As I have argued elsewhere (Feist, 2006a; Feist & Gorman, 1998), the psychology of science is a discipline that incorporates all the major subdisciplines in psychology, in particular the neuroscientific, developmental, cognitive, personality, and social perspectives. The empirical investigations that psychologists have contributed to the study of scientific thought, interest, and achievement have substantially altered and added to our understanding of the nature of science. Moreover, psychologists of science bring unique methodological and theoretical tools to the studies of science. Only psychologists, for instance, can bring a true experimental design to the study of scientific thought and behavior. The contributions by Simonton, Gorman, Brewer and Schommer-Aikins, Runyan, and myself in this current special issue exemplify some of uniqueness and diversity that psychology has to offer the studies of science.
BouchardT. (1998). Genetic and environmental influences on adult intelligence and special mental ability. Human Biology, 70, 257–259.
2.
BrewerW., & Schommer-AikinsM. (2006). Scientists are not deficient in mental imagery: galton revised. Review of General Psychology, 10, 104–120.
3.
CareyS. (1985). Conceptual change in childhood. Cambridge: MIT Press.
4.
FeistG. J. (2006a). The psychology of science and origins of the scientific mind. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
5.
FeistG. J. (2006b). How development and personality influence scientific thought, interest and achievement. Review of General Psychology, 10, 137–156.
6.
FeistG. J., & GormanM. E. (1998). Psychology of science: Review and integration of a nascent discipline. Review of General Psychology, 2, 3–47.
7.
GholsonB., ShadishW. R., NeimeyerR. A., & HoutsA. C.. (1989). The psychology of science: Contributions to metascience. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
8.
GopnikA., MeltzoffA. N., & KuhlP. K. (1999). The scientist in the crib: Minds, brains, and how children learn. New York: William Morrow and Co.
9.
GormanM. (2006). Scientific and technological thinking. Review of General Psychology, 10, 87–103.
10.
GrigorenkoE. L. (2000). Heritability and intelligence. In SternbergR. J.. Handbook of intelligence (pp. 53–91). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
11.
InhelderB., & PiagetJ. (1958). The growth of logical thinking from childhood to adolescence. Translated by A. Parsons and S. Milgram. New York: Basic Books.
12.
KlaczynskiP., & NarasimhamG. (1998). Development of scientific reasoning biases: Cognitive versus ego-protective explanations. Developmental Psychology, 34, 175–187.
13.
KlahrD. (2000). Exploring science: The cognition and development of discovery processes. Cambridge: MIT Press.
14.
KoslowskiB. (1996). Theory and evidence: The development of scientific reasoning. Cambridge: MIT Press.
15.
KuhnD. (1989). Children and adults as intuitive scientists. Psychological Review, 964, 674–689.
16.
KuhnD., AmselE., & O'LoughlinM. (1988). The development of scientific thinking skills. Orlando FL: Academic.
17.
LoehlinJ. C., & NicholsR. C. (1976). Heredity, environment, and personality: A study of 850 sets of twins. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.
18.
MahoneyM. J. (1979). Psychology of the scientist: An evaluative review. Social Studies of Science, 9, 349–375.
19.
PiagetJ. (1952). The child's concept of number. New York: Norton.
20.
PiagetJ. (1972). Intellectual evolution from adolescence to adulthood. Human Development, 15, 1–12.
21.
RunyanW. M. (2006). Psychobiography and the psychology of science: Understanding relations between the life and work of individual psychologists. Review of General Psychology
22.
SaganC. (1995). The demon-haunted world: Science as a candle in the dark. New York: Random House.
23.
SimontonD. K. (1988). Scientific genius: A psychology of science. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
24.
SimontonD. K. (2000). Methodological and theoretical orientation and the long-term disciplinary impact of 54 eminent psychologists. Review of General Psychology, 4, 13–21.
25.
SimontonD. K. (2004). Creativity in science: Chance, logic, genius, and Zeitgeist. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
26.
SimontonD. K. (2006). Scientific status of disciplines, individuals, and ideas: Empirical analyses of the potential impact of theory. Review of General Psychology
27.
SpelkeE. (1990). Principles of object perception. Cognitive Science, 14, 29–56.
28.
TweneyR. D. (1989). A framework for the cognitive psychology of science. In GholsonB., ShadishW. R.Jr., NeimeyerR. A., & HoutsA. C., Psychology of science: Contributions to metascience (pp. 342–366). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
29.
WalbergH. J., StrykowskiB. F., RovaiE., & HungS. S. (1984). Exceptional performance. Review of Educational Research, 54, 87–112.
