T. V. Moore's (1939) Cognitive Psychology

Abstract

Thomas Verner Moore published a book called Cognitive Psychology in 1939, almost 30 years before Neisser's (1967) more familiar and far more influential work. Although it covers most of the standard topics found in current cognitive psychology textbooks, and even anticipated several current trends, Moore's text is not cited by any of the major histories of the "cognitive revolution" or any current cognitive textbook. We provide a brief sketch of Moore's academic life and summarize several of his papers that are still cited. After describing the psychologies prevalent in 1939, we compare Moore's text with two contemporary works, Woodworth (1938) and McGeoch (1942). We conclude by comparing the older text with Neisser's and by offering several reasons why the book is virtually unknown.