History of Psychology - Noba

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History of Psychology
By David B. Baker (/authors/david-b-baker) and Heather Sperry (/authors/heather-sperry)
University of Akron, The University of Akron
This module provides an introduction and overview of the historical development of the science
and practice of psychology in America. Ever-increasing specialization within the field often makes
it difficult to discern the common roots from which the field of psychology has evolved. By
exploring this shared past, students will be better able to understand how psychology has
developed into the discipline we know today.
Tags:
Behaviorism, Cognitive psychology, Empiricism, Eugenics, Functionalism, Gestalt psychology,
History of psychology, Introspection, Psychophysics, Realism, Structuralism
Learning Objectives
Describe the precursors to the establishment of the science of psychology.
Identify key individuals and events in the history of American psychology.
Describe the rise of professional psychology in America.
Develop a basic understanding of the processes of scientific development and change.
Recognize the role of women and people of color in the history of American psychology.
Introduction
https://nobaproject.com/modules/history-of-psychology 1/24
It is always a difficult question to ask, where to begin to tell the story of the history of psychology.
Some would start with ancient Greece; others would look to a demarcation in the late 19th
century when the science of psychology was formally proposed and instituted. These two
perspectives, and all that is in between, are appropriate for describing a history of psychology.
The interested student will have no trouble finding an abundance of resources on all of these
time frames and perspectives (Goodwin, 2011; Leahey, 2012; Schultz & Schultz, 2007). For the
purposes of this module, we will examine the development of psychology in America and use the
mid-19th century as our starting point. For the sake of convenience, we refer to this as a history
of modern psychology.
The earliest records of a psychological experiment go all the way back to the Pharaoh Psamtik I of Egypt in the
7th Century B.C. [Image: Neithsabes, CC0 Public Domain, https://goo.gl/m25gce]
Psychology is an exciting field and the history of psychology offers the opportunity to make sense
of how it has grown and developed. The history of psychology also provides perspective. Rather
than a dry collection of names and dates, the history of psychology tells us about the important
intersection of time and place that defines who we are. Consider what happens when you meet
someone for the first time. The conversation usually begins with a series of questions such as,
“Where did you grow up?” “How long have you lived here?” “Where did you go to school?” The
importance of history in defining who we are cannot be overstated. Whether you are seeing a
physician, talking with a counselor, or applying for a job, everything begins with a history. The
same is true for studying the history of psychology; getting a history of the field helps to make
sense of where we are and how we got here.
A Prehistory of Psychology
Precursors to American psychology can be found in philosophy and physiology. Philosophers

such as John Locke (1632–1704) and Thomas Reid (1710–1796) promoted empiricism, the idea
that all knowledge comes from experience. The work of Locke, Reid, and others emphasized the
role of the human observer and the primacy of the senses in defining how the mind comes to
acquire knowledge. In American colleges and universities in the early 1800s, these principles were
taught as courses on mental and moral philosophy. Most often these courses taught about the
mind based on the faculties of intellect, will, and the senses (Fuchs, 2000).
Physiology and Psychophysics

Philosophical questions about the nature of mind and knowledge were matched in the 19th
century by physiological investigations of the sensory systems of the human observer. German
physiologist Hermann von Helmholtz (1821–1894) measured the speed of the neural impulse
and explored the physiology of hearing and vision. His work indicated that our senses can
deceive us and are not a mirror of the external world. Such work showed that even though the
human senses were fallible, the mind could be measured using the methods of science. In all, it
suggested that a science of psychology was feasible.
An important implication of Helmholtz’s work was that there is a psychological reality and a
physical reality and that the two are not identical. This was not a new idea; philosophers like John
Locke had written extensively on the topic, and in the 19th century, philosophical speculation
about the nature of mind became subject to the rigors of science.
The question of the relationship between the mental (experiences of the senses) and the material
(external reality) was investigated by a number of German researchers including Ernst Weber and
Gustav Fechner. Their work was called psychophysics, and it introduced methods for measuring
the relationship between physical stimuli and human perception that would serve as the basis for
the new science of psychology (Fancher & Rutherford, 2011).
Wilhelm Wundt is considered one of the founding figures of modern psychology. [CC0 Public Domain,
https://goo.gl/m25gce]
The formal development of modern psychology is usually credited to the work of German
physician, physiologist, and philosopher Wilhelm Wundt (1832–1920). Wundt helped to establish
the field of experimental psychology by serving as a strong promoter of the idea that psychology
could be an experimental field and by providing classes, textbooks, and a laboratory for training
students. In 1875, he joined the faculty at the University of Leipzig and quickly began to make
plans for the creation of a program of experimental psychology. In 1879, he complemented his
lectures on experimental psychology with a laboratory experience: an event that has served as
the popular date for the establishment of the science of psychology.
The response to the new science was immediate and global. Wundt attracted students from
around the world to study the new experimental psychology and work in his lab. Students were
trained to offer detailed self-reports of their reactions to various stimuli, a procedure known as
introspection. The goal was to identify the elements of consciousness. In addition to the study of
sensation and perception, research was done on mental chronometry, more commonly known as
reaction time. The work of Wundt and his students demonstrated that the mind could be
measured and the nature of consciousness could be revealed through scientific means. It was an
exciting proposition, and one that found great interest in America. After the opening of Wundt’s
lab in 1879, it took just four years for the first psychology laboratory to open in the United States
(Benjamin, 2007).
Scientific Psychology Comes to the United States
Wundt’s version of psychology arrived in America most visibly through the work of Edward
Bradford Titchener (1867–1927). A student of Wundt’s, Titchener brought to America a brand of
experimental psychology referred to as “structuralism.” Structuralists were interested in the
contents of the mind—what the mind is. For Titchener, the general adult mind was the proper
focus for the new psychology, and he excluded from study those with mental deficiencies,
children, and animals (Evans, 1972; Titchener, 1909).
Experimental psychology spread rather rapidly throughout North America. By 1900, there were
more than 40 laboratories in the United States and Canada (Benjamin, 2000). Psychology in
America also organized early with the establishment of the American Psychological Association
(APA) in 1892. Titchener felt that this new organization did not adequately represent the interests
of experimental psychology, so, in 1904, he organized a group of colleagues to create what is now
known as the Society of Experimental Psychologists (Goodwin, 1985). The group met annually to
discuss research in experimental psychology. Reflecting the times, women researchers were not
invited (or welcome). It is interesting to note that Titchener’s first doctoral student was a woman,
Margaret Floy Washburn (1871–1939). Despite many barriers, in 1894, Washburn became the first
woman in America to earn a Ph.D. in psychology and, in 1921, only the second woman to be
elected president of the American Psychological Association (Scarborough & Furumoto, 1987).
Striking a balance between the science and practice of psychology continues to this day. In 1988,
the American Psychological Society (now known as the Association for Psychological Science) was
founded with the central mission of advancing psychological science.
Toward a Functional Psychology
William James was one of the leading figures in a new perspective on psychology called functionalism. [Image:
Notman Studios, CC0 Public Domain, https://goo.gl/m25gce]
While Titchener and his followers adhered to a structural psychology, others in America were
pursuing different approaches. William James, G. Stanley Hall, and James McKeen Cattell were
among a group that became identified with “functionalism.” Influenced by Darwin’s evolutionary
theory, functionalists were interested in the activities of the mind—what the mind does. An
interest in functionalism opened the way for the study of a wide range of approaches, including
animal and comparative psychology (Benjamin, 2007).
William James (1842–1910) is regarded as writing perhaps the most influential and important
book in the field of psychology, Principles of Psychology, published in 1890. Opposed to the
reductionist ideas of Titchener, James proposed that consciousness is ongoing and continuous; it
cannot be isolated and reduced to elements. For James, consciousness helped us adapt to our
environment in such ways as allowing us to make choices and have personal responsibility over
those choices.
At Harvard, James occupied a position of authority and respect in psychology and philosophy.
Through his teaching and writing, he influenced psychology for generations. One of his students,
Mary Whiton Calkins (1863–1930), faced many of the challenges that confronted Margaret Floy
Washburn and other women interested in pursuing graduate education in psychology. With much
persistence, Calkins was able to study with James at Harvard. She eventually completed all the
requirements for the doctoral degree, but Harvard refused to grant her a diploma because she
was a woman. Despite these challenges, Calkins went on to become an accomplished researcher
and the first woman elected president of the American Psychological Association in 1905
(Scarborough & Furumoto, 1987).
G. Stanley Hall (1844–1924) made substantial and lasting contributions to the establishment of
psychology in the United States. At Johns Hopkins University, he founded the first psychological
laboratory in America in 1883. In 1887, he created the first journal of psychology in America,
American Journal of Psychology. In 1892, he founded the American Psychological Association (APA);
in 1909, he invited and hosted Freud at Clark University (the only time Freud visited America).
Influenced by evolutionary theory, Hall was interested in the process of adaptation and human
development. Using surveys and questionnaires to study children, Hall wrote extensively on child
development and education. While graduate education in psychology was restricted for women in
Hall’s time, it was all but non-existent for African Americans. In another first, Hall mentored
Francis Cecil Sumner (1895–1954) who, in 1920, became the first African American to earn a Ph.D.
in psychology in America (Guthrie, 2003).
James McKeen Cattell (1860–1944) received his Ph.D. with Wundt but quickly turned his interests
to the assessment of individual differences. Influenced by the work of Darwin’s cousin, Frances
Galton, Cattell believed that mental abilities such as intelligence were inherited and could be
measured using mental tests. Like Galton, he believed society was better served by identifying
those with superior intelligence and supported efforts to encourage them to reproduce. Such
beliefs were associated with eugenics (the promotion of selective breeding) and fueled early
debates about the contributions of heredity and environment in defining who we are. At
Columbia University, Cattell developed a department of psychology that became world famous
also promoting psychological science through advocacy and as a publisher of scientific journals
and reference works (Fancher, 1987; Sokal, 1980).
The Growth of Psychology
Throughout the first half of the 20th century, psychology continued to grow and flourish in
America. It was large enough to accommodate varying points of view on the nature of mind and
behavior. Gestalt psychology is a good example. The Gestalt movement began in Germany with
the work of Max Wertheimer (1880–1943). Opposed to the reductionist approach of Wundt’s
laboratory psychology, Wertheimer and his colleagues Kurt Koffka (1886–1941), Wolfgang Kohler
(1887–1967), and Kurt Lewin (1890–1947) believed that studying the whole of any experience was
richer than studying individual aspects of that experience. The saying “the whole is greater than
the sum of its parts” is a Gestalt perspective. Consider that a melody is an additional element
beyond the collection of notes that comprise it. The Gestalt psychologists proposed that the mind
often processes information simultaneously rather than sequentially. For instance, when you look
at a photograph, you see a whole image, not just a collection of pixels of color. Using Gestalt
principles, Wertheimer and his colleagues also explored the nature of learning and thinking. Most
of the German Gestalt psychologists were Jewish and were forced to flee the Nazi regime due to
the threats posed on both academic and personal freedoms. In America, they were able to
introduce a new audience to the Gestalt perspective, demonstrating how it could be applied to
perception and learning (Wertheimer, 1938). In many ways, the work of the Gestalt psychologists
served as a precursor to the rise of cognitive psychology in America (Benjamin, 2007).
Behaviorism emerged early in the 20th century and became a major force in American
psychology. Championed by psychologists such as John B. Watson (1878–1958) and B. F. Skinner
(1904–1990), behaviorism rejected any reference to mind and viewed overt and observable
behavior as the proper subject matter of psychology. Through the scientific study of behavior, it
was hoped that laws of learning could be derived that would promote the prediction and control
of behavior. Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov (1849–1936) influenced early behaviorism in
America. His work on conditioned learning, popularly referred to as classical conditioning,
provided support for the notion that learning and behavior were controlled by events in the
environment and could be explained with no reference to mind or consciousness (Fancher, 1987).
For decades, behaviorism dominated American psychology. By the 1960s, psychologists began to
recognize that behaviorism was unable to fully explain human behavior because it neglected
mental processes. The turn toward a cognitive psychology was not new. In the 1930s, British
psychologist Frederic C. Bartlett (1886–1969) explored the idea of the constructive mind,
recognizing that people use their past experiences to construct frameworks in which to
understand new experiences. Some of the major pioneers in American cognitive psychology
include Jerome Bruner (1915–), Roger Brown (1925–1997), and George Miller (1920–2012). In the
1950s, Bruner conducted pioneering studies on cognitive aspects of sensation and perception.
Brown conducted original research on language and memory, coined the term “flashbulb
memory,” and figured out how to study the tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon (Benjamin, 2007).
Miller’s research on working memory is legendary. His 1956 paper “The Magic Number Seven,
Plus or Minus Two: Some Limits on Our Capacity for Processing Information”is one of the most
highly cited papers in psychology. A popular interpretation of Miller’s research was that the
number of bits of information an average human can hold in working memory
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Working_memory) is 7 ± 2. Around the same time, the study of
computer science was growing and was used as an analogy to explore and understand how the
mind works. The work of Miller and others in the 1950s and 1960s has inspired tremendous
interest in cognition and neuroscience, both of which dominate much of contemporary American
psychology.
Applied Psychology in America
In America, there has always been an interest in the application of psychology to everyday life.
Mental testing is an important example. Modern intelligence tests were developed by the French
psychologist Alfred Binet (1857–1911). His goal was to develop a test that would identify
schoolchildren in need of educational support. His test, which included tasks of reasoning and
problem solving, was introduced in the United States by Henry Goddard (1866–1957) and later
standardized by Lewis Terman (1877–1956) at Stanford University. The assessment and meaning
of intelligence has fueled debates in American psychology and society for nearly 100 years. Much
of this is captured in the nature-nurture debate that raises questions about the relative
contributions of heredity and environment in determining intelligence (Fancher, 1987).
Applied psychology was not limited to mental testing. What psychologists were learning in their
laboratories was applied in many settings including the military, business, industry, and
education. The early 20th century was witness to rapid advances in applied psychology. Hugo
Munsterberg (1863–1916) of Harvard University made contributions to such areas as employee
selection, eyewitness testimony, and psychotherapy. Walter D. Scott (1869–1955) and Harry
Hollingworth (1880–1956) produced original work on the psychology of advertising and
marketing. Lillian Gilbreth (1878–1972) was a pioneer in industrial psychology and engineering
psychology. Working with her husband, Frank, they promoted the use of time and motion studies
to improve efficiency in industry. Lillian also brought the efficiency movement to the home,
designing kitchens and appliances including the pop-up trashcan and refrigerator door shelving.
Their psychology of efficiency also found plenty of applications at home with their 12 children.
The experience served as the inspiration for the movie Cheaper by the Dozen (Benjamin, 2007).
Clinical psychology was also an early application of experimental psychology in America. Lightner
Witmer (1867–1956) received his Ph.D. in experimental psychology with Wilhelm Wundt and
returned to the University of Pennsylvania, where he opened a psychological clinic in 1896.
Witmer believed that because psychology dealt with the study of sensation and perception, it
should be of value in treating children with learning and behavioral problems. He is credited as
the founder of both clinical and school psychology (Benjamin & Baker, 2004).
Psychology as a Profession
Although this is what most people see in their mind’s eye when asked to envision a “psychologist” the APA
recognizes as many as 58 different divisions of psychology. [Image: Bliusa, https://goo.gl/yrSUCr, CC BY-SA 4.0,
https://goo.gl/6pvNbx]
As the roles of psychologists and the needs of the public continued to change, it was necessary
for psychology to begin to define itself as a profession. Without standards for training and
practice, anyone could use the title psychologist and offer services to the public. As early as 1917,
applied psychologists organized to create standards for education, training, and licensure. By the
1930s, these efforts led to the creation of the American Association for Applied Psychology
(AAAP). While the American Psychological Association (APA) represented the interests of academic
psychologists, AAAP served those in education, industry, consulting, and clinical work.
The advent of WWII changed everything. The psychiatric casualties of war were staggering, and
there were simply not enough mental health professionals to meet the need. Recognizing the
shortage, the federal government urged the AAAP and APA to work together to meet the mental
health needs of the nation. The result was the merging of the AAAP and the APA and a focus on
the training of professional psychologists. Through the provisions of National Mental Health Act
of 1946, funding was made available that allowed the APA, the Veterans Administration, and the
Public Health Service to work together to develop training programs that would produce clinical
psychologists. These efforts led to the convening of the Boulder Conference on Graduate
Education in Clinical Psychology in 1949 in Boulder, Colorado. The meeting launched doctoral
training in psychology and gave us the scientist-practitioner model of training. Similar meetings
also helped launch doctoral training programs in counseling and school psychology. Throughout
the second half of the 20th century, alternatives to Boulder have been debated. In 1973, the Vail
Conference on Professional Training in Psychology proposed the scholar-practitioner model and
the Psy.D. degree (Doctor of Psychology). It is a training model that emphasizes clinical training
and practice that has become more common (Cautin & Baker, in press).
Psychology and Society
Given that psychology deals with the human condition, it is not surprising that psychologists
would involve themselves in social issues. For more than a century, psychology and psychologists
have been agents of social action and change. Using the methods and tools of science,
psychologists have challenged assumptions, stereotypes, and stigma. Founded in 1936, the
Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (SPSSI) has supported research and action on
a wide range of social issues. Individually, there have been many psychologists whose efforts
have promoted social change. Helen Thompson Woolley (1874–1947) and Leta S. Hollingworth
(1886–1939) were pioneers in research on the psychology of sex differences. Working in the early
20th century, when women’s rights were marginalized, Thompson examined the assumption that
women were overemotional compared to men and found that emotion did not influence
women’s decisions any more than it did men’s. Hollingworth found that menstruation did not
negatively impact women’s cognitive or motor abilities. Such work combatted harmful
stereotypes and showed that psychological research could contribute to social change
(Scarborough & Furumoto, 1987).
Mamie Phipps Clark and Kenneth Clark studied the negative impacts of segregated education on African-
American children. [Image: Penn State Special Collection, https://goo.gl/WP7Dgc, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0,
https://goo.gl/Toc0ZF]
Among the first generation of African American psychologists, Mamie Phipps Clark (1917–1983)
and her husband Kenneth Clark (1914–2005) studied the psychology of race and demonstrated
the ways in which school segregation negatively impacted the self-esteem of African American
children. Their research was influential in the 1954 Supreme Court ruling in the case of Brown v.
Board of Education, which ended school segregation (Guthrie, 2003). In psychology, greater
advocacy for issues impacting the African American community were advanced by the creation of
the Association of Black Psychologists (ABPsi) in 1968.
In 1957, psychologist Evelyn Hooker (1907–1996) published the paper “The Adjustment of the
Male Overt Homosexual,” reporting on her research that showed no significant differences in
psychological adjustment between homosexual and heterosexual men. Her research helped to
de-pathologize homosexuality and contributed to the decision by the American Psychiatric
Association to remove homosexuality from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental
Disorders in 1973 (Garnets & Kimmel, 2003).
Conclusion
Growth and expansion have been a constant in American psychology. In the latter part of the
20th century, areas such as social, developmental, and personality psychology made major
contributions to our understanding of what it means to be human. Today neuroscience is
enjoying tremendous interest and growth.
As mentioned at the beginning of the module, it is a challenge to cover all the history of
psychology in such a short space. Errors of omission and commission are likely in such a selective
review. The history of psychology helps to set a stage upon which the story of psychology can be
told. This brief summary provides some glimpse into the depth and rich content offered by the
history of psychology. The learning modules in the Noba psychology collection are all
elaborations on the foundation created by our shared past. It is hoped that you will be able to see
these connections and have a greater understanding and appreciation for both the unity and
diversity of the field of psychology.
Timeline
1600s – Rise of empiricism emphasizing centrality of human observer in acquiring knowledge
1850s - Helmholz measures neural impulse / Psychophysics studied by Weber & Fechner
1859 - Publication of Darwin's Origin of Species
1879 - Wundt opens lab for experimental psychology
1883 - First psychology lab opens in the United States
1887 – First American psychology journal is published: American Journal of Psychology
1890 – James publishes Principles of Psychology
1892 – APA established
1894 – Margaret Floy Washburn is first U.S. woman to earn Ph.D. in psychology
1904 - Founding of Titchener's experimentalists
1905 - Mary Whiton Calkins is 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 first African American to earn Ph.D. in psychology
1921 – Margaret Floy Washburn is 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 (now known as the Association for
Psychological Science)
Outside Resources
Podcast: History of Psychology Podcast Series

http://www.yorku.ca/christo/podcasts/ (http://www.yorku.ca/christo/podcasts/)
Web: Advances in the History of Psychology

http://ahp.apps01.yorku.ca/ (http://ahp.apps01.yorku.ca/)
Web: Center for the History of Psychology

http://www.uakron.edu/chp (http://www.uakron.edu/chp)
Web: Classics in the History of Psychology

http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/ (http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/)
Web: Psychology’s Feminist Voices

http://www.feministvoices.com/ (http://www.feministvoices.com/)
Web: This Week in the History of Psychology

http://www.yorku.ca/christo/podcasts/ (http://www.yorku.ca/christo/podcasts/)
Discussion Questions
1. Why was psychophysics important to the development of psychology as a science?
2. How have psychologists participated in the advancement of social issues?
3. Name some ways in which psychology began to be applied to the general public and everyday
problems.
4. Describe functionalism and structuralism and their influences on behaviorism and cognitive
psychology.
Vocabulary
Behaviorism
The study of behavior.
Cognitive psychology
The study of mental processes.
Consciousness
Awareness of ourselves and our environment.
Empiricism
The belief that knowledge comes from experience.
Eugenics
The practice of selective breeding to promote desired traits.
Flashbulb memory
A highly detailed and vivid memory of an emotionally significant event.
Functionalism
A school of American psychology that focused on the utility of consciousness.
Gestalt psychology
An attempt to study the unity of experience.
Individual differences
Ways in which people differ in terms of their behavior, emotion, cognition, and development.
Introspection
A method of focusing on internal processes.
Neural impulse
An electro-chemical signal that enables neurons to communicate.
Practitioner-Scholar Model
A model of training of professional psychologists that emphasizes clinical practice.
Psychophysics
Study of the relationships between physical stimuli and the perception of those stimuli.
Realism
A point of view that emphasizes the importance of the senses in providing knowledge of the
external world.
Scientist-practitioner model
A model of training of professional psychologists that emphasizes the development of both
research and clinical skills.
Structuralism
A school of American psychology that sought to describe the elements of conscious experience.
Tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon
The inability to pull a word from memory even though there is the sensation that that word is
available.
References
Benjamin, L. T. (2007). A brief history of modern psychology. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.
Benjamin, L. T. (2000). The psychology laboratory at the turn of the 20th century. American
Psychologist, 55, 318–321.
Benjamin, L. T., & Baker, D. B. (2004). From séance to science: A history of the profession of
psychology in America. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning.
Cautin, R., & Baker, D. B. (in press). A history of education and training in professional
psychology. In B. Johnson & N. Kaslow (Eds.), Oxford handbook of education and training in
professional psychology. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Evans, R. B. (1972). E. B. Titchener and his lost system. Journal of the History of the Behavioral
Sciences, 8, 168–180.
Fancher, R. E. (1987). The intelligence men: Makers of the IQ controversy. New York, NY: W.W.
Norton & Company.
Fancher, R. E., & Rutherford, A. (2011). Pioneers of psychology: A history (4th ed.). New York, NY:
W.W. Norton & Company.
Fuchs, A. H. (2000). Contributions of American mental philosophers to psychology in the

United States. History of Psychology, 3, 3–19.
Garnets, L., & Kimmel, D. C. (2003). What a light it shed: The life of Evelyn Hooker. In L.
Garnets & D. C. Kimmel (Eds.), Psychological perspectives on gay, lesbian, and bisexual
experiences (2nd ed., pp. 31–49). New York, NY: Columbia University Press.
Goodwin, C. J. (2011). A history of modern psychology (4th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Goodwin, C. J. (1985). On the origins of Titchener’s experimentalists. Journal of the History of

the Behavioral Sciences, 21, 383–389.
Guthrie, R. V. (2003). Even the rat was white: A historical view of psychology (2nd ed.). Boston,
MA: Allyn & Bacon.
Leahey, T. H. (2012). A history of psychology: From antiquity to modernity (7th ed.). Upper Saddle
River, NJ: Pearson Education.
Scarborough, E. & Furumoto, L. (1987). The untold lives: The first generation of American women
psychologists. New York, NY: Columbia University Press.
Shultz, D. P., & Schultz, S. E. (2007). A history of modern psychology (9th ed.). Stanford, CT:
Cengage Learning.
Sokal, M. M. (1980). Science and James McKeen Cattell. Science, 209, 43–52.
Titchener, E. B. (1909). A text-book of psychology. New York, NY: Macmillan.
Wertheimer, M. (1938). Gestalt theory. In W. D. Ellis (Ed.), A source book of Gestalt psychology
(1-11). New York, NY: Harcourt.
Authors
David B. Baker
David B. Baker is the Margaret Clark Morgan Executive Director of the Center for
the History of Psychology and professor of psychology at the University of Akron.
He is a fellow of the American Psychological Association and the Association for
Psychological Science. He teaches the history of psychology and does research
and writing on the rise of professional psychology in America during the 20th
century.
Heather Sperry
Heather A. Sperry, M.A. is currently a graduate student in the Counseling
Psychology program at the University of Akron. She received her M.A. in
Counseling Psychology from the University of Akron. Her research interests
include multicultural and feminist issues.
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How to cite this Noba module using APA Style
Baker, D. B. & Sperry, H. (2023). History of psychology. In R. Biswas-Diener & E. Diener (Eds), Noba
textbook series: Psychology. Champaign, IL: DEF publishers. Retrieved from http://noba.to/j8xkgcz5
(http://noba.to/j8xkgcz5)
SECTIONS
Abstract
Learning Objectives
Introduction
A Prehistory of Psychology
Physiology and Psychophysics
Scientific Psychology Comes to the United States
Toward a Functional Psychology
The Growth of Psychology
Applied Psychology in America
Psychology as a Profession
Psychology and Society
Conclusion
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8/9/23, 8:06 PM History of Psychology | Noba

Browse Content (/browse-content) / History of Psychology

Identify key individuals and events in the history of American psychology.

Describe the rise of professional psychology in America.

Develop a basic understanding of the processes of scientific development and change.

Precursors to American psychology can be found in philosophy and physiology. Philosophers

Physiology and Psychophysics

Scientific Psychology Comes to the United States

Toward a Functional Psychology

The Growth of Psychology

Applied Psychology in America

Psychology and Society

1859 - Publication of Darwin's Origin of Species

1879 - Wundt opens lab for experimental psychology

1883 - First psychology lab opens in the United States

1887 – First American psychology journal is published: American Journal of Psychology

1890 – James publishes Principles of Psychology

1892 – APA established

1904 - Founding of Titchener's experimentalists

1905 - Mary Whiton Calkins is first woman president of APA

1909 – Freud’s only visit to the United States

1913 - John Watson calls for a psychology of behavior

1921 – Margaret Floy Washburn is second woman president of APA

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

1968 – Founding of the Association of Black Psychologists

1973 – Psy.D. proposed at the Vail Conference on Professional Training in Psychology

Podcast: History of Psychology Podcast Series

Web: Advances in the History of Psychology

Web: Center for the History of Psychology

Web: Classics in the History of Psychology

Web: Psychology’s Feminist Voices

Web: This Week in the History of Psychology

1. Why was psychophysics important to the development of psychology as a science?

2. How have psychologists participated in the advancement of social issues?

Fuchs, A. H. (2000). Contributions of American mental philosophers to psychology in the

Goodwin, C. J. (1985). On the origins of Titchener’s experimentalists. Journal of the History of

Titchener, E. B. (1909). A text-book of psychology. New York, NY: Macmillan.

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History of Psychology by David B. Baker and Heather Sperry (https://nobaproject.com/modules/history-of-

International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/deed.en_US). Permissions beyond the

How to cite this Noba module using APA Style

Physiology and Psychophysics

Scientific Psychology Comes to the United States

Toward a Functional Psychology

The Growth of Psychology

Applied Psychology in America

Psychology and Society

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