The Psychonomic Society was founded by a group of experimental psychologists during a meeting in Chicago, Illinois, USA in December 1959.

The main goal was to create a society that would support open communication about psychological science with minimal structure.

However, psychology is a science that is constantly evolving, and the past ten years have seen dramatic changes and an expansion of the field, particularly at its juncture with neuroscience.

In addition, the publishing contract brought in a new and substantial revenue stream that has put the Psychonomic Society in a position to consider various new programs.

They wanted to make sure the Psychonomic Society retained the qualities that its members value and yet is nimble enough to change with the times.

[5][6] Many members of the society are concerned with the application of psychology to health, technology and education, and many use converging methods such as neuroscience and computational science to achieve their research goals.

The society and its members perform and promote the basic science of behavior in areas such as memory, learning, problem solving, action planning, language, and perception that connect with other fields of research.

The society also support advocacy for research funding by working in partnership with the Federation of Associations in Behavioral & Brain Sciences (FABBS).

The Psychonomic Society provides a range of awards with the "aim of recognizing individuals who have made outstanding contributions to advancing cognitive science".