Psychology in the year 2000.
A 1968 crystal-ball essay that dreamed of sci-fi psychology is now a fun yardstick for measuring how the field actually grew up.
01Research in Context
What this study did
F (2004) is a 1968 essay that imagines psychology in the year 2000. The author dreams up smart pills, brain-boosting drugs, and high-tech therapy tools. No data were collected. It is a playful thought piece, not an experiment.
What they found
There are no results. The paper lists fun guesses: chemistry sets for mood, pocket scanners for thoughts, and classrooms run by machines. None were tested. The tone is science-fiction, not science.
How this fits with other research
Mueller (2025) shows the guess came partly true. ABA now has its own global boards, credentials, and local chapters—exactly the kind of professional growth F (2004) only fantasized.
Mazefsky (2015) adds that behavior analysis chose to build new houses instead of remodeling the old APA mansion. That strategic move made the global scene Mueller describes possible.
Graber et al. (2025) warns the expanded field now risks brand wars. The 2004 dream of unity is being stress-tested by competing reform labels today.
Why it matters
Read F (2004) to see which wild guesses landed and which missed. Use it as a quick history lesson with new staff. Then pivot to Mueller (2025) and Graber et al. (2025) to show how far we have come—and why we now need one clear, shared roadmap instead of splintered slogans.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
It's tempting to approach this topic in the spirit of science fiction.What new discoveries will revolutionize the field of psychology?We could find some suitable themes in current speculation.Will new drugs be discovered that will increase intelligence, control our emotions, heighten awareness, or cure psychoses?Will geneticists solve these problems through direct manipulation of the germ plasm, or will electrophysiologists do it by brain stimulation?Is it possible that a drug may be discovered which will have the same effect as sleep, so that we can stay awake all our lives and thus add at least a third to our effective life span?Will a chemical basis of memory be unveiled so that the education of the future will be a matter of inoculation or ingestion? 1 Will a knowledge of French or mathematics then be purchasable at your corner drugstore or grocery store?Interesting as all that may be, we must not forget that 2000 A.D. is only 32 years away.It lies as near us in the future as 1936
Journal of the experimental analysis of behavior, 2004 · doi:10.1901/jeab.2004.81-207