing conviction, however, states that this belief is merely a representation of cognitive psychologists opinion of their own discipline or else than an accurate statement based on facts (Friman, Allen, Kerwin, & Larzelere, 1993, p. 662, as cited in Robins, Gosling, & Craik, 1999, p. 1 17).Furthermore, it is argued that the belief in a cognitive perspective revolution is simply a method for scientists to justify their practice (Leahey, 1991, p.362, as cited in Robins, Gosling, & Craik, 1999, p. 117). Other theories have indicated, without empirical evidence however, that behaviourism continues to flourish despite the loss of mentor B.F skinner (Salzinger, 1994, p. 816 p. 461, as cited in Robins, Gosling, & Craik, 1999, p. 117). Lastly, it is contented by some that the neuroscientific perspective continues to prosper (Churchland, 1998, as cited in Robins, Gosling, & Craik, 1999, p. 117), and that the complete field of psychology will eventually become a subfield of neuroscience (Bechtel, 1988, as cited in Robins, Gosling, & Craik, 1999, p. 117).III.MethodsThe authors employed triple world poweres to conduct their study the subject-matter index of psychologys Flagship publications, the subject-matter index of psychology dissertations and the citation index of Fl agship publications. For the psychologys Flagship publications, authors selected several(prenominal) word stems in a database called psychINFO, including psychoanal, cognit, neurosci, reinforce, and conditioning. At that time, they calculated the component of articles published in the Flagship publications between 1950 to 1997 and charted their findings over time (Robins, Gosling, & Craik, 1999, p. 118). For the psychology dissertations, authors once again employed psychINFO, this time, to crush the topics presented in doctoral dissertations between 1967 to 1994. Then, they calculated the percentage of dissertations for each of the four psychological perspectives (Robins, Gosling, & Craik, 1999, p. 119). Finally, for the citation index of Flagship publications, authors surveyed trends regarding the number of citations found concerning each perspective in the Flagship publications. Then, they selected the top four journals in each perspective using a rating system operated by promi nent neuroscientists (Robins, Gosling, & Craik, 1999, p. 119). Applying these findings, authors calculated the total number of time per year the flagship publications cited articles published in each sub-disciplinary journal (Robins, Gosling, & Craik, 1999, p. 119).IV. ResultsThe results undoubtedly provided answers to the question/hypothesis. The findings indicated that articles regarding the cognitive perspective appeared most frequently in all three indexes, followed by the behavioural perspective. Articles regarding the psychoanalytic and neuroscientific perspective, however, were essentially non-existent throughout the analyse period. Authors provided graphs and t sufficients in order to demonstrate their findings over time for each index (Robins, Gosling, & Craik, 1999, p.121-126).V.Discussion/ConclusionsDue to their compelling findings, the authors were able to construct several conclusions. Firstly, psychoanalytic journals, dissertations, and flagship articles have not bee n in the spotlight of mainstream psychology for the past several decades (Robins, Gosling, & Craik, 1999, p.123, 124). Secondly, with the focus topically on cognitive psychology, behavioural psychology has and continues to subside in scientific psychology (Robins, Gosling, & Craik, 1999, p.124). Moreover, the authors state that one reason cognitive psychology is transcending behavioural psychology is due to the immeasurable routine of computers in modern society. For example, thanks to computers, considerable changes have taken place in regards to scientists understanding of memory, teaching processing, etc (Robins, Gosling, & Craik, 1999, p.124). Lastly, mainstream psychology does not yet recognize neuropsychology however, there is an obvious increase in popularity that is underway. Authors urge on further research to explore the growing prominence of neuropsychology (Robins, Gosling, & Craik, 1999, p.125).VI.ReferencesAuthors used a clear and arranged citation format, and eac h of the references was properly cited within the article. The authors used a variety of sources ranging from the 1930s to the year forward to the study. The older references were used to demonstrate variations of theories over time.VII.Personal ReactionI consider this article to be rather thought-provoking. From the beginning, I agreed with the theorists who believed that cognitive psychology was the leading school of psychology. Although this article was written fourteen days ago, I believe it continues to be true today. I was not aware of the serious decline of the behavioural perspective however, after reading about the impact computers have had on science and scientists, it became clear (Robins, Gosling, & Craik, 1999, p.124). champion limitation that I feel could have affected the results was the manner in which they selected the top four journals. I wonder if the results would have varied had different journals been chosen. In my opinion, the sample size of four journals s eems somewhat constraining to the research. Even so, this was a very interesting article. I would be rather intrigued to read a current study of the same topic and see if the results are equivalent.