Psychology Articles - Peer-Reviewed?

Distinguishing a psychology magazine article from a peer-reviewed psychology article

This is an example of an article from a magazine:

Ayan, Steve. "Laughing Matters." Scientific American Mind Apr. 2009: 24-31. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Columbia Basin Coll. Lib., Pasco, WA. 20 May 2009 .

The author cites several studies and famous anecdotes to demonstrate the positive effects of humor on mental health, but does not report on his own original research. The magazine is intended for the educated, interested member of the general public; you don’t have to be a psychology student/professor/professional to appreciate it.

Here is a peer-reviewed article on a similar subject:

Zweyer, Karen, Barbara Velker, and Willibald Ruch. "Do Cheerfulness, Exhilaration, and Humor Production Moderate Pain Tolerance? A FACS Study." Humor: International Journal of Humor Research 17.1/2 (2004): 85-119. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Columbia Basin Coll. Lib., Pasco, WA. 20 May 2009 . Prior studies have shown that watching a funny film leads to an increase in pain tolerance. The present study aimed at separating three factors considered potentially essential (mood, behavior, and cognition related to humor) and examined whether they are responsible for this effect. Furthermore, the study examined whether trait cheerfulness and trait seriousness, as measured by the State-Trait-Cheerfulness-Inventory (STCI; Ruch et al. 1996), moderate changes in pain tolerance. Fifty-six female subjects were assigned randomly to three groups, each having a different task to pursue while watching a funny film: (1) get into a cheerful mood without smiling or laughing ("Cheerfulness"); (2) smile and laugh extensively ("Exhilaration"); and (3) produce a humorous commentary to the film ("Humor production"). Pain tolerance was measured using the cold pressor test before, immediately after, and twenty minutes after the film. Results indicated that pain tolerance increased for participants from before to after watching the funny film and remained high for the twenty minutes. This effect was moderated by facial but not verbal indicators of enjoyment of humor. Participants low in trait seriousness had an overall higher pain tolerance. Subjects with a high score in trait cheerfulness showed an increase in pain tolerance after producing humor while watching the film whereas subjects low in trait cheerfulness showed a similar increase after smiling and laughter during the film. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Here are several ways to distinguish it from a non-peer-reviewed article (not all will appear in absolutely every instance, but these are common):

• Multiple authors.
  
• Long (35 pages, that is long even for a peer-reviewed article!)
  
• Abstract written by the authors.
  
• Abstract includes indicator words “the present study….examined…measured…results indicated.” All of these tell you that this is a report on original research.
  
• If you open the article it has sections for an introduction, methods, results, discussion, and references.
  
• At the end of the discussion section it notes that the authors are affiliated with a particular University.