July 5, 2015: Kaylei and Alex

1.  Mary Whiton Calkins was a powerful figure for women and psychology. She graduated with a concentration in classics and philosophy from Smith College in 1884; however, she began her journey into the field of psychology after she was offered a teaching position in experimental psychology at Wellesley College, where she was a professor of Greek. In order to accept the position, however, Calkins had to study for a year. Because Women were not allowed to officially enroll in many universities, Calkins was forced to negotiate in order to study. Harvard University allowed her to attend seminars, but was only considered as a guest and not a student. She attended the seminars of William James and Josiah Rice at Harvard, and at Clark University she studied experimental psychology with Edmund C. Sanford. After her year of training, Calkins decided to continue her education at Harvard under Hugo Munsterberg, and completed the requirements for a Ph.D. Unfortunately, because Calkins was a woman she was never granted a degree. Later, Harvard’s women’s college, Radcliffe, offered to grant her a degree, but she declined. Despite this, Calkins went on to begin a psychological lab at Wellesley college and conducted many experimental investigations. Due to more limitations Calkin felt with the growing schools of psychology, she shifted from experiemental investigation in 1900 and spent her time on theoretical and philosophical work. Calkins developed her own theory of psychology called self-psychology, and worked as a research professor until she retired in 1929.

            Mary Whiton Calkins is best known for three things. The first being her Presidency of the APA and the second being the theory that she created. In 1905 the American Psychological Association elected Calkins president of their organization. This was extremely significant because she was the first female to be elected president of the APA. The second thing that Mary Calkins is known for is her theory on “self-psychology.” She believed that “psychology should be a science of selves and not a science of consciousness or behavior,” (Benjamin, 2007). Her psychology’s goal was to study the “several selves of an individual” which are, “the self that doesn’t change, the self that changes, the unique self, the social self,” (Benjamin, 2007). This branch of psychology was not a favored one of the time but Calkins fought for it anyway. The final thing that Mary Whiton Calkins is best known for is the technique that she created, “the paired associates method, a technique in which items (words, nonsense syllables, pictures) are presented in pairs in the learning trials and then one item of the pair is used to cue the other in the memory trials” (Benjamin, 2007). This method that she created is still used today in memory research.

Furumoto, L. (2000). Calkins, Mary Whiton. In A. E. Kazdin, A. E. Kazdin (Eds.) , Encyclopedia of psychology, Vol. 2 (pp.             1-3). Washington, DC, US; New York, NY, US: American Psychological Association. doi:10.1037/10517-001

Benjamin, L. (2007). A brief history of modern psychology (2nd ed., pp. 64-66). John Wiley & Sons.

2. Timeline: In 1905 Mary Whiton Calkins was named the first female president of the American Psychological Association. 

3. Picture is of Buckingham Palace visited on July 3, 2015. 

4. Link to Buckingham Palace: http://www.royalcollection.org.uk/visit/the-state-rooms-buckingham-palace