Naming in Psychology: Analyses of Citation Counts and Eponyms

Abstract

Three analyses are reported of the empirical assessment of naming in psychology: (1) authors' naming ratios (total surname counts divided by total number of textbook pages) in introductory psychology textbooks, (2) analysis of individual psychologists frequencies of citation, and (3) identification, cataloguing, and categorizing eponyms. Analyses indicate that current (1990–1994) authors show significantly different frequencies of naming among themselves and that during the past 75 years there has been a significant increase in naming over-all in textbooks as well as naming particular psychologists. Eponyms on a list of over 1,000 collected eponyms are assigned to low-, medium-, or high-frequency categories based on referencing in selected source books. Questions are raised concerning the use of naming, citation counts, and eponyms in the historical analysis of psychology as a science.