Graph use in psychology and other sciences

Since the early 19thcentury, graphs have been recognised as an effective me thod of analysing and representing scientific data. However, levels of grap h use have varied widely since then, partly due to increasing reliance on i nferential statistics in some fields. Recent studies indicate that graph us e is closely related to the 'hardness' of scientific disciplines, and that this finding holds for journal articles and textbooks across the subfields of psychology. In the area of animal behaviour, journals devote about one-s ixth of their page space to graphs, a level of graph use approximating that of biology and physics. Implications for the training of scientists ill th e use of visual displays are considered. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.