A new perspective on trends in psychology

Abstract

Abstract The current paper aimed to analyze the trends and prominence of four major schools of thought in scientific Psychology (neuroscience, cognitivism, behaviorism, psychoanalysis) and their intersections, covering the period from 1979 to 2020. We utilized an improved methodology across three distinct sources: mainstream psychology, highly influential journals, and non-English papers. Our findings align with previous research in several aspects: a) psychoanalysis and behaviorism have significantly declined, b) cognitivism remains a prominent trend. However, we deviate from prior studies in the following ways: c) neuroscience may be considered the most influential trend, d) trends exhibit more stability and dispersion than previously assumed, and e) relative stability is observed in psychological studies over the past four decades. We also acknowledge the significance of non-English papers (NEP), which manifest an independent pattern as compared to the other sources and that may reveal what happens in the “periphery” of Psychology. It is noteworthy NEP demonstrated a still lively contribution from psychoanalysis. Overall, our study supports the inference that scientific Psychology is a non-paradigmatic or pre-paradigmatic discipline. It also supports the dominance of applied psychology, confuting the notion of overarching "grand theories." It eventually highlights the insularity and lack of cross-fertilization among psychological subdisciplines, despite the widespread claims to the contrary.