From deception trials to control reagents - The introduction of the control group about a century ago

This is the story of the remarkable psychologist John E. Coover, who, in th e early 1900s, was the first to advocate the comparison of experimental and control ol groups as a methodological necessity. Moreover, the author rais es the issue of why control groups were launched about a century ago, and w hy psychology was comparatively early in codifying group comparison as a me thodological routine. In dealing with these questions, the author discusses the relations between turn-of-the-century science and society as well as b etween psychophysical research and educational experimentation, Furthermore , the mystery is solved of how Coover's rightful place in the received hist ory of experimental controls could be taken by precisely the authors whom h e criticized for the lack of controls.