History of Psychology Blog entry 1
Margaret Floy Washburn, was born July 25th, 1871 in Harlem, New York City. She was the only child of Francis Washburn and Elizabeth Davis, both parents encouraged Washburn in her education. Her mother came from a wealthy family and her father was a businessman who later turned to Episcopal ministry. Washburn did not enter school until 7 years old. She graduated at 15 and the following year went on to study at Vassar College.
Washburn was determined to study at Columbia University under Cattell, a prominent Professor of Psychology at the time. Washburn was registered for Cattell’s class as an ‘observer’, and completed 1 year of study at Columbia. However, in her second year of study there were no scholarships available for women. Washburn continued her studies at Cornell University, she was the first graduate student of E.B. Titchener (Vaughn-Blount, 2011) Washburn went on to become the first female psychologist to obtain a university recognised Ph.D. in Psychology. Washburn’s doctoral dissertation was the first international paper to appear in Wundt’s Philosophische Studien, a European Journal, which was a rare honor (Dallenbach, 1940).
Many years later Washburn returned to Vassar College where she became an Associate Professor of Psychology and head of the Department, she stayed in Vassar for the next 36 years.
Washburn saw Psychology as a study of behavior and consciousness. Washburn believed psychology’s goals were, to ‘obtain and interpret facts’ (O’Connell & Russo, 1990, p. 345). Washburn’s work covered many areas. Washburn wrote her first textbook in 1907, called The Animal Mind. This was the first book based on experimental work in animal cognition. Her research examined over 100 different animal species, providing information on animal sensory systems, memory and intelligence. The book presented the results of previous studies in a ‘logical and coherent manner’ (Vaughn-Blount K, 2011). Washburn became a leader of comparative psychology.
Washburn’s second book Movement and Mental Imagery explored the importance of motor process on conscious processes. Her work is closely reflected in the modern dynamic systems approach put forward by Thelan and Smith 1994 (Vaughn-Blount, 2011), which seeks to explain the development of cognition in humans. This book delved deeper into mental process links with motor skills.
After decades of successful service at Vassar, Washburn was awarded a lump sum of money. She distributed the money as scholarships, amongst her students who were interested in psychological research (Dallenbach, 1940).
In 1932 Washburn was elected to the National Academy of Sciences becoming the first woman psychologist and 2nd female scientist to be honored. Washburn was also an editor for The American Journal of Psychology from 1903 to 1925 (Vaughn-Blount, 2011).
As one of the earliest women in the field Washburn showed that not only could women partake in psychological studies. Women could also make significant contributions to the field. The Department of Psychology flourished under her, Washburn’s students went on to study at prestigious institutions such as Columbia, Cornell, Harvard, Ohio, Yale, and Michigan (Dallenbach,1940 as cited in Vaughn-Blount, 2011) The women of her department published 66 articles under her guidance.
Washburn died aged 63 an accomplished, respected and influential psychologist of the 20th century (Goodman, 1980).
Word Count 538
References
Dallenbach, K. (1940). Margaret Floy Washburn 1871-1939. The American Journal of Psychology, 53(1), 1-5. Retrieved from www.jstor.org/stable/1415955.
Goodman, E. S. (1980). Margaret F. Washburn (1871–1939): First Woman Ph.D. in Psychology. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 5(1), 69–80. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1471-6402.1981.tb01034.x
O’Connell, A., N. and Russo, N., (1990). Women in Psychology – A Bio Bibliographic sourcebook. Westport, CT. Greenwood Press.
Vaughn-Blount K. (2011) Washburn, Margaret Floy. In Goldstein S., Naglieri J.A. (eds) Encyclopedia of Child Behavior and Development. Boston, MA. Springer.
Understanding Psychology as a Science 