The recall of historical events

This investigation explores the extent to which psychological analyses allow us to reconstruct the history of individuals, their social environments, and society. The first study reports on the free recall of persons (relatives, friends, acquaintances) and compares the data with potential changes in social contingencies in the life of college subjects. In the second study, college students recollect the names of historical figures (politicians, scientists, artists). These data are compared with interpretations of the course of political intellectual history. In the third study, a report (recall) of the history of psychology by one eminent historian of the behavioral sciences, Professor Boring, is analyzed and the results compared with those of the first two studies.