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A History of “Behavior” and “Mind”: Use of Behavioral and Cognitive Terms in the 20th Century

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Abstract

If we assume that the terms used in a book tend to reflect its orientation, this provides a way to compare the relative trajectories of the influences of cognitivism and behaviorism. In Study 1, we used the search engine Google Ngram to search for the terms behavior and mind in all books printed in English over the period 1900 to 2008. The results for all books tend to support the pattern of standard accounts of the so-called behavioral and cognitive revolutions. In Study 2, we replicated the analysis with a selection of terms specific to behavioral psychology and to cognitive psychology. Again, the results supported the pattern of the so-called behavioral and cognitive revolutions. Neither study showed any indication that cognitivism had replaced behaviorism, although it has in fact overtaken it. The present methodology may open the way for a new quantitative approach to study trends in scientific theories.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Psychology, The University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland, New Zealand

    Javier Virues-Ortega

  2. University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada

    Joseph J. Pear

Authors
  1. Javier Virues-Ortega
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  2. Joseph J. Pear
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Javier Virues-Ortega.

Additional information

We thank Drs. Randall Jamieson, Murray Singer, Per Holth, and M. Jackson Marr for their help in identifying the search terms used in Study 2.

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Virues-Ortega, J., Pear, J.J. A History of “Behavior” and “Mind”: Use of Behavioral and Cognitive Terms in the 20th Century. Psychol Rec 65, 23–30 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40732-014-0079-y

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