American Psychology History

• This module delves into the historical evolution of psychology in America, emphasizing the importance of understanding its development into the discipline it is today.
• The module highlights key figures, events, and the increasing specialization within the field.

Learning Objectives

• Recognize precursors to psychology's establishment as a science.
• Identify significant individuals and events in American psychology's history.
• Describe the development of professional psychology in America.
• Understand the processes of scientific development and change.
• Acknowledge the roles of women and people of color in psychology's history.

Introduction

• The history of psychology provides context for understanding its growth and development.
• Examining the history of psychology helps understand how the field has evolved to its current state.
• Psychology's history reveals the intersection of time and place that shapes the field.

A Prehistory of Psychology

• Philosophy and physiology are precursors to American psychology.
• Empiricism, promoted by philosophers like John Locke and Thomas Reid, posits that knowledge is derived from experience.
• Early American colleges taught mental and moral philosophy, focusing on intellect, will, and the senses.

Physiology and Psychophysics

• Hermann von Helmholtz measured the speed of the neural impulse and studied hearing and vision.
• Helmholtz's work indicated that the senses can be deceptive and do not perfectly mirror the external world.
• Psychological reality differs from physical reality, as explored by philosophers like John Locke.
• Psychophysics, pioneered by Ernst Weber and Gustav Fechner, introduced methods to measure the relationship between physical stimuli and human perception.

Wilhelm Wundt and the Establishment of Psychology

• Wilhelm Wundt (1832–1920) is credited with establishing modern psychology.
• In 1879, Wundt founded a psychology lab at the University of Leipzig, marking a pivotal moment.
• Wundt trained students in introspection, detailed self-reports of reactions to stimuli, to identify elements of consciousness.
• Research included studies of sensation, perception, and mental chronometry (reaction time).
• The opening of Wundt’s lab in 1879 was quickly followed by the establishment of the first psychology laboratory in the United States within four years.

Scientific Psychology Comes to the United States

• Edward Bradford Titchener (1867–1927), a student of Wundt, introduced structuralism, focusing on the contents of the mind.
• By 1900, there were over 40 psychology labs in the U.S. and Canada.
• The American Psychological Association (APA) was established in 1892.
• In 1904, Titchener formed the Society of Experimental Psychologists due to feeling the APA didn't represent experimental psychology's interests adequately.
• Margaret Floy Washburn (1871–1939) was Titchener’s first doctoral student and the first woman in America to earn a Ph.D. in psychology in 1894 and the second female president of the APA in 1921.
• In 1988, the American Psychological Society (now the Association for Psychological Science) was founded to advance psychological science.

Toward a Functional Psychology

• William James, G. Stanley Hall, and James McKeen Cattell were associated with functionalism.
• Functionalism, influenced by Darwin's theory, explored the activities of the mind and its functions.
• William James (1842–1910) wrote the influential "Principles of Psychology" in 1890.
• James opposed reductionism, viewing consciousness as continuous and adaptive.
• Mary Whiton Calkins (1863–1930) studied with James at Harvard but was denied a diploma because she was a woman, later becoming an accomplished researcher and the first female president of the APA in 1905.
• G. Stanley Hall (1844–1924) founded the first psychology lab in America in 1883 and the first American psychology journal in 1887 and founded the APA in 1892.
• In 1920, Francis Cecil Sumner (1895–1954) became the first African American to earn a Ph.D. in psychology in America under Hall's mentorship.
• James McKeen Cattell (1860–1944) studied individual differences and believed intelligence was inherited and measurable.

The Growth of Psychology

• Gestalt psychology, originating in Germany with Max Wertheimer (1880–1943), opposed reductionism and emphasized studying the whole of experience.
• Key figures in Gestalt psychology included Kurt Koffka, Wolfgang Kohler, and Kurt Lewin.
• The saying "the whole is greater than the sum of its parts" encapsulates the Gestalt perspective.
• Behaviorism, led by John B. Watson (1878–1958) and B. F. Skinner (1904–1990), rejected the concept of mind and focused on observable behavior.
• Ivan Pavlov's work on classical conditioning influenced early behaviorism, emphasizing environmental control of learning and behavior.
• Cognitive psychology reemerged, challenging behaviorism's neglect of mental processes.
• Frederic C. Bartlett introduced the idea of the constructive mind in the 1930s.
• Pioneers in American cognitive psychology include Jerome Bruner, Roger Brown, and George Miller.

Applied Psychology in America

• Alfred Binet developed intelligence tests to identify schoolchildren needing support.
• Henry Goddard introduced Binet's test to the U.S., and Lewis Terman standardized it at Stanford University.
• Hugo Munsterberg contributed to employee selection, eyewitness testimony, and psychotherapy.
• Walter D. Scott and Harry Hollingworth researched the psychology of advertising and marketing.
• Lillian Gilbreth pioneered industrial and engineering psychology, promoting efficiency, and designed for both industry and home.
• Lightner Witmer (1867–1956) founded a psychological clinic in 1896, considered the beginning of clinical and school psychology.

Psychology as a Profession

• The American Association for Applied Psychology (AAAP) was created to establish standards for education, training, and licensure.
• The National Mental Health Act of 1946 provided funding for training clinical psychologists.
• The Boulder Conference in 1949 introduced the scientist-practitioner model.
• The Vail Conference in 1973 proposed the scholar-practitioner model and the Psy.D. degree.

Psychology and Society

• The Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (SPSSI) supports research and action on social issues.
• Helen Thompson Woolley and Leta S. Hollingworth challenged assumptions about sex differences in the early 20th century.
• Mamie Phipps Clark and Kenneth Clark studied the negative impacts of school segregation on African American children, influencing the Brown v. Board of Education case in 1954.
• The Association of Black Psychologists (ABPsi) was created in 1968 to advocate for issues impacting the African American community.
• Evelyn Hooker's 1957 research showed no significant differences in psychological adjustment between homosexual and heterosexual men.

Timeline

• 1600s: Rise of empiricism.
• 1850s: Helmholtz measures neural impulse; psychophysics studied.
• 1859: Darwin's Origin of Species published.
• 1879: Wundt opens lab for experimental psychology.
• 1883: First psychology lab opens in the United States.
• 1887: First American psychology journal published.
• 1890: James publishes Principles of Psychology.
• 1892: APA established.
• 1894: Margaret Floy Washburn is the first U.S. woman to earn a Ph.D. in psychology.
• 1904: Founding of Titchener's experimentalists.
• 1905: Mary Whiton Calkins is the first woman president of APA.
• 1909: Freud’s only visit to the United States.
• 1913: John Watson calls for a psychology of behavior.
• 1920: Francis Cecil Sumner is the first African American to earn a Ph.D. in psychology.
• 1921: Margaret Floy Washburn is the second woman president of APA.
• 1930s: Creation and growth of the American Association for Applied Psychology (AAAP); Gestalt psychology comes to America.
• 1936: Founding of The Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues
• 1940s: Behaviorism dominates American psychology.
• 1946: National Mental Health Act.
• 1949: Boulder Conference on Graduate Education in Clinical Psychology.
• 1950s: Cognitive psychology gains popularity.
• 1954: Brown v. Board of Education.
• 1957: Evelyn Hooker publishes The Adjustment of the Male Overt Homosexual.
• 1968: Founding of the Association of Black Psychologists.
• 1973: Psy.D. proposed at the Vail Conference on Professional Training in Psychology.
• 1988: Founding of the American Psychological Society.