It is a bit ironic that one of the first overviews of the history of psychology was written by someone named Boring (Ewdin Boring; A history of experimental psychology, 1929). But do students today really think history is dull?

I conducted a short survey of 1st semester Psychology students (n = 109) to gauge their interest and knowledge of Psychology before the beginning of their studies. Specifically, I asked them to rate how much they agreed with different statements such as “I am looking forward to learning about the history of psychology” or “I find history boring”. As you can see below, with few exceptions, students seem quite eager to learn about the history of our field.

I also asked students to name up to 10 eminent psychologists (dead or alive!). The vast majority of students named fewer than 10 (average of about 5) and the list includes the usual suspects, such a Freud, Jung, Pavlov, or Piaget. One eminent researcher in the area of the decision sciences, the Nobel laureate, Daniel Kahneman, also makes it to the list, as do a number of social psychologists, such as Stanley Milgram. Overall, these are good news but I’m hoping this semester I can still improve the fluency with which 1st year psychology students can name eminent psychologists!