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

Abstract

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 -1 980 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 analysh of Social Problems is evidently underrepresented. But a survey of the literature on Social Problems in the Psychological Abstracts j?om 1971 to 1980 revealed that social psychologists are currently serving both theoretical and practical ends.'This paper was prepared with support of the State of Baden-Wiirttemberg, Ministry of Science and Arts. In addition, the technical assistance of Karin Sommer is gratefully acknowledged.

Probing the history of social psychology, exploring diversity and views of the social: Publication trends in the European Journal of Social Psychology from 1971 to 2016

“…The same trend was found for studies on cooperation and competition, as noted earlier by Fisch and Daniel (1982). A first subdivision of clusters showed two subgroups: one grouping individual-level aspects (e.g., memory, impression formation) and the other consisting of social-level aspects (e.g., culture, politics).…”

“…Over the years the EJSP established itself as a highvisibility journal, and a number of studies have undertaken the task of mapping its publications (e.g., Doise, 1980;Fisch & Daniel, 1982;Scherer, 1992;Schruijer, 2012;Spini, Elcheroth, & Figini, 2009). The studies used various methods (e.g., publication samples, interviews with founders), leading to some debates over discrepancies between the Journal's goals and outcomes (see Hewstone et al, 2012;Schruijer, 2012).…”

Twenty Years of PSPB: Trends in Content, Design, and Analysis

“…This is potentially problematic because past examinations of other leading personality-social journals have sometimes revealed differences in article characteristics compared to JPSP (cf. Fisch & Daniel, 1982;Helmreich, 1975;Higbee et al, 1976). It is not clear, therefore, whether the trends observed by Reis and Stiller (1992) and by West et al (1992) are characteristic of the fieldin general or are reflections of other factors, such as changes in the editorial policy of JPSP.…”

A citation analysis of Henri Tajfel's work on intergroup relations

“…The differences between the European and North American social psychological journals mirror a trend already found in other comparative studies. For instance, Fisch and Daniel (1982) investigated publication trends in research topics from 1971 to 1980 in social psychological journals such as the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology ( JESP ) and the EJSP . Significant differences emerged: attribution theory, objective self‐awareness theory, exchange theory, interpersonal attraction, helping behaviour, social facilitation, and mere exposure represented specific topics in the North American journal, while topics such as intergroup relations, social influence, cross‐cultural research, and socialization have been found nearly exclusively in the European journal.…”