Subfield · General Psychology
Most cited papers in General Psychology
What are the most cited papers in General Psychology?
The most cited paper in General Psychology is "Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change." (Albert Bandura, 1977), with 35,570 citations. Next come "Emotional Intelligence" (9,321) and "Science and Human Behavior" (9,003).
Showing 50 of 98 papers. Every paper with more than 672 citations is listed.
| # | Paper | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. Albert Bandura · Psychological Review | 1977 | 35,570 |
| 2 | Emotional Intelligence Peter Salovey, John D. Mayer · Imagination Cognition and Personality | Mar 1990 | 9,321 |
| 3 | Science and Human Behavior Ernest Kilzer, B. F. Skinner · The American Catholic Sociological Review | Jun 1953 | 9,003 |
| 4 | Criteria for assessing the trustworthiness of naturalistic inquiries Egon G. Guba · ECTJ | Jun 1981 | 5,550 |
| 5 | The need for cognition. John T. Cacioppo, Richard E. Petty · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology | 1982 | 5,192 |
| 6 | Development and validation of ego-identity status. James E. Marcia · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology | 1966 | 5,161 |
| 7 | On the social psychology of the psychological experiment: With particular reference to demand characteristics and their implications. Martin T. Orne · American Psychologist | Nov 1962 | 4,074 |
| 8 | Public and private self-consciousness: Assessment and theory. Allan Fenigstein, Michael F. Scheier, Arnold H. Buss · Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology | Aug 1975 | 3,759 |
| 9 | But is it rigorous? Trustworthiness and authenticity in naturalistic evaluation Yvonna S. Lincoln, Egon G. Guba · New Directions for Program Evaluation | Jun 1986 | 3,700 |
| 10 | The Psychology of Self-Affirmation: Sustaining the Integrity of the Self Claude M. Steele · Advances in experimental social psychology | 1988 | 3,699 |
| 11 | Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association Kate E. DeCleene, Jennifer Fogo · Occupational Therapy In Health Care | 24 Nov 2011 | 3,201 |
| 12 | Self-perception: An alternative interpretation of cognitive dissonance phenomena. Daryl J. Bem · Psychological Review | 1967 | 2,986 |
| 13 | Systematic review of the Hawthorne effect: New concepts are needed to study research participation effects Jim McCambridge, John Witton, Diana Ruth Elbourne · Journal of Clinical Epidemiology | 22 Nov 2013 | 2,780 |
| 14 | Qualitative research in counseling psychology: A primer on research paradigms and philosophy of science. Joseph G. Ponterotto · Journal of Counseling Psychology | Apr 2005 | 2,702 |
| 15 | Control theory: A useful conceptual framework for personality–social, clinical, and health psychology. Charles S. Carver, Michael F. Scheier · Psychological Bulletin | 1982 | 2,604 |
| 16 | Beyond the two disciplines of scientific psychology. Lee J. Cronbach · American Psychologist | Feb 1975 | 2,113 |
| 17 | Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioural change? John D. Teasdale · Advances in Behaviour Research and Therapy | 1978 | 2,045 |
| 18 | The neglected 95%: Why American psychology needs to become less American. Jeffrey Jensen Arnett · American Psychologist | 2008 | 2,041 |
| 19 | Carmichael's Manual of child psychology. Anne B. Warren · Professional Psychology | 1972 | 2,035 |
| 20 | A Manifesto on Psychology as Idiographic Science: Bringing the Person Back Into Scientific Psychology, This Time Forever Peter C. M. Molenaar · Measurement Interdisciplinary Research and Perspectives | 20 Sep 2004 | 2,019 |
| 21 | The nature of love. Harry F. Harlow · American Psychologist | Dec 1958 | 2,013 |
| 22 | On the primacy of affect. Robert B. Zajonc · American Psychologist | Feb 1984 | 1,864 |
| 23 | Social psychology as history. Kenneth J. Gergen · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology | May 1973 | 1,844 |
| 24 | Stress-Related Transactions between Person and Environment Richard S. Lazarus, Raymond Launier | 1978 | 1,826 |
| 25 | Towards a Cognitive Theory of Emotions Keith Oatley, Philip Nicholas Johnson-Laird · Cognition & Emotion | Mar 1987 | 1,766 |
| 26 | In praise of paradox: A social policy of empowerment over prevention Julian Rappaport · American Journal of Community Psychology | Feb 1981 | 1,734 |
| 27 | How do self-attributed and implicit motives differ? David C. McClelland, Richard Koestner, Joel L. Weinberger · Psychological Review | Oct 1989 | 1,701 |
| 28 | Psychology as the behaviorist views it. John Broadus Watson · Psychological Review | 1994 | 1,678 |
| 29 | The Social Scientific Study of Leadership: Quo Vadis? Robert James House, Ram N. Aditya · Journal of Management | Jun 1997 | 1,669 |
| 30 | Toward a New Psychology of Women NANCY C.A. ROESKE · American Journal of Psychiatry | May 1977 | 1,639 |
| 31 | Generalized expectancies for interpersonal trust. Julian B. Rotter · American Psychologist | May 1971 | 1,607 |
| 32 | Thoughts on the relations between emotion and cognition. Richard S. Lazarus · American Psychologist | Sep 1982 | 1,572 |
| 33 | Psychophysical and theoretical identifications David Lewis · Australasian Journal of Philosophy | Dec 1972 | 1,548 |
| 34 | Teaching Practice: A Cross-Professional Perspective Pam Grossman, Christa Compton, Danielle Igra et al. · Teachers College Record The Voice of Scholarship in Education | Sep 2009 | 1,500 |
| 35 | Comparative Studies of Psychotherapies Lester B. Luborsky · Archives of General Psychiatry | Aug 1975 | 1,499 |
| 36 | Reasoning about a Rule Peter C. Wason · Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology | Aug 1968 | 1,436 |
| 37 | Beyond Power Calculations Andrew Gelman, John B. Carlin · Perspectives on Psychological Science | Nov 2014 | 1,410 |
| 38 | Mechanisms of skill acquisition and the law of practice Allen Newell, Paul S. Rosenbloom · Figshare | 2018 | 1,369 |
| 39 | Vehicles: Experiments in synthetic psychology Mark Stefik · Artificial Intelligence | Nov 1985 | 1,348 |
| 40 | Decision processes in perception. John A. Swets, Wilson P. Tanner, Theodore G. Birdsall · Psychological Review | Sep 1961 | 1,310 |
| 41 | Implicit theories, attributions, and coping: A meaning system approach. Ying‐yi Hong, Chi‐yue Chiu, Carol Sorich Dweck et al. · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology | 1999 | 1,300 |
| 42 | Measuring facial movement Paul Ekman, Wallace V. Friesen · Journal of Nonverbal Behavior | 1976 | 1,237 |
| 43 | A Primer in Positive Psychology Christopher Peterson | 27 Jul 2006 | 1,223 |
| 44 | A categorized list of emotion definitions, with suggestions for a consensual definition Paul R. Kleinginna, Anne M. Kleinginna · Motivation and Emotion | Dec 1981 | 1,205 |
| 45 | The Interaction of Cognitive and Physiological Determinants of Emotional State Stanley Schachter · Advances in experimental social psychology | 1964 | 1,185 |
| 46 | International Journal of Psychoanalysis Margaret Wilkinson · Journal of Analytical Psychology | 18 Aug 2006 | 1,182 |
| 47 | Internal versus external control of reinforcement: A case history of a variable. Julian B. Rotter · American Psychologist | Apr 1990 | 1,182 |
| 48 | On Human Symbiosis and the Vicissitudes of Individuation Margaret Schoenberger Mahler · Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association | Oct 1967 | 1,169 |
| 49 | Developing Theory Through Simulation Methods Jason P. Davis, Kathleen M. Eisenhardt, Christopher B. Bingham · Academy of Management Review | Apr 2007 | 1,164 |
| 50 | Epistemological and methodological bases of naturalistic inquiry Egon G. Guba, Yvonna S. Lincoln · ECTJ | Dec 1982 | 1,161 |
Citations are OpenAlex's own counts, from its 2026-09-23 snapshot, so the ranking can differ from Google Scholar or Web of Science. A paper is listed for a field when OpenAlex files it under one of the field's topics; retracted papers and papers whose citation count cannot be traced to citing works are left out, and a preprint and the article it became are shown once. Release dates are OpenAlex's: where a source gave only a month or a year, that is what is shown. How the lists are chosen.