{"id":41,"date":"2020-03-30T16:39:46","date_gmt":"2020-03-30T20:39:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/opentextbooks.concordia.ca\/historyofpsychology\/chapter\/scientific-psychology-comes-to-the-united-states\/"},"modified":"2020-03-30T16:39:54","modified_gmt":"2020-03-30T20:39:54","slug":"scientific-psychology-comes-to-the-united-states","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/opentextbooks.concordia.ca\/historyofpsychology\/chapter\/scientific-psychology-comes-to-the-united-states\/","title":{"raw":"Scientific Psychology Comes to the United States","rendered":"Scientific Psychology Comes to the United States"},"content":{"raw":"\n

Scientific Psychology Comes to the United States<\/h1>\nWundt\u2019s version of psychology arrived in America most visibly through the work of Edward Bradford Titchener (1867\u20131927). A student of Wundt\u2019s, Titchener brought to America a brand of experimental psychology referred to as \u201c[pb_glossary id=\"69\"]structuralism[\/pb_glossary].\u201d Structuralists were interested in the contents of the mind\u2014what 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[footnote]Evans, R. B. (1972). E. B. Titchener and his lost system. Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences, 8, 168\u2013180.[\/footnote]<\/a>; Titchener, 1909[footnote]Titchener, E. B. (1909). A text-book of psychology. New York, NY: Macmillan.[\/footnote]<\/a>).\n\nExperimental psychology spread rather rapidly throughout North America. By 1900, there were more than 40 laboratories in the United States and Canada (Benjamin, 2000[footnote]Benjamin, L. T. (2000). The psychology laboratory at the turn of the 20th century. American Psychologist, 55, 318\u2013321.[\/footnote]<\/a>). 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[footnote]Goodwin, C. J. (1985). On the origins of Titchener\u2019s experimentalists. Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences, 21, 383\u2013389.[\/footnote]<\/a>). 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\u2019s first doctoral student was a woman, Margaret Floy Washburn (1871\u20131939). 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[footnote]Scarborough, E. & Furumoto, L. (1987). The untold lives: The first generation of American women psychologists. New York, NY: Columbia University Press.[\/footnote]<\/a>).\n\nStriking 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.\n","rendered":"

Scientific Psychology Comes to the United States<\/h1>\n

Wundt\u2019s version of psychology arrived in America most visibly through the work of Edward Bradford Titchener (1867\u20131927). A student of Wundt\u2019s, Titchener brought to America a brand of experimental psychology referred to as \u201cstructuralism<\/a>.\u201d Structuralists were interested in the contents of the mind\u2014what 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[1]<\/sup><\/a><\/a>; Titchener, 1909[2]<\/sup><\/a><\/a>).<\/p>\n

Experimental psychology spread rather rapidly throughout North America. By 1900, there were more than 40 laboratories in the United States and Canada (Benjamin, 2000[3]<\/sup><\/a><\/a>). 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[4]<\/sup><\/a><\/a>). 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\u2019s first doctoral student was a woman, Margaret Floy Washburn (1871\u20131939). 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[5]<\/sup><\/a><\/a>).<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

  1. Evans, R. B. (1972). E. B. Titchener and his lost system. Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences, 8, 168\u2013180. ↵<\/a><\/li>
  2. Titchener, E. B. (1909). A text-book of psychology. New York, NY: Macmillan. ↵<\/a><\/li>
  3. Benjamin, L. T. (2000). The psychology laboratory at the turn of the 20th century. American Psychologist, 55, 318\u2013321. ↵<\/a><\/li>
  4. Goodwin, C. J. (1985). On the origins of Titchener\u2019s experimentalists. Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences, 21, 383\u2013389. ↵<\/a><\/li>
  5. Scarborough, E. & Furumoto, L. (1987). The untold lives: The first generation of American women psychologists. New York, NY: Columbia University Press. ↵<\/a><\/li><\/ol><\/div>
    definition<\/span>