The 1990s in America

Psychology

by Ami R. Blue

Definition The scientific study of human mental processes and behaviors

With its myriad specialties and branches, psychology in the 1990’s explored a range of topics, including language acquisition; emotional intelligence; prescription privileges; memory acquisition, retention, and retrieval; and social influences on cognition.

In the waning years of the 1980’s, President George H. W. Bush encouraged American citizens to become more involved in giving back to their communities, a call to action that the psychology community embraced. In 1990, psychology professionals began using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) on the brain to study human cognition; in the same year, a committee from the American Psychological Association (APA) discussed possibilities for the up-and-coming branch of psychology called pharmapsychology, or behavioral biology. Interdisciplinary approaches began forming during the early part of this “Decade of the Brain,” a time when psychologists researched cognition, language acquisition, memory, and aging. Mental health professionals began studying a cluster of illnesses, known as Gulf War syndrome, that some Gulf War combat veterans experienced.

During the early 1990’s especially, psychology became more accepting of the possibility of genetic influences on human cognition, so much so that some psychologists needlessly worried that focus would shift away from social dynamics toward genetic factors, and social influences would become irrelevant. In truth, social psychology reached maturity during this decade, and today it remains integral to the field as a whole.

As mid-decade approached, psychologists continued to examine the individual’s behavior and the elusive subject of human consciousness and automaticity, or how certain human processes become automatic over time. Ever mindful of their quest toward unified theories about how humans know and appreciate the world, researchers turned to reading comprehension and image cognition, then to educational and mathematical psychology, also called psychological economics, particularly later in the decade. Ecopsychology, previously known as environmental psychology, also originated during this time, offering another example of psychology’s tendency during the 1990’s to return its focus to the way in which the human psyche intersects with its surroundings. Other (re)emerging fields, such as evolutionary psychology, which situates psychology as a subfield of biology, also evinced psychology’s intersectionality. Transpersonal psychology, with its attention to religious and spiritual issues, received scholarly attention and renewal in the early part of the decade.

In 1994, the American Psychiatric Association released the fourth edition of its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV), the reference book psychologists and psychiatrists use to diagnose patients. Exacerbated by the ongoing AIDS epidemic and millennial anxieties, the United States was a hotbed for psychological and psychiatric conditions, and the increase of patients in psychologists’ offices led to higher demands for trained mental health professionals. By the mid-1990’s, the exciting field of psychology had become the most popular science major for undergraduate university students, and with the United States’ multiethnic population expanding, educators began emphasizing multicultural and global approaches in the psychology classroom. The disciplinary shift toward educational psychology led later in the decade to increased research and publication concerning teacher-student interaction.

The Second Half of the Decade

At the 1995 American Psychological Association convention, psychologists gained prescription privileges, contingent upon the profession’s developing legal protocols and proposing training curricula. Shortly thereafter, former Walter Reed pharmacology fellow U.S. Navy Commander John L. Sexton was the first psychologist to prescribe medication. Later that same year, the APA created a new division for the study of men and masculinity.

During the second half of the 1990’s, “emotional intelligence” surfaced as one of psychology’s most popular terms. Made widely recognizable in the academic community by journals and conferences, the term also caught the popular imagination, finding its way into newspapers and magazines around the world. The American Dialect Society named it one of the most useful new phrases of the decade. Through this positive publicity, the typically academic field of psychology began forming alliances with mainstream culture, inspiring the popular psychology movement.

In 1998, APA president Martin Seligman chose the theme “positive psychology” for his term as president and thereby introduced a new branch of psychology to the field. Positive psychology refigures the aim of mental health counseling from its previous intent—treating mental illness—to a more optimistic goal: making life more fulfilling. After a long decade of soaring antidepressant statistics, the American public along with television and radio personalities embraced positive psychology and the onslaught of self-help books that ensued.

Impact

Over the decade, the fragmented field of psychology remained malleable, capable of allying itself with economics, literature, and a number of sciences. The interdisciplinarity of psychology made it accessible to students interested in diverse aspects of the human condition, which therefore made psychology a popular subject to study in school. In tandem with the increasing demand for trained psychologists—particularly those capable of distributing pharmaceuticals—psychology’s likability increased its visibility both in America and abroad.

Further Reading

1 

Freedheim, Donald K., and Irving B. Weiner. Handbook of Psychology Volume 1: History of Psychology. Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons, 2003. Organized topically over four volumes.

2 

Pickren, Wade E., and Donald A. Dewsbury, eds. Evolving Perspectives on the History of Psychology. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association, 2002. Academic essays that explore methods and disciplinary divisions across time.

3 

Schultz, Duane P., and Sydney Ellen Schultz. A History of Modern Psychology. 9th ed. Florence, Ky.: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2007. Focused primarily on the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Contains an epilogue centered on late twentieth century psychological developments.

Citation Types

Type
Format
MLA 9th
Blue, Ami R. "Psychology." The 1990s in America, edited by Milton Berman, Salem Press, 2009. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=1990_1447.
APA 7th
Blue, A. R. (2009). Psychology. In M. Berman (Ed.), The 1990s in America. Salem Press. online.salempress.com.
CMOS 17th
Blue, Ami R. "Psychology." Edited by Milton Berman. The 1990s in America. Hackensack: Salem Press, 2009. Accessed October 22, 2025. online.salempress.com.