best research papers on psychology

Breakthroughs and Discoveries in Psychological Science: 2020 Year in Review

• Psychological Science

Many of the major news stories of 2020 were closely tied to understanding human behavior, including efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19, understand political divides and social conflicts, and address enduring racial disparities and inequality.  

A wealth of research published by the Association for Psychological Science (APS) addresses these and other important topics. The following is a selection of some of APS’s most newsworthy research and highly cited publications from 2020. These stories emphasize the importance of peer-reviewed psychological research and its impact on society.  

Top 10 APS News Releases of 2020, Metrics Provided by  Newswise  

Romance, Scent, and Sleep: The Stuff that Dreams Are Made Of : Research published in the journal  Psychological Science  suggests that the scent of a romantic partner can improve your quality of sleep. This is true regardless of whether you are consciously aware that the scent is even present.  

Violent Video Games and Aggression: The Connection Is Dubious, at Best : The coronavirus pandemic put a damper on many traditional summertime activities for kids, giving them more opportunity to socialize with friends virtually through online gaming. But many hours of extra screen time worried some parents, especially in light of a 2015 report linking violent video games with aggressive behavior in children. A reanalysis of previous findings published in the journal  Perspectives on Psychological Science  found no clear link between video game violence and aggression in children. 

Stemming the Spread of Misinformation on Social Media : The dangers of COVID-19 could worsen if misinformation on social media continues to spread unchecked, according to research published in  Psychological Science . Though there is no practical way to fully stem the tide of harmful misinformation on social media, certain tactics could help improve the quality of information that people share online about this deadly disease. 

Psychological Science and COVID-19: Conspiracy Theories : Why are conspiracy theories so popular? Who believes them? Why do people believe them? What are some of the consequences of conspiracy theories, and can such theories be harmful? These questions are explored by Karen Douglas, professor of social psychology at the University of Kent, UK, whose research focuses on beliefs in conspiracy theories.  

Pandemic Effects on Marriage and Relationships : Beyond its economic toll, COVID-19 is also having a negative impact on many relationships. Expert commentary from Paula Pietromonaco, professor emerita at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, explores this facet of the pandemic and how interactions in marital and other close relationships shape each partner’s emotional and physical health. 

Trigger Warnings Fail to Help and May Even Harm : A study published in the journal  Clinical Psychological Science  shines light on the value and potential harm of trigger warnings, the term used to alert readers or viewers to potentially unsettling content. This research suggests that trigger warnings offer little to no help in avoiding painful memories and can even be harmful for the survivors of past emotional trauma.  

Contracting COVID-19: Lifestyle and Social Connections May Play a Role : Research published in  Psychological Science  indicates that unhealthy lifestyle choices, including smoking and lack of exercise, along with emotional stressors like social isolation and interpersonal conflicts are important risk factors for developing upper respiratory infections. It is possible these same factors also increase the risk of contracting COVID-19. 

Does Bedtime Media Use Harm Children’s Sleep? Only If They Struggle to Self-Regulate Behavior : Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, one concern for many parents has been the impact of additional TV or computer screen time on their children and their already disrupted sleep habits. A study published in  Psychological Science  found that media use in the hour preceding bedtime impacts the sleep only of children who struggle to self-regulate their behavior. 

Health and Happiness Depend on Each Other, Psychological Science Says : This research adds to the growing body of evidence that happiness not only feels good, but it is also good for your physical health. Research published in  Psychological Science  shows that both online and in-person psychological interventions—tactics specifically designed to boost subjective well-being—have positive effects on self-reported physical health.  

Claiming Journalism Is ‘Fake News’ May Satisfy a Personal Need for an Orderly World : Research published in  Psychological Science  reveals that the degree to which people level accusations of fake news against news outlets is at least partially associated with a personal need for an orderly and structured environment. 

Top 10 APS Journal Articles Based on  Altmetric Attention Scores  

Aging in an Era of Fake News : Older adults appear to be particularly susceptible to misinformation (e.g., they shared the most fake news during the 2016 U.S. election). In  Current Directions in Psychological Science , researchers suggest that social changes in late adulthood, including difficulty in detecting lies and less emphasis on accuracy when communicating, might be partly responsible for susceptibility to misinformation. Moreover, older adults are less experienced with social media and may struggle to evaluate the veracity of content. Interventions that take into account older adults’ social changes and digital literacy might help to reduce their susceptibility to fake news.     Sex Differences in Mate Preferences Across 45 Countries: A Large-Scale Replication :  Research published in  Psychological Science  seems to support the popular perception that men are more likely to prefer attractive young mates, and women are more likely to prefer older mates with financial prospects. These sex differences were universal across the 45 countries surveyed. In countries where gender equality was higher, both sexes appeared to have mates closer to their own age. Contrary to older studies, this study found that gender equality did not predict other differences in mate preferences, such as financial prospects. Also, different countries’ rates of communicable and infectious diseases did not predict sex differences or preferences. 

What Is the Test-Retest Reliability of Common Task-Functional MRI Measures? New Empirical Evidence and a Meta-Analysis : The reliability of measuring brain activity using task functional MRI (fMRI) for predicting disease risk and outcomes appears to be low. In  Psychological Science , researchers present a meta-analysis of prior research and an analysis of test-retest reliability of brain activity in certain regions across 11 common fMRI tasks. The authors found that reliability across studies was low, and test-retest studies did not reliably show activity in the same areas of interest for the same tasks. These findings suggest that current task-fMRI measures are not suitable for predicting clinical outcomes or studying individual differences.    Racial Inequality in Psychological Research: Trends of the Past and Recommendations for the Future :  Systematic inequality exists within psychological research.  This is the conclusion researchers published in  Perspectives on Psychological Science  after querying more than 26,000 articles published between 1974 and 2018 in top-tier psychology journals. Most publications are edited by White editors, and the few publications that highlight race were written by White authors and had few participants of color. These findings suggest the need to diversify editing, writing, and participation in psychological science. To this end, the researchers provide a set of actionable recommendations for journals and authors.  

Your Brain Is Not an Onion With a Tiny Reptile Inside : A paper in  Current Directions in Psychological Science  describes a model of neural evolution that challenges the widespread misconception that as vertebrate animals evolved, they added “newer” brain structures to the “older” existing ones, enabling them to have more complex psychological functions (e.g., language). Neurobiologists have long discredited this misconception that the reptile brain is still part of the human brain, which just added more layers. The authors provide examples of how this inaccurate view of brain evolution has impeded progress in psychology. 

The Emotional Path to Action: Empathy Promotes Physical Distancing and Wearing of Face Masks During the COVID-19 Pandemic : Empathy for people most vulnerable to COVID-19 appears to motivate wearing face masks and practicing social distancing, according to an article published in  Psychological Science . Participants who showed more empathy for the most vulnerable to the virus were more likely to report social-distancing practices. In two experiments, inducing empathy resulted in higher motivation to wear face masks and to practice social distancing than simply informing participants about the importance of these practices, in particular for those most vulnerable to the virus.  

Fighting COVID-19 Misinformation on Social Media: Experimental Evidence for a Scalable Accuracy-Nudge Intervention :  Nudging people to think about the accuracy of news headlines might be a simple way to improve their choices about what to share on social media. When directly asked about the accuracy of COVID-19-related news, participants in a study published in  Psychological Science  were better at discriminating between true and false than when asked simply to decide whether to share it. Similarly, having participants judge the accuracy of non-COVID-19-related headlines increased their discernment about the accuracy of COVID-19-related articles and the quality of their subsequent intentions to share them.  

How Firm Are the Foundations of Mind-Set Theory? The Claims Appear Stronger Than the Evidence : Mind-set theory proposes that the beliefs one has about whether attributes are malleable ( growth mind-set ) or unchangeable ( fixed mind-set ) influence one’s motivation, type of goals, persistence, and resilience. Contrary to what the mind-set theory would predict, researchers publishing in  Psychological Science  tested 438 students and found weak associations (<.20) between mind-set, goal orientation, response to challenge, belief in effort, cognitive ability, and intelligence. The researchers suggest that these results may indicate that some claims about mind-set might be overstated. 

The Future of Women in Psychological Science :  A team of researchers analyzed 10 topics relevant for women’s professional prospects in psychological science: career advancement; financial compensation; service assignment and practices; lifestyle roles and work–family conflict; gender biases; prevalence and perceptions of positions of power; intersectionality; harassment and incivility; agency, self-esteem, and self-promotion; and lack of belonging. In  Perspectives on Psychological Science , the authors discuss empirical evidence for each of these issues and clarify gender gaps and positive change in the hope that a better understanding of these issues will spark conversation and help to mitigate remaining gender differences in the field. 

Can Bad Be Good? The Attraction of a Darker Self : We prefer fictional villains who are similar to us, according to research in  Psychological Science . Researchers explored data from an online platform that allows users to become “fans” of characters and take a quiz to evaluate their similarity with them. Individuals preferred villains who were similar to themselves. A series of laboratory studies also found an association between similarity of negative traits, when the villain was fictional but not when the villain was a real person, and attraction to the villain. 

Stories in Action

Stories may complement established policy tools. Walsh and colleagues define the elements of storytelling and discuss stories’ key features and functions, providing design principles for policymakers interested in building stories. 

SAGE 10-Year Impact Awards Honor Two APS Articles

Two 2011 APS journal articles exploring the rise of Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) and the risk of accepting false-positive findings have received SAGE Publishing’s third annual 10-Year Impact Awards.

Letter from the Editor: A New Chapter for the Observer

After nearly 40 years in print, the APS member magazine is going all-digital.

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The Six Most Interesting Psychology Papers of 2015

By Maria Konnikova

Every year, psychologists publish a staggering amount of research—it’s impossible to read it all. Still, I gave it a shot—and here are the six papers I found most fascinating.

“ Estimating the Reproducibility of Psychological Science ,” from Science

This paper isn’t really a study; it’s the outcome of an important movement in the field of psychology. In an effort called the Reproducibility Project, researchers at dozens of universities collaborated to replicate a hundred psychology studies that were initially conducted in 2008. They ended up replicating between a third and half of the studies.

Is that result bad or good? It’s inevitable that studies won’t always be replicable—if every study could be replicated, then every researcher would be right the first time; even legitimate findings can prove fragile when you try to repeat them. All the same, the paper concludes that there is “room for improvement” in psychology, especially when it comes to “cultural practices in scientific communication.” Specifically, the authors propose that “low-power research designs combined with publication bias favoring positive results together produce a literature with upwardly biased effect sizes.”

In other words, the desire for novelty drives researchers to overestimate the conclusiveness of their own work. It’s a fascinating and valuable effort to make sure that psychology moves forward in the best way possible.

“ What Works in Inpatient Traumatic Brain Injury Rehabilitation? ,” from Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation

Finally, traumatic brain injury, or T.B.I., is becoming a topic of conversation. It’s a huge problem: in 2010, an estimated two and a half million people in the United States sustained such an injury, and between 3.1 and 5.3 million were living with long-term, or even permanent, disability due to its effects. Still, until recently, T.B.I. has been understudied. This issue of Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation is entirely devoted to the topic, carefully examining the existing evidence regarding the effects of traumatic brain injury and possible future treatments.

Some of the findings are surprising: if you’re female or Asian, you’re less likely to be given a psychotropic drug, regardless of evidence for its applicability. Some are dispiriting: it turns out that we really don’t have a good sense of what works to treat these injuries, and a kitchen-sink-like approach remains the norm. At this stage, the best predictor of your eventual outcome seems to be the severity of the injury, rather than any particular treatment you might receive. But some evidence is promising. Rehabilitation therapy, especially therapy that requires demanding physical or mental activity, does seem to help patients regain function.

“ Best Friends and Better Coping: Facilitating Psychological Resilience Through Boys’ and Girls’ Closest Friendships ,” from British Journal of Psychology

This study shows that even a single close friendship is valuable in protecting children—even the most vulnerable—against multiple psychological risk factors. It’s not a new idea, but the research is an important empirical step forward.

“ Nonpharmacological Treatments of Insomnia for Long-Term Painful Conditions ,” from Sleep

Cognitive-behavioral therapy for insomnia! As I’ve written before , it’s hard to break the cycle of sleeplessness. This study offers evidence for one therapeutic possibility. It involves elements of a traditional therapeutic approach, including “psychoeducation, sleep hygiene, stimulus control, sleep restriction, cognitive therapy, and relaxation.” Some interventions consisted of only a series of three phone calls, between sixty and ninety minutes long, in the course of sixty days, while others were as intensive as weekly two-hour sessions for seven weeks. The methods seem initially promising for both sleep quality and fatigue—but only if administered face to face, not over the phone or the Internet. The effect isn’t huge, but insomnia is an increasing problem, and any possible cure is important to note.

“ A Mechanistic Link Between Olfaction and Autism Spectrum Disorder ,” in Current Biology

Autism is difficult to study, diagnose, and pin down. This study offers a new possibility: a way to use smell as a more objective marker of potential disorder. The connection also offers insights into some of the underlying mechanisms of autism.

“ Fibroblast Growth Factor 9 Is a Novel Modulator of Negative Affect ,” from PNAS

Depression is notoriously tough to handle pharmaceutically. We still don’t know how S.S.R.I.s work, for instance—or even if they work at all. This paper offers a previously untried target for treatment: FGF9, a neurotrophin (a type of protein) that appears to play a key role in regulating embryonic development and cell differentiation and seems also to be important in regulating our emotional state. In people with severe depression, it appears to be upregulated, or expressed at too high a concentration. In animals that experience chronic stress from social defeat, FGF9 expression in the hippocampus (the part of our brain involved in memory formation, which also seems to be closely connected to depression) increases—while a related growth factor, FGF2, which is tied to lower levels of depression, decreases. It could prove a dead end, of course, but at least it offers new hope in an otherwise difficult landscape.

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By Jerome Groopman

By The New Yorker

By Manvir Singh

ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

The 100 top-cited studies on neuropsychology: a bibliometric analysis.

• 1 Department of Periodical Press and National Clinical Research Center for Geriatrics, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
• 2 Chinese Evidence-Based Medicine Center, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
• 3 Mental Health Center, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China

Objective: The present study aimed to identify and analyze the bibliometric characteristics of the 100 top-cited studies on neuropsychology.

Methods: We searched the Web of Science Core Collection database to collect studies on neuropsychology from inception to 31st December 2019. Two authors independently screened the literature and extracted the data. Statistical analyses were performed using R software.

Results: The 100 top-cited articles were cited a total of 166,123 times, ranging from 736 to 24,252 times per article. All of the studies were published from 1967 to 2014 in 47 journals. Neuropsychologia had the highest number of articles ( n = 17), followed by Neurology ( n = 8). The top three most productive countries were the USA ( n = 60), England ( n = 13), and Canada ( n = 8). Eight authors contributed the same number of studies as the first author ( n = 2) or corresponding author ( n = 2). The most productive institute was the University of California ( n = 9), followed by the University of Pennsylvania ( n = 4). Of the 100 top-cited publications, 64 were original articles, and 36 were reviews. The top three Web of Science categories were clinical neurology ( n = 28), behavioral sciences ( n = 19), and psychiatry ( n = 11).

Conclusion: This study provides insight into the impact of neuropsychology research and may help doctors, researchers, and stakeholders to achieve a more comprehensive understanding of trends and most influential contributions to the field, thus promoting ideas for future investigation.

Introduction

Neuropsychology was recognized as a discipline distinct from applied areas of psychology or neurology in the 1960s ( Klove, 1963 ). Although ideas about the connection between behavior and brain function can be traced back to Pythagoras, systematic studies of brain–behavior relationships only began in the 19th century. Neuropsychology research encompasses both healthy and disordered states, such as consciousness ( Berlucchi and Marzi, 2019 ), aging ( Lu and Lee, 2017 ; Cohen et al., 2019 ), memory ( Ruchinskas and Cullum, 2018 ), brain injury ( Prince and Bruhns, 2017 ), and Alzheimer’s disease ( Pena-Casanova et al., 2012 ). With advances in neuroimaging, the human genome project, theories of psychological testing, and information technology, neuropsychological research contents and methods have expanded ( Bilder, 2011 ). The number of neuropsychology studies published each year is increasing, thus necessitating a bibliometric analysis of existing research.

In bibliometric analysis, quantitative analysis techniques are used to examine published literature and identify the characteristics of influential studies ( King, 2004 ). Bibliometric analysis enables external evaluation of research quality, impact and prestige factors, and examination of development within a field of study. By exploring published findings using robust criteria for standardization of academic quality, bibliometric analysis can be valuable in identifying trends in research and fostering ideas for future study ( Hirsch, 2005 ; Bar-Ilan, 2008 ). One of the most important bibliometric analysis methods is citation analysis, which provides comprehensive information about cited articles ( Shadgan et al., 2010 ; Ho, 2012 ). The frequency of citation indicates the relative significance of an article in a particular discipline, and identifying the top-cited studies in a field can help to understand research achievements and guide investigators toward new directions. Moreover, it can provide insights about the main interests in certain fields, with an emphasis on the journals and authors that have the greatest impact worldwide.

Citation analysis has been applied to various research fields, such as diabetes ( Yang et al., 2020 ), traumatic brain injury ( Sharma and Lawrence, 2014 ), medical education ( Azer, 2016 ), vaccines ( Zhang et al., 2019b ), radiology ( Mauri and Belli, 2015 ), cancer ( Powell et al., 2016 ), etc. Bibliometric analysis highlights the key topics and publications that have shaped the understanding and management of certain fields. However, no bibliometric analyses have examined the field of neuropsychology. Analysis of these data provides insight into how our understanding of neuropsychology developed. Additionally, this work provides evidence-based reference for the most cited papers in neuropsychology. Therefore, in the present study, we aimed to identify and analyze the bibliometric characteristics of the 100 top-cited publications in neuropsychology.

Materials and Methods

Search strategy.

We searched the Web of Science Core Collection database to collect studies on neuropsychology from inception to 31st December 2019. We used the following search strategies TS = (neuropsycholog ∗ ) OR SO = (neuropsycholog ∗ ), where TS represents “topic search” and includes the title, abstracts, author keywords, and keywords, and “SO” stands for the journal name. The retrieved articles were listed in descending order according to the total number of citations. If two articles had the same number of citations, the article that was published more recently was ranked higher. Articles that were published in English, in indexed journals, and that focused on psychological issues from the perspective of neuroscience were included in the analysis. Articles that only mentioned brain activity or that focused on behavior from a purely psychological perspective were excluded. Editorials, letters, proceedings, meeting reports, and books were also excluded. Two authors independently screened the title, abstract, and full text of every publication in the list until they identified the 100 most frequently cited studies. Disagreements were resolved via discussion. If necessary, discrepancies were resolved by the third author. The resulting 100 top-cited articles in neuropsychology were then subjected to further analysis.

Data Extraction

Two authors extracted the data independently. Information including the title, total number of citations, publication year, average citations per annum since the publication year, first author, corresponding author, country and institution of the corresponding author, article type, Web of Science category, journal name, and journal impact factor according to a journal citation report from 2018 was identified and recorded. If an article had more than one corresponding author, affiliation, or category, the first was record.

Statistical Analysis

We used the R software from the “The Comprehensive R Archive Network” to perform correlation analysis. Correlation analysis was used to evaluate relationships between the different terms. P < 0.05 (two-tailed) was considered statistically significant. VOSviewer 1.6.6 (Leiden University) 1 was used to analyze the co-authorship and co-citation of the top 100 studies.

Basic Characteristics of the 100 Top-Cited Studies

Supplementary Table S1 lists the 100 top-cited publications in neuropsychology according to the total number of citations, ranked in descending order. The 100 top-cited articles were cited a total of 166,123 times with a median citation number of 1,661, ranging from 736 to 24,252. The most frequently cited article, which received 24,252 citations, was published in Neuropsychologia in 1971 ( Oldfield, 1971 ). The study proposed a simple and brief method of assessing handedness on a quantitative scale for use in neuropsychological, clinical, and experimental research. The incidence of handedness between the sexes is also discussed in the study ( Oldfield, 1971 ). The average number of citations per year for the 100 top-cited articles ranged from 16 to 666, with a median of 92 citations. The annual average number of citations of the 100 articles was correlated with the total number of citations ( r = 0.676, P < 0.01).

Journals, Publication Year, and Country

The 100 top-cited studies were published in 47 journals. The journals that published at least two of the studies are listed in Table 1 . Neuropsychologia had the highest number of publications ( n = 17), followed by Neurology ( n = 8) and Psychological Review ( n = 5). American Journal of Psychiatry , Archives of Neurology ( now JAMA Neurology ), New England Journal of Medicine , and Archives of General Psychiatry ( now JAMA Psychiatry ) published the same number of articles ( n = 4). The other 40 journals published less than 4 articles from the list. The impact factor of the journals that published at least two of the 100 top-cited studies ranged from 1.344 to 70.670. We did not find a relationship between the number of studies published and the impact factor of the journal ( P > 0.05). The average number of citations for each article was not correlated with the journal’s impact factor ( P > 0.05). The representative journals of two biggest clusters of cited sources were Neuropsychologia and Neurology . The co-citation map of cited sources is shown in Supplementary Figure S1 .

Table 1. Journals that published at least two of the 100 top-cited studies.

All of the studies were published between 1967 and 2014 ( Table 2 ). The year in which the highest number of top-cited articles was published was 1999 ( n = 8), followed by 2004 ( n = 7). Of all of the years examined, 1971 had the most citations ( n = 24,252). There were 12 countries that contributed to the 100 top-cited publications ( Table 3 ). The three most productive countries were the USA ( n = 60), England ( n = 13), and Canada ( n = 8). Australia contributed five studies, whereas the other countries contributed no more than three publications each. The main partners of the USA were England, Canada, and Netherlands. The co-authorship map of countries is shown in Supplementary Figure S2 .

Table 2. Publication year of the 100 top-cited studies.

Table 3. Countries of the 100 top-cited studies.

Authors and Institutes

The authors who published at least two top-cited papers as a first author or corresponding author are listed in Table 4 . There were eight authors who contributed the same number of studies as the first author ( n = 2) or corresponding author ( n = 2). The co-citation map of authors is shown in Supplementary Figure S3 .

Table 4. Authors who published at least two papers as the first author or corresponding author.

A total of 16 institutes from four countries contributed more than two publications each ( Table 5 ). The most productive institute was the University of California ( n = 9), followed by the University of Pennsylvania ( n = 4). Four institutes contributed three publications each, and 10 institutes contributed two studies each. Of the 16 institutions, 10 institutions were from the USA, and 14 were from the universities.

Table 5. Institutes that published at least two of the 100 top-cited studies.

Study Type and Web of Science Categories

Of the 100 top-cited publications, 64 were original articles, and 36 were reviews ( Table 6 ). The average number of citations for original articles ( n = 1,717) was higher than that for reviews ( n = 1,562). The 100 top-cited studies were divided into 15 Web of Science categories ( Table 6 ). The top three Web of Science categories were clinical neurology ( n = 28), behavioral sciences ( n = 19), and psychiatry ( n = 11).

Table 6. Study type of the top-cited studies.

Although bibliometric analysis has been used to examine various research fields ( Shadgan et al., 2010 ; Ho, 2012 ; Zhang et al., 2019b ), few citation analyses have focused on neurology ( Sharma and Lawrence, 2014 ; Lucena et al., 2019 ) or psychiatry ( Trushchelev, 2012 ; Mazhari, 2013 ). To the best of our knowledge, no citation analyses have examined publications on neuropsychology. Therefore, this study represents the first comprehensive analysis of published literature in the field of neuropsychology.

In the present study, we found that the total number of citations of the 100 top-cited articles was 166,123, ranging from 736 to 24,252. The average citations per year ranged from 16 to 666, and the annual average number of citations of the 100 articles was correlated with the total number of citations. All of the studies were published from 1967 to 2014, and the year with the highest number of top-cited articles published was 1999. The list of top-cited articles was dominated by older articles. This is likely because articles published after 2014 were not included, and older articles are more likely to have a higher number of citations. Similar findings were reported in previous studies ( Du et al., 2019 ; Zhang et al., 2019b ); they also found that the top-cited articles in the fields of pain and depression and vaccine were not in recent years. From the perspective of the total number of citations, it is difficult to obtain high total citations for newly published articles due to the short time.

Neuropsychologia had the highest number of publications, followed by Neurology . They were representative journals of two biggest clusters of cited sources. Also, these two journals were classic journals in this field. The impact factors of the journals that published at least two of the 100 top-cited studies ranged from 1.344 to 70.670. We did not find a relationship between the number of studies published and journal impact factor. Also, the average number of citations for each article was not correlated with the journal impact factor. Similar results were reported in a previous study, which found that there were no statistically significant correlations between the number of top-cited studies and journal impact factors in vaccine ( Zhang et al., 2019b ). This phenomenon indicates that most researchers focus not only on the impact factor but also on the influence in their field when choosing journals in which to publish their research. The most frequently cited article received 24,252 citations and was published in Neuropsychologia in 1971 ( Oldfield, 1971 ). This study proposed a simple and brief method for assessing handedness on a quantitative scale for use in neuropsychological, clinical, and experimental research. The results of this research were widely used in clinical research, and subsequent research used the results of this article for neuropsychological research. Coupled with the accumulation of time, this article had the highest frequency of citations.

The most productive country was the USA, with 60 publications. This was consistent with previous citation analyses for other disciplines ( Shuaib et al., 2015 ; Zhang et al., 2019a ). The most productive institute was the University of California, followed by the University of Pennsylvania, both from the USA. Thus, the USA made the greatest contribution to developments in neuropsychology in the specified time range. The main partners of the USA were England, Canada, and Netherlands. The pronounced influence of the USA may be attributed to its large number of scientific research institutions and abundant research funds. Indeed, we found that the top three most productive countries (the USA, England, and Canada) were all developed countries. Additionally, they had a cooperative relationship, which promoted the development of research in these countries. Although studies on neuropsychology continue to be conducted worldwide, developed countries may be more likely than developing countries to focus on this research topic. Therefore, there may be space for growth in terms of the quality and quantity of neuropsychology research in developing countries.

Of the 100 top-cited publications, 64 were original articles, and 36 were reviews. The average number of citations was higher for articles than for reviews. This finding indicates that neuropsychology researchers pay more attention to new findings in the field. The top three Web of Science categories were clinical neurology, behavioral sciences, and psychiatry. The clinical practice category had the highest number of neuropsychology articles. Neuropsychology is poised for a transformation in terms of concepts and methods due to advances in neuroimaging, the human genome project, psychometric theory, and information technology ( Bilder, 2011 ). These findings may help researchers identify the most influential contributions to the field of neuropsychology, leading to ideas for future study.

There are some limitations to the present study. First, we only used the Web of Science database for our analysis and did not collect data from other databases, such as Scopus, Medline, and Google Scholar. Second, we only included research published in English. Third, over time, the number of citations of each publication will change, and so the 100 top-cited articles will also change. Fourth, we may have missed some studies that did not contain the term “neuropsycholog ∗ ” in the title, abstract, author keywords, keywords, or journal name. Finally, citation rates are affected by many factors, many of which are beyond the scope of this study. In the future study, we will include more databases and dynamically track changes in these studies. Despite these limitations, we believe that as the first citation analysis in neuropsychology, our findings will contribute to the understanding of trends and classic publications in this field.

In the present bibliometric study, we identified and analyzed the 100 top-cited publications in neuropsychology according to the authors, journal, publication year, country, institution, and study type. These data provide insight into the most impactful studies related to neuropsychology and will thus help doctors, researchers, and other stakeholders to enhance their understanding regarding the trends and influential contributions to neuropsychology research, fostering ideas for future study.

Data Availability Statement

The original contributions presented in the study are included in the article/ Supplementary Material , further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author.

Author Contributions

YoZ and YaZ designed the study. YaZ and YX analyzed the data. YaZ drafted the manuscript. YX, YC, LZ, and YoZ edited the manuscript. All authors approved the final version of the manuscript.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Acknowledgments

We thank Sydney Koke for editing the English text of a draft of this manuscript.

Supplementary Material

The Supplementary Material for this article can be found online at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.550716/full#supplementary-material

• ^ http://www.vosviewer.com/

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Keywords : neuropsychology, top-cited, bibliometric analysis, citation, citation analysis

Citation: Zhang Y, Xiong Y, Cai Y, Zheng L and Zhang Y (2020) The 100 Top-Cited Studies on Neuropsychology: A Bibliometric Analysis. Front. Psychol. 11:550716. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.550716

Received: 10 April 2020; Accepted: 02 November 2020; Published: 30 November 2020.

Reviewed by:

Copyright © 2020 Zhang, Xiong, Cai, Zheng and Zhang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) . The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

*Correspondence: Yonggang Zhang, [email protected]

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

61 intriguing psychology research topics to explore

Last updated

11 January 2024

Reviewed by

Brittany Ferri, PhD, OTR/L

Psychology is an incredibly diverse, critical, and ever-changing area of study in the medical and health industries. Because of this, it’s a common area of study for students and healthcare professionals.

We’re walking you through picking the perfect topic for your upcoming paper or study. Keep reading for plenty of example topics to pique your interest and curiosity.

• How to choose a psychology research topic

Exploring a psychology-based topic for your research project? You need to pick a specific area of interest to collect compelling data. 

Use these tips to help you narrow down which psychology topics to research:

Focus on a particular area of psychology

The most effective psychological research focuses on a smaller, niche concept or disorder within the scope of a study. 

Psychology is a broad and fascinating area of science, including everything from diagnosed mental health disorders to sports performance mindset assessments. 

This gives you plenty of different avenues to explore. Having a hard time choosing? Check out our list of 61 ideas further down in this article to get started.

Read the latest clinical studies

Once you’ve picked a more niche topic to explore, you need to do your due diligence and explore other research projects on the same topic. 

This practice will help you learn more about your chosen topic, ask more specific questions, and avoid covering existing projects. 

For the best results, we recommend creating a research folder of associated published papers to reference throughout your project. This makes it much easier to cite direct references and find inspiration down the line.

Find a topic you enjoy and ask questions

Once you’ve spent time researching and collecting references for your study, you finally get to explore. 

Whether this research project is for work, school, or just for fun, having a passion for your research will make the project much more enjoyable. (Trust us, there will be times when that is the only thing that keeps you going.) 

Now you’ve decided on the topic, ask more nuanced questions you might want to explore. 

If you can, pick the direction that interests you the most to make the research process much more enjoyable.

• 61 psychology topics to research in 2024

Need some extra help starting your psychology research project on the right foot? Explore our list of 61 cutting-edge, in-demand psychology research topics to use as a starting point for your research journey.

• Psychology research topics for university students

As a university student, it can be hard to pick a research topic that fits the scope of your classes and is still compelling and unique. 

Here are a few exciting topics we recommend exploring for your next assigned research project:

Mental health in post-secondary students

Seeking post-secondary education is a stressful and overwhelming experience for most students, making this topic a great choice to explore for your in-class research paper. 

Examples of post-secondary mental health research topics include:

Student mental health status during exam season

Mental health disorder prevalence based on study major

The impact of chronic school stress on overall quality of life

The impacts of cyberbullying

Cyberbullying can occur at all ages, starting as early as elementary school and carrying through into professional workplaces. 

Examples of cyberbullying-based research topics you can study include:

The impact of cyberbullying on self-esteem

Common reasons people engage in cyberbullying 

Cyberbullying themes and commonly used terms

Cyberbullying habits in children vs. adults

The long-term effects of cyberbullying

• Clinical psychology research topics

If you’re looking to take a more clinical approach to your next project, here are a few topics that involve direct patient assessment for you to consider:

Chronic pain and mental health

Living with chronic pain dramatically impacts every aspect of a person’s life, including their mental and emotional health. 

Here are a few examples of in-demand pain-related psychology research topics:

The connection between diabetic neuropathy and depression

Neurological pain and its connection to mental health disorders

Efficacy of meditation and mindfulness for pain management

The long-term effects of insomnia

Insomnia is where you have difficulty falling or staying asleep. It’s a common health concern that impacts millions of people worldwide. 

This is an excellent topic because insomnia can have a variety of causes, offering many research possibilities. 

Here are a few compelling psychology research topics about insomnia you could investigate:

The prevalence of insomnia based on age, gender, and ethnicity

Insomnia and its impact on workplace productivity

The connection between insomnia and mental health disorders

Efficacy and use of melatonin supplements for insomnia

The risks and benefits of prescription insomnia medications

Lifestyle options for managing insomnia symptoms

The efficacy of mental health treatment options

Management and treatment of mental health conditions is an ever-changing area of study. If you can witness or participate in mental health therapies, this can make a great research project. 

Examples of mental health treatment-related psychology research topics include:

The efficacy of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for patients with severe anxiety

The benefits and drawbacks of group vs. individual therapy sessions

Music therapy for mental health disorders

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) for patients with depression 

• Controversial psychology research paper topics

If you are looking to explore a more cutting-edge or modern psychology topic, you can delve into a variety of controversial and topical options:

The impact of social media and digital platforms

Ever since access to internet forums and video games became more commonplace, there’s been growing concern about the impact these digital platforms have on mental health. 

Examples of social media and video game-related psychology research topics include:

The effect of edited images on self-confidence

How social media platforms impact social behavior

Video games and their impact on teenage anger and violence

Digital communication and the rapid spread of misinformation

The development of digital friendships

Psychotropic medications for mental health

In recent years, the interest in using psychoactive medications to treat and manage health conditions has increased despite their inherently controversial nature. 

Examples of psychotropic medication-related research topics include:

The risks and benefits of using psilocybin mushrooms for managing anxiety

The impact of marijuana on early-onset psychosis

Childhood marijuana use and related prevalence of mental health conditions

Ketamine and its use for complex PTSD (C-PTSD) symptom management

The effect of long-term psychedelic use and mental health conditions

• Mental health disorder research topics

As one of the most popular subsections of psychology, studying mental health disorders and how they impact quality of life is an essential and impactful area of research. 

While studies in these areas are common, there’s always room for additional exploration, including the following hot-button topics:

Anxiety and depression disorders

Anxiety and depression are well-known and heavily researched mental health disorders. 

Despite this, we still don’t know many things about these conditions, making them great candidates for psychology research projects:

Social anxiety and its connection to chronic loneliness

C-PTSD symptoms and causes

The development of phobias

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) behaviors and symptoms

Depression triggers and causes

Self-care tools and resources for depression

The prevalence of anxiety and depression in particular age groups or geographic areas

Bipolar disorder

Bipolar disorder is a complex and multi-faceted area of psychology research. 

Use your research skills to learn more about this condition and its impact by choosing any of the following topics:

Early signs of bipolar disorder

The incidence of bipolar disorder in young adults

The efficacy of existing bipolar treatment options

Bipolar medication side effects

Cognitive behavioral therapy for people with bipolar 

Schizoaffective disorder

Schizoaffective disorder is often stigmatized, and less common mental health disorders are a hotbed for new and exciting research. 

Here are a few examples of interesting research topics related to this mental health disorder:

The prevalence of schizoaffective disorder by certain age groups or geographic locations

Risk factors for developing schizoaffective disorder

The prevalence and content of auditory and visual hallucinations

Alternative therapies for schizoaffective disorder

• Societal and systematic psychology research topics

Modern society’s impact is deeply enmeshed in our mental and emotional health on a personal and community level. 

Here are a few examples of societal and systemic psychology research topics to explore in more detail:

Access to mental health services

While mental health awareness has risen over the past few decades, access to quality mental health treatment and resources is still not equitable. 

This can significantly impact the severity of a person’s mental health symptoms, which can result in worse health outcomes if left untreated. 

Explore this crucial issue and provide information about the need for improved mental health resource access by studying any of the following topics:

Rural vs. urban access to mental health resources

Access to crisis lines by location

Wait times for emergency mental health services

Inequities in mental health access based on income and location

Insurance coverage for mental health services

Systemic racism and mental health

Societal systems and the prevalence of systemic racism heavily impact every aspect of a person’s overall health.

Researching these topics draws attention to existing problems and contributes valuable insights into ways to improve access to care moving forward.

Examples of systemic racism-related psychology research topics include: 

Access to mental health resources based on race

The prevalence of BIPOC mental health therapists in a chosen area

The impact of systemic racism on mental health and self-worth

Racism training for mental health workers

The prevalence of mental health disorders in discriminated groups

LGBTQIA+ mental health concerns

Research about LGBTQIA+ people and their mental health needs is a unique area of study to explore for your next research project. It’s a commonly overlooked and underserved community.

Examples of LGBTQIA+ psychology research topics to consider include:

Mental health supports for queer teens and children

The impact of queer safe spaces on mental health

The prevalence of mental health disorders in the LGBTQIA+ community

The benefits of queer mentorship and found family

Substance misuse in LQBTQIA+ youth and adults

• Collect data and identify trends with Dovetail

Psychology research is an exciting and competitive study area, making it the perfect choice for projects or papers.

Take the headache out of analyzing your data and instantly access the insights you need to complete your next psychology research project by teaming up with Dovetail today.

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Do you want to discover previous research faster?

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How to Find Psychology Sources for Research Papers

Tips for finding reputable experts

Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

Emily is a board-certified science editor who has worked with top digital publishing brands like Voices for Biodiversity, Study.com, GoodTherapy, Vox, and Verywell.

So now that you've chosen a topic for your research paper, it's time to find trustworthy, verifiable psychology sources to guide your explorations and support your claims—not always an easy or straightforward task. Follow these steps to find reputable psychological sources.

1. Find Basic Background Information

At this stage, you're mostly looking for introductory information, but many sources contain information on the sources they used.

For example, when reading any study or evaluation, note the sources cited in these readings so you can look into them further during the next phase of the research process.

Finding sources often involves following a trail of leads, starting with general information and drilling down to more specific ones.

2. Use Your Library

The next step is to visit your library in person or online. The basic background research from the previous step should have yielded hints on what to look for. If you get stuck, ask a librarian for assistance.

When you've located some books on your topic, browse through the references listed in each. Think of the bibliography in each book as a guide to possible sources.

Finding a Good Research Topic

The ideal research topic is neither too broad nor too narrow: Too general a topic, and you'll probably be overwhelmed by too much information—but too specific means too little information.

For example, " substance use disorder " is too wide a topic to fully cover in a limited number of pages. To narrow it down, think of specific questions people might have, such as "How does drug use affect the health and well-being of college students ?" Often, this yields a topic to delve into fully.

3. Use Online Databases to Access Periodicals

PsycINFO, PsycNET, EBSCOhostOnline, and other relevant databases are typically available through your library or educational institution. If you're not sure how to access them or perform a search, seek assistance from a librarian.

4. Search for Online Sources

Check with your instructor about acceptable or preferred kinds of online sources. These might take the form of forums, blogs, informational websites, or articles from journals, newspapers, and magazines.

Some publishers offer free access to full-text articles .

5. Critically Evaluate Each Source

Carefully investigate each source to determine if it's credible and appropriate for your paper. Note the authors, publisher, sponsors, and age of the information,

6. Create a Working Bibliography

Even if your instructor doesn't require a bibliography, It can be a very helpful tool. A bibliography is a list of all the sources you might use in your paper. For your personal use, briefly annotate each entry in your list with a description. As you outline your paper, refer back to your working bibliography for sources that back your arguments, analysis, and claims.

Peter Cade/Getty Images

A Few More Tips for Finding Psychology Sources

In general:

• Work from the broad to the specific—from general resources down to more specific references such as journal articles .
• Keep track of where you got your information. Maintain careful notes or a working bibliography so you can cite each source in your paper properly.
• Don't be afraid to ask a librarian for help. Many libraries offer assistance through social media, email, and chat, but you can call if you feel most comfortable doing so.

 A Word From Verywell

Although finding psychology sources for your papers can be challenging, breaking the process down into steps can make it a lot less daunting. Most importantly, don't be afraid to ask your instructor or library staff for help—it's what they do.

American Psychological Association.  Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association  (7th ed.). Washington DC: The American Psychological Association; 2019.

By Kendra Cherry, MSEd Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

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Master the Art of Research: Topics and Tips for Your Psychology Paper

• by Psychologs Magazine
• May 14, 2024
• 6 minutes read

Writing a psychology research paper is a journey through the depths of human behaviour and mental processes. Therefore, choosing psychology research topics is crucial for a compelling paper. Before diving into your research proposal, a thorough investigation of journal databases like PsychInfo and ERIC can unveil a wealth of relevant studies. The importance of selecting the right topics for psychology research cannot be overstated. It sets the tone for the entire research paper, ensuring your work is grounded in innovative inquiry. A roadmap can be constructed by outlining your ideas of how to go about writing the paper in detail.

Topic Selection

It’s always best to identify general areas of interest in psychology such as cognition and social behavior or mental health. This broad area will help you to narrow down to more specific topics. Identifying gaps in existing research helps to identify areas of interest. This can provide a good foundation for your study and ensure a meaningful contribution to the field of mental health. 

It’s time to narrow down your broad interests to focus on a specific and manageable topic. Structure and organization become essential at this stage to follow. Just remember that the more a research question intrigues you the more it will help you to follow through with all the research phases. 

Also, when you are narrowing down your topic, it is important to select one which is not only in trend currently, but also well-researched. This will help you during the literature review phase of your research process. Lastly, it’s always best to keep in mind guidelines or criteria set by your research guide and educational institution. Your topic should meet academic standards and procedures.

Read More: 6 Reasons You Should Study Psychology

The Review of Literature 

When you begin conducting your literature review, you must refer to online databases like PsycInfo, Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), and Medline to search for relevant research literature.

Make sure to read the abstract, introduction, method, results, and discussion sections of each article. Discussion sections are also important since they highlight gaps in existing research. An Excel sheet must be made where you write down the summaries and key points of each research for your literature review. 

In your literature review, you must describe, compare and evaluate the research studies. The goal of evaluation is to identify gaps and inconsistencies in the literature, thus providing suggestions for solving the research problem. These tips help you develop a thorough literature review. It highlights significant studies as well as sets a foundation for your research paper.

Read More: The Depths of Indian Psychology: Traditions and Modern Insights

Adhering to APA Format

The general structure of the APA format includes the title page, abstract, introduction, method, results, discussion, and references.

The title page should have a running head, page number, title of the paper, author’s name, and institutional affiliation. The title should be concise including the key variables or the study’s focus. The abstract should be on a new page, limited to 120 words. It should summarize the research topic, methods, results, and significance. 

Your introduction should start with an exploration of your research question, including a brief history of the same. The introduction will also include a summary of the previous findings in the form of a literature review. Make sure to address gaps in the current research and how the current research will impact the field.

The method section describes in detail how the research was performed. It includes a description of the participants, the study design, the materials that were used, and the procedure of the study. It is essential to provide enough information for another researcher to duplicate your research.

The results section should describe the data that was collected through descriptive statistics as well as inferential statistics which is your t-test, ANOVA and other appropriate tests for your study. Your discussion has to interpret the results and address your research topic. It is essential to discuss the limitations and scope of future research surrounding your research. 

When referring to current research for your review literature, make sure to compile a list of all the sources . It’s also important to cite them throughout the paper wherever direct quotations are used. Refer to the APA format for in-text citations .

Read More; Do You Know About the Basic Principles of Psychology?

Analyzing Your Data

Descriptive statistics in research provide a summary of your data sets. Calculate the mean, median and mode of your data set. Thereafter, you calculate the dispersion of your data which includes variance, standard deviation and range to understand the spread of your data. 

Creating graphs and charts like histograms, bar charts and scatter plots helps visually present the data. Identify the skewness of your data to understand the asymmetry of your data distribution. Identify the techniques you will analyze your data with like t-tests, regression, or ANOVA. This analysis should help answer your research question. 

These tips help ensure that your data analysis is communicated which makes your findings understandable to other researchers and the psychology community. 

Read more: 10 Job Roles in the Field of Psychology

The importance of selecting engaging and significant topics, conducting comprehensive literature reviews, and adhering to the standards of APA format thus far has been highlighted. Researchers ensure their work helps in the understanding of human behaviour. The journey from topic selection to data presentation has its challenges, however, research papers tend to influence the scholarly community and societal perceptions of psychological phenomena. We encourage aspiring researchers to continually seek out new avenues for inquiry and adopt a critical yet open-minded stance toward their findings. The pursuit of knowledge in psychology research helps formulate interventions and policies that can help human well-being. 

1. What are the top topics for conducting Research in psychology? 

To select a psychology research topic, consider areas such as psychotropic medications for mental health, disorders like anxiety , depression , and bipolar disorder , schizoaffective disorder, accessibility of mental health services, the impact of systemic racism on mental health, and mental health concerns within the LGBTQIA+ community.

2. What are some essential tips for writing an effective psychology research paper? 

When writing a psychology research paper, ensure to support your arguments with solid evidence from scientific studies. Adhere to the appropriate academic format.

3. Where can I get extra help with APA style for my research?

You can find support online and offline to improve your understanding of APA style. The APA Publication Manual is a key resource for guidance on formatting, citations and other important aspects. 

• Chiang, I. A., Jhangiani, R. S., & Price, P. C. (2015, October 13). Generating good research questions . Pressbooks. https://opentextbc.ca/researchmethods/chapter/generating-good-research-questions/
• Paré, G., & Kitsiou, S. (2017, February 27). Chapter 9 Methods for literature reviews . Handbook of eHealth Evaluation: An Evidence-based Approach – NCBI Bookshelf. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK481583/
• Ratan, S. K., Anand, T., & Ratan, J. (2019). Formulation of research question – Stepwise approach. Journal of Indian Association of Pediatric Surgeons , 24 (1), 15. https://doi.org/10.4103/jiaps.jiaps_76_18
• Chiang, I. A., Jhangiani, R. S., & Price, P. C. (2015, October 13). American Psychological Association (APA) style . Pressbooks. https://opentextbc.ca/researchmethods/chapter/american-psychological-association-apa-style/
• Chiang, I. A., Jhangiani, R. S., & Price, P. C. (2015, October 13). Conducting your analyses . Pressbooks. https://opentextbc.ca/researchmethods/chapter/conducting-your-analyses/
• Chiang, I. A., Jhangiani, R. S., & Price, P. C. (2015, October 13). Expressing your results . Pressbooks. https://opentextbc.ca/researchmethods/chapter/expressing-your-results/
• San José State University Writing Center, & Tablas-Mejia, I. (n.d.). Conclusion section for research papers. Fall 2021 . https://www.sjsu.edu/writingcenter/docs/handouts/Conclusion%20Section%20for%20Research%20Papers.pdf
• P, B. (2024, March 27). Learn how to write a psychology research paper here . https://www.sharkpapers.com/blog/research-paper-writing-guides/psychology-research-paper

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Research Databases

Produced by Behavioral Measurement Database Services, this bibliographic database is abstracted from hundreds of leading journals in the health and social sciences. HaPI provides comprehensive information about behavioral measurement tools, including those related to medicine and nursing, as well as clinical, personality, social, and developmental psychology.

Produced by the Buros Center for Testing at the University of Nebraska, this database provides a comprehensive guide to contemporary testing instruments. Designed for an audience ranging from novice test consumers to experienced professionals, the series contains information for evaluating test products in psychology, education, business and leadership.

Produced by the Buros Center for Testing at the University of Nebraska, this resource is essential for evaluating contemporary testing instruments. Designed for novices and professionals alike, it contains full-text reviews for test products in psychology, education, business and leadership. In addition, it provides a bibliography to all known commercially available English-language tests currently in print.

Produced by the Buros Center for Testing at the University of Nebraska, this resource is essential for evaluating contemporary testing instruments. Designed for novices and professionals alike, it contains full-text reviews for test products in psychology, education, business and leadership. In addition, it provides a bibliography to English and Spanish-language tests.

PEP Archive  is the essential database for psychoanalytic research. Covering many languages and notable authors, it offers peer-reviewed, full-text journals and classic books for psychoanalytic studies. 

Delve into the science of psychology and behavior with APA PsycArticles, the database of full-text peer-reviewed articles published by the American Psychological Association and affiliated journals.

Significant in scope and depth, this database offers the most current and only comprehensive collection of full-text scholarly and professional books published by the American Psychological Association (APA). Providing a pathway through the evolution of psychological thought, it gives students, researchers and educators access to high-quality publications in psychology and related fields.

This high-quality database produced by the American Psychological Association allows behavioral science researchers to go beyond traditional peer-reviewed materials. It combines bibliographic records with unique full-text materials, offering conference presentations, newsletters, reports, fact sheets, magazines, monographs and more.

Psychology & Behavioral Sciences Collection is an essential full-text database for psychologists, counselors, researchers and students. It provides hundreds of full-text psychology journals, including many indexed in APA PsycInfo. It offers particularly strong coverage in child and adolescent psychology and counseling.

This database offers unscripted streaming demonstration videos for teaching and learning psychotherapy techniques. Produced by the American Psychological Association, APA PsycTherapy covers authentic therapy sessions and is geared toward graduates and post-graduates.

This database is an authoritative source of structured information about tests of interest to a variety of fields. Produced by the American Psychological Association, it provides access to thousands of actual test instruments, most of which are available for immediate download and use in teaching and research.

Produced by the Leibniz Institute for Psychology, this database provides comprehensive bibliographic references from research and applied fields in psychology from the German-speaking countries. 

Created by a multi-specialty editorial team, Social Work Reference Center is a turnkey information resource for social workers and mental health professionals. It covers a wide array of topics such as adolescent health, aging, end-of-life care, clinical social work and diversity. Content is organized in a way that makes it easy for users to get answers to questions quickly and easily.

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Psychology covers a massive range of concepts and it can be a challenge to put a comprehensive e-book collection together. That’s why EBSCO collection development librarians have curated this collection of popular e-books in psychoanalysis, psychotherapy, counseling and more.

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Articles in 2022

One year on

As we celebrate the first anniversary of Nature Reviews Psychology , we look back at year one.

Lived experiences of coercive intervention in psychosis

• Jenn Richler

Spatial coding for action across spatial scales

Complex spatial cognition supports seemingly simple actions such as picking up a coffee mug. In this Review, Fiehler and Karimpur discuss the spatial coding underlying such actions, highlighting high-level factors and suggesting that research should integrate across spatial scales.

• Katja Fiehler
• Harun Karimpur

Computational psychiatry and the lived experience of mental illness

The next generation of translational measures must exhibit greater construct validity in their capacity to capture the dynamic nature of mental illness.

• Michael T. Treadway

Enumeration across the visual field

• Teresa Schubert

Benevolent and hostile sexism in a shifting global context

Sexism encompasses attitudes that are both overtly negative and those that seem subjectively positive but are actually harmful. In this Review, Barreto and Doyle describe the predictors of ambivalent sexism and its effects on women, and consider societal shifts that might influence how sexism is manifested, experienced and understood.

• Manuela Barreto
• David Matthew Doyle

Understanding attention with a computational model

• Jasmine Pan

The fundamental importance of method to theory

Philosophers of science have identified epistemological criteria for evaluating the promise of a scientific theory. In this Perspective, Dale et al. propose that a principle of methodological variety should be one of these criteria, and argue that psychologists should actively cultivate methodological variety to advance theory.

• Anne S. Warlaumont
• Kerri L. Johnson

Learned industriousness as a translational mechanism in anorexia nervosa

Individuals with anorexia nervosa persistently exert effortful behaviour such as restrictive eating that most individuals find aversive. In this Perspective, Haynos et al. propose a novel mechanistic account for why such behaviours persist from the social psychology theory of learned industriousness.

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Individual, intergroup and nation-level influences on belief in conspiracy theories

Conspiracy theories have the potential to undermine governments, promote racism, ignite extremism and threaten public health efforts. In this Review, Hornsey et al. synthesize the literature on factors that shape conspiracy beliefs at the individual, intergroup and national level.

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Single case studies are a powerful tool for developing, testing and extending theories

The majority of methods in psychology rely on averaging group data to draw conclusions. In this Perspective, Nickels et al. argue that single case methodology is a valuable tool for developing and extending psychological theories, with applied benefits of understanding neuropsychological deficits and developing interventions.

• Lyndsey Nickels
• Simon Fischer-Baum

Revisiting person–situation interactionism

Norm messaging counters the gender pay gap.

Trauma-focused treatment for comorbid post-traumatic stress and substance use disorder

Post-traumatic stress disorder and substance use disorder frequently co-occur, and this combination is more difficult to treat than either disorder alone. In this Review, Kline and colleagues discuss effective treatments for this combination, focusing on trauma-focused treatments, and provide recommendations to improve treatment response and reduce dropout.

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• Sonya B. Norman

Examining mental disorders with computational neuroscience

Perceiving the probable present.

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Loneliness across time and space

People feel lonely when their social needs are not met, which can lead to long-term health issues. In this Review, Luhmann et al. summarize empirical findings on differences in the prevalence of loneliness across time and space and consider macro-level factors that might account for these differences.

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Ambiguous perception from bottom to top

• Caroline Myers

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How Do Psychologists Decide What to Study?

Personal perspective: psychological research is sometimes, but not always, “me-search.".

Posted May 14, 2024 | Reviewed by Ray Parker

• Find a counsellor to help with academics
• It is sometimes assumed that the personal concerns of the researcher guide psychological research.
• Research topics often evolve from curiosity about how everyday life works.
• Connecting new research to existing bodies of research is essential.

There is an old saying among psychological scientists that “Research is me-search.” This means, of course, that people, including psychologists, are drawn to topics that have deep relevance to issues in their own lives.

This old saying certainly rings true as I watch my undergraduate students select topics for their capstone senior research projects: The too-thin young woman who wants to study eating disorders, the student of color who is interested in racism , the child of divorce who desperately wishes to understand how a marriage ending in divorce affects children.

Given that I am best known for my work on creepiness and gossip, this old truism about “me-search” stalks and haunts me whenever I do a media interview about my research on either of these topics. The interviewer always wants to know what it is, exactly, that enticed me to devote years of my life to studying such a thing. There seems to be an assumption that I have a personal story to tell about a lifetime of being plagued by gossip or about my fear that I am chronically creeping other people out.

I will let the discerning reader draw their own conclusions about my interest in creepiness, but my interest in gossip does have an identifiable point of origin that is a bit more mundane than one might expect.

Research Ideas Can Be Inspired by Everyday Life

One day, about 25 years ago, I was standing in a long, slow-moving line at a grocery store. As it happened, my progress was stalled right next to a magazine rack rife with tabloids full of scandalous stories about movie stars, politicians, and assorted other celebrities.

For the first time in my life, I really looked at these publications and found myself wondering how they all stayed in business. Who reads all of this stuff? Why do we care so much about the private lives of individuals who we will never meet? I pondered this during my drive to the office after I left the store. I remember posing questions about the allure of these magazines to the first psychologist colleague I encountered when I got to work, and our ensuing conversation fanned the flames of my interest even further.

Being a good academic, my first impulse was to turn to the scientific literature to see what experts on gossip had been able to uncover. I was stunned by what I found, or more accurately, by what I did not find. There were a few studies in which anthropologists hung out in villages in random cultures and reported on what they heard people talking about when they gossiped and some intriguing anthropological theories about the origin of gossip.

However, I was unable to find anything in the way of actual experiments done by social psychologists on how gossip works. This is extraordinary: Until the dawn of the 21 st century, a universal human activity that lies at the heart of social life had been largely ignored by scientists whose stated mission was to understand human social interaction.

As an experimental social psychologist, I found the implied challenge irresistible. And so, with the help of some of my students, I embarked on a series of experiments on the psychology of gossip. I am proud to say that an interest in gossip spread like wildfire throughout the research community and that the study of gossip is now a thriving enterprise in the field of social psychology and related social sciences.

Thus, some research ideas do indeed spring directly from questions that arise through observing everyday life or from personal concerns faced by the researcher. However, this is not the only way in which research questions are formulated, and I will explore this in another post.

Frank McAndrew, Ph.D., is the Cornelia H. Dudley Professor of Psychology at Knox College.

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'My research made me realize how fascinating psychology is'

5/17/2024 A&S Communications

Feifei (Lily) Ren

Psychology Beijing, China

What was your favorite class and why?  

My favorite class was environmental psychology with Professor Gary Evans because that class was inspirational to me on a personal level. It provided me answers that I was not able to understand by myself.

What are the most valuable skills you gained from your Arts & Sciences education?

My education here at A&S taught me professional communication skills and research skills that I will definitely be able to implement in my future careers.         

What have you accomplished as a Cornell student that you are most proud of?

I am very proud of my academic accomplishments. I was able to improve myself academically every semester, and I was part of many research projects and labs, including my honors thesis project. My research experience, especially my honors thesis project, made me realize how fascinating psychological research is, and inspired me to do more.  

If you were to offer advice to an incoming first year student, what would you say?

Try to be patient with your personal life and academic life! Try to take things easy and prioritize your personal wellbeing.

Every year, our faculty nominate graduating Arts & Sciences students to be featured as part of our Extraordinary Journeys series.  Read more about the Class of 202 4.

'It was rewarding to build something that people from the community enjoyed and learned from'

'I dream of investigating virtual reality and making an impact on the world'

'I'm a researcher in Cornell's Play and Learning Lab'

'I felt more empowered as a student and a woman'

The International Journal of Indian Psychȯlogy

Call for Papers Volume: 12, Iss ue: 2 (April-June, 2024)

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IJIP Journal is the psychological, peer-reviewed, refereed,  academic international journal that examines the intersection of Psychology. IJIP Journal is an international electronic and printed journal published in quarterly. All peer-reviewed articles must meet rigorous standards and can represent a broad range of substantive topics, theoretical orientations, and empirical methods.

Authors interested in submitting an article for publication in The Journal should complete the  Submission Form  in the  Submit Article section . For a detailed description of submission requirements see our  Submission Criteria  in the Author Info section.

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• ZDB-No.: 2775190-9
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70 Unique Psychology Essay Topics for Your Next Assignment

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Sometimes, it seems like coming up with unique psychology essay topics is more challenging than writing an essay itself. Psychology is a broad subject, so choosing a topic that allows you to cover the subject in depth without being stressed with information is important. A good topic not only captures the interest of the readers but also contributes meaningfully to their field of study.

In-depth research for psychology essays is important for the expansion of the understanding of human behaviour and for the treatment of various psychological conditions. Students feel burdened by the pressure of picking something new and important for their work. It leaves them feeling unsure of the approach to adopt for picking the right essay topics on psychology. During such times, you can get timely advice from your teachers, peers or expert essay writers online .

This blog explores the 70 best psychology essay topics that you can use to craft your essay papers. You can dive right in and start working on your homework after choosing a suitable topic for yourself.

A List of Trending Psychology Research Essay Topics

Whether you are a high schooler who is looking for essay topics in psychology or a college student in search of a compelling title for your paper, this piece of writing has got you covered. We have divided this list of essay topics about psychology into 7 different categories. Students at any academic level can benefit from these lists; there is something for everyone to engage with.

All of these topics for psychology essays are research-based and are related to the modern age psychology research problems. Let’s explore them in detail.

Biological Psychology Essay Topics

Sometimes known as behavioural neuroscience, biological psychology focuses on the study of neurotransmitters and the brain. Bio psychologists examine how these transmitters influence the feelings, behaviours, and thoughts of human beings. They also see how different biological processes interact with the cognitive functions of a person. If you are assigned to write an essay on this subject, but you can’t find any suitable topic, some of the best and trending biology psychology essay topics are listed here for your help:

• Explain the functioning of the endocrine system in detail and highlight how the hormones and glands actually work.
• What is the effect of people's multicultural background on their identity?
• Explore in detail the relationships between human beings and the electromagnetic fields.
• What is the impact of young maternal age on the cognitive and psychological effects, and how does it affect the elements of child development?
• Describe in detail the importance of health psychology when it comes to understanding the concept of diseases and health.
• To what extent can education be said to assume the scientific development that has been achieved in the study of biological integrity?
• What exactly is the neuroscience of addiction? Explain the circuitry and reward pathways of the brain.
• Explore the role played by hormones in controlling the social behaviour and aggression of individuals.
• What are the ethical considerations related to the usage of animal models in the field of biological psychology research?
• How are epigenetics and behaviour related to each other? Highlight the concept of interactions between the environment and genes.

Clinical Psychology Essay Topics

The clinical psychology research is often considered synonymous with counselling psychology. It is a discipline that is focused on the diagnosis, assessment, treatment and prevention of different emotional, mental and psychological disorders in different individuals. Here are the ten best clinical psychology essay topics that you can pick and use for your homework:

• What are the assessment options, diagnosis and treatment methods for anxiety plus other personality disorders in people?
• What is the impact of social media on how people behave and interact with each other?
• Explore the effect of ageing on mental illnesses. What particular challenges are faced by the old people who are diagnosed with mental health problems?
• Enlist the medications, therapy and psychosocial interventions associated with Schizophrenia.
• Explore in detail the impact of violence shown in media and video games on the behaviour of children.
• What kinds of therapy are found to be most suitable for people having behavioural issues since their childhood?
• Highlight the significance of anxiety disorders and their effect on the daily functioning of humans. Are there any new therapies available that can cure this problem?
• What are the ways in which the social and political climates of an environment affect the mental health of an individual?
• How does the substance use disorder impact a family, and how can the family members help with the treatment of the disorder?
• Is online therapy effective? Enlist its pros and cons and explore how people with no technical literacy can navigate it.

Cognitive Psychology Essay Topics

As a student of cognitive psychology, you will have to develop a systematic understanding of different cognitive processes. Since writing on such psychology topics is a bit tough, you can buy essay online from cognitive psychologists who write academic papers for students. Here are some of the best and trending cognitive psychology essay topics to consider for your work:

• What is the relationship between the cognitive psychology, positive psychology and the humanist psychology?
• Describe in detail some of the crucial cognitive aspects that are vital for decision-making in medical ethics.
• What is the relationship between memory consolidation and sleep? Provide a detailed meta-analysis.
• Investigate the effect of bilingualism on the executive functioning and cognitive flexibility of humans.
• What are the cognitive mechanisms that are associated with the placebo effects? Explain in detail.
• Analyse in detail the impact of socio-economic status on the cognitive performance of British students in the modern age.
• Are there any cognitive differences in the decision-making skills of non-entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs? If yes, what are those?
• Does sleep deprivation affect the cognitive performance of the students? Explain the reasons in further depth.
• What is the reason behind the premature ageing of some people? Present a perspective from cognitive psychology.
• How have the attention spans of children changed for the last 100 years? Support your answer with examples.

Compare and Contrast Essay Topics Psychology

How about plunging into some exciting argumentative essay topics psychology for your homework? In such compare and contrast essays, you provide a comparison of similarities and dissimilarities for both sides of the subject. The key points of both sides should be strong enough to convince the readers. Here are some of the psychology essay topics which you can use for the contrast essays:

• Behaviourism versus Gestalt psychology
• Cognitive behavioural therapy versus Freudian psychoanalysis
• Self-determination theory versus self-efficacy theory
• Biomedical model of health and illness versus biopsychosocial model
• Self-perception theory versus cognitive dissonance theory
• Milgram experiment versus Stanford Prison experiment
• Environmental versus biological factors in mental health disorders
• Social cognitive theory versus social learning theory
• The effect of nurture versus nature on the development of human personality
• Operant conditioning versus classical conditioning

Criminal Psychology Essay Topics

This branch of psychology refers to the observation of the intentions, thoughts, and actions of criminals. Criminal psychology students strive to understand the motives of criminals for committing crimes and attempt to study their minds. Here are some of the latest trending criminal psychology essay topics for you to review and use for your college and university papers:

• Explore the basic determinants of the incidents where a murder is committed. Provide sufficient examples and the investigative study of the serial killers.
• What are the social factors which change the naïve people into criminals? Explain in depth.
• Are there any loopholes in the criminal justice system that actively promote crime in our society? Discuss the social disparities between the rich and the poor.
• What is the impact of natural disasters on the increase in social crimes? Provide a case study of criminal behaviour psychology during the period of Corona.
• Analyse the role played by social media in inciting crimes. Provide case studies of hate speeches that were made in public and support your stance.
• What are the general sentiments of the serial rapists? Highlight and support with examples.
• Does pornography and vulgarity promote the rape culture in a society?
• Provide a qualitative analysis of the different development stages of criminal mindset in a society.
• How can you control or trickle down the harmful effects of crimes taking place in a community?
• Is poverty a driving force behind the increasing crime rate in a country, especially in the impoverished societies of developing countries?

Developmental Psychology Essay Topics

Topics in this field of study range from prenatal development of childhood life to the final stages of the life of a person. It is a broad field that involves the study of how people change throughout their lives. Some of the developmental psychology essay topics that you can use for writing your academic papers are listed here:

• What is the effect of different parenting styles on the personality development and the behaviour of children?
• Do factors like peer influence and socialisation impact the process of identity formation in the human mind?
• What are the developmental trajectories related to the mental health problems, chronic pain, and other disorders faced by people in their adolescence?
• Explore in detail the diagnosis and intervention strategies related to the diagnosis of neurodevelopmental disorders in the kids.
• Describe in detail the impact of early childhood education on the academic achievements and problem-solving skills of young kids.
• Explain in detail the concept of cognitive development in infancy from the Vygotskian and Piagetian perspectives.
• Do the students who eat breakfast daily perform better in their classes than the students who do not have breakfast regularly?
• What is the impact of bullying on the achievements of students? Are bullied students more likely to get bad grades than students who are not bullied in school?
• How can technology be used for the social and emotional development of humans in the period of their adolescence?
• What is the impact of social media on forming body image in the minds of teenagers?

Educational Psychology Essay Topics

Educational psychology covers topics related to children staying in educational settings. It covers topics like aptitude assessment, self-motivation, parental involvement, technology, teaching methods and more. A good essay on such topics informs the readers about learning styles, cognitive development, and impactful teaching strategies. Here are some psychological topics for essays in the field of psychology:

• Is it beneficial for children to use different educational and high-quality teaching methods at different times of the day?
• Does the duration and quality of sleep really impact the academic performance of students?
• Can daily medication at school influence the mental health and academic performance of students?
• What is the impact of regularly listening to classical music on the test scores of a student?
• What is the connection between knowledge retention and sugar consumption ratios among students?
• Explore the effectiveness of the interventions encompassing positive behaviours for the reduction of disruptions in the classroom.
• Assess the effect of Brexit on the educational experiences of international students in the United Kingdom.
• What is the relationship between the educational outcomes and the socio-economic disparities in the UK? Discuss in detail.
• Analyse the role of cultural diversity in shaping the classroom dynamics in the schools of 3 rd world countries.
• Provide a critical analysis of the impact of literature on parental involvement and student success.

You can choose from a diverse range of psychology essay topics that we have added in this article. You can also overlap and intersect various specialities and craft research questions for your next assignment. From clinical studies to cognitive psychology, each detailed essay focuses on a deeper understanding of human behaviour. It is important to understand the relevance of these research questions and give the readers insight across different areas of study.

If you want personalised help with the fulfilment of your homework requirements, you should hire psychology essay writing services in the UK from The Academic Papers UK. Their seasoned writing experts are best suited to cater to the needs of clients across the globe, and they can craft essay assignments tailored to your needs.

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