Is Arthur Janov Really One of the World’s Top Psychologists?

This addresses one of the self published claims of primal therapy. The Primal Center’s website writes that “Dr. Arthur Janov is one of the world’s leading psychologists” (as of June 2007).  Is this actually true?  Is it misleading? According to what sources is it true? Do other psychologists consider him a leading psychologist?  This is relevant to the discussion on primal therapy because by saying he is one of top psychologists it implies a certain status or acceptance of primal theory. All I wish to do here is ask the questions, and leave them unanswered for the reader to decide. Let’s look at the data:

EVIDENCE FOR CLAIM:

 

1. Arthur Janov was listed on his PhD. alumni Claremont Graduate College’s Hall of Fame Alumni, year 2000 inductees page. More than 100 other past graduates were also inducted in that single year.  Some of the names have “distinguished alumnus” by them.  Dr Janov’s does not. Claremont Graduate College does not seem to be accredited currently by the American Psychological Association. Here is the link: http://alumnicommunity.cgu.edu/s/221/index.aspx?sid=221&gid=1&pgid=276

Notice the alumni contribution link at the bottom of this page. One question I have for Claremont Graduate College is: are any of the names on this alumni list contributors to the alumni fund?

2. The number of books sold to date (The Primal Scream apparently sold 1 or 2 million),  

3. Past or present fame, Janov’s institute or center has had some celebrities, and he himself was relatively famous, and he or his therapy has been referred to in popular music and the media.

EVIDENCE AGAINST CLAIM:

1. Arthur Janov is not mentioned once in any known current (2002-2008) college textbooks on psychology. Those checked: Biopsychology, Pinel; Abnormal Psychology, Barlow; Idiots Guide to Psychology, Johnston; Psychology, Lefton; How to think Straight about Psychology, Stanovich; Personality Puzzle, Funder; Looking Out, Looking In, Adler, Proctor, Towne; The Developing Person, Berger; Introduction to Psychology, Kalat; Understanding Motivation and Emotion, (4th ed, 2005) Reeve.

 

2. Arthur Janov seems not to have authored any articles in any of the more than 100 peer reviewed psychology journals that are listed in “How to Think Straight About Psychology” by Stanovich.  Aparentlyhe did have one article published in 1977 in a Psychosomatic journal that appeared to be an unscientific discussion on consciousness.

3. Arthur Janov is not featured in any of the lists in the study “The Top 100 Most Eminent Psychologists of the 20th Century,” Review of General Psychology, Haggbloom, et al. (2002),  which was undertaken in conjunction with the American PsychologicalAssociation.  The lists were created by three different methods, one was by citations in college textbooks, another was by peer reviewed journal citation frequency, and the third was done by survey (see the college textbook list at bottom of this page). Web-links: for a web-pagewith the lists and  sources: http://edtech.tph.wku.edu/~shaggblo/tcl.htm  ; for a pdf of the whole article: http://www.uni.edu/~maclino/hs/documents/100eminent_psychologists.pdf

               Is Janov Really a Psychiatrist? Scientific Neurology Researcher?

The blurb on Amazon.com for the book on depression called the Janov Solution , as of Sept 2007 stated:
“About the Author:
Dr. Arthur Janov, a psychiatrist and well-known author, has completed over thirty years of scientific research in neurology and psychotherapy that form the basis for The Janov Solution. In addition to The Primal Scream, Dr. Janov has authored nine other books, many of which are also best-sellers.”

This is false advertising and in violation of the APA ethics code (see ETHICS).

Here are some questions about this:

1. When and where did Arthur Janov get a medical degree to qualify him as a psychiatrist?

(he didn’t, he has a 1960 PhD. in clinical psychology does not qualify him to prescribe medications for any psychological disorder)

2. What neurological research did Janovdo that was published in a peer reviewed neurological article or textbook?

(he didn’t) 

3. And if so did this neurological peer review citations span the 30 years claimed?

4. Which books apart from The Primal Scream were bestsellers? 

5. How is bestseller defined and which bestseller list is being quoted?

6. What scientific research has Janov had published in a peer reviewed journal?  (none as far as I can find)

7. If so, does this peer review record extend for thirty years?

From Haggbloom, et al. (2002), The 100 most eminent psychologists of the 20th century, Review of General Psychology.  

Rank	Corrected Rank	Name	Citation Frequency
1	1	Freud, Sigmund	560
2	2	Skinner, B.F.	310
3	3	Bandura, A.	303
4	4	Piaget, Jean	240
5	5	Rogers, Carl	202
6	6	Schachter ,Stanley	200
7	7	Harlow, Harry F.	175
8	8	Brown, Roger	162
9	9	Miller, Neal E.	154
10	10	McClelland, D.C.	153
11	11	Erikson, Erik H.	151
12	12	Milgram, Stanley	146
13	13	Seligman, Martin E.P.	143
14	14	Maslow, Abraham	142
15	15	Bower, Gordon H.	138
	16	Eysenck, Hans	130
16	17	Kohlberg, Lawrence	128
17	18	Watson, John B.	127
18	19	Allport, Gordon W.	124
19	20	Festinger, Leon	121
20	21	Loftus, Elizabet F.	120
21	22	Zajonc, R.B.	118
22	23	Pavlov, Ivan P.	117
23	24	Kagan, Jerome	116
24.5	25.5	Sternburg, Robert J.	114
24.5	25.5	Mischel, Walter	114
26.5	27.5	Ekman, Paul	111
26.5	27.5	Hilgard, Ernest	111
28	29	Chomsky, Noam	106
29	30	James, William	104
30	31	Asch, Solomon	102
31	32	Aronson, E.	101
32	33	Janis, Irving L.	95
33	34	Lazarus, S.	91
34	35	Kelly, Harold	90
35	36	Scarr, Sandra	89
36	37	Cattell, Raymond B.	88
37	38	Bem, D.	85
38	39	Lorenz, Konrad	84
39	40	Jung, Carl	81
40.5	41.5	Rodin, Judith	79
40.5	41.5	Walster, E.	79
42	43	Wolpe, Joseph	75
43.5	44.5	Dement, William C.	74
43.5	44.5	Jones, Edward	74
45	46	Miller, George	72
46.5	47.7	Zimbardo, Philip	69
46.5	47.5	Tulving, Endul	69
48	49	Latane, Bib	65
49	50	Thorndike, Edward L.	63
50	51	Rosch, E.	60
51	52	Craik, F.	53
52.5	54	Synder, S.	52
52.5	54	Webb, W.	52
54.5 (16)		Eysenck, Hans	51
54.5	54	Adler, Alfred	51
56	56	Jensen, Arthur	49
57		Orne, Martin	48
58.5		Neugarten, B.	47
58.5		Snyder, M.	47
61		Guilford, J.P.	46
61		Lamb, M.	46
61		Meichenbaum, D.	46
64		Masters, William	45
64		Selye, Hans	45
64		Sperry, Roger	45
66.5		Rubin, Z.	43
66.5		Freedman, J.	43
68		Cannon, W.B.	42
69		Kinsey, A.	41
70.5		Bruner, Jerome	36
70.5		Plomin R.	36
72		Neisser, Ulric	34
73		Darley, John M.	33
74.5		Lewin, Kurt	31
74.5		Hull, Clark	31
76		Berkowitz, Leonard	30
77.5		Kihlstrom, J.F.	28
77.5		Singer J.E.	28
80		Krasner, Leonard	27
80		Rosenhan, David	27
80		Dollard, John	27
82		Newcomb, Theodore	26
84.5		McCrae, R.R.	24
84.5		Buss, David M.	24
84.5		Hernstein, Richard J.	24
84.5		Kessler, R.C.	24
87		Gardner, Howard	21
88.5		Segall, M.W.	20
88.5