O impacto da obra de J. B. Watson na psicologia norte americana: Uma análise bibliométrica

Abstract

Mostly since the 1980s, several studies have challenged the traditional view that J. B. Watson's Behaviorist Manifesto (1913) prompted a psychological revolution. Bibliometric citation analysis has been a method recurrently used to address this research problem. However, there are some methodological hindrances that underlie these attempts to evaluate the initial impact of Watson's work, such as the absence of comparative parameters. This research sought to remedie this problem by conducting a comparative citation analysis involving Watson and eight other representative psychologists of the time: E. B. Titchener, E. L. Thorndike, G. S. Hall, H. A. Carr, J. Dewey, J. McK. Cattell, J. R. Angell and W. James. Ten important journals were scrutinized for the period between 1903 and 1933. The research was divided into three studies: (1) a comparative bibliometric citation analysis of the authors between 1903 and 1923; (2) a longitudinal extension of the first study to include the following decade (1924-1933); and (3) a comparative bibliometric citation analysis of these authors' works. The results suggest that, after the publication of the Manifesto (1913), although his work can hardly be considered revolutionary, Watson's impact becomes close to Dewey's, relatively superior to Thorndike's and Titchener's, considerably high when compared to Angell's, Carr's, Cattell's and Hall's, although still far from the impact that James had on American psychology at the time.