Mary Whiton Calkins (March 30, 1863 – February 26, 1930) was an American philosopher and psychologist, whose work informed theory and research of memory, dreams and the self. In 1903, Calkins was the twelfth in a listing of fifty psychologists with the most merit, chosen by her peers. Calkins was refused a Ph. D. by Harvard University because of her gender.
Mary Whiton Calkins (1863-1930) was a philosopher and psychologist. In addition to these vocations, she was the first female president of the American Psychological Association and The American Philosophical Association. After having attended Smith College for an undergraduate degree she later attended Radcliffe and was permitted to attend classes at Harvard (an all-male school) so long as she was not an officially enrolled student. She taught psychology at Wellesley College and worked with Hugo Munsterberg, a German psychologist.
During this time she published several papers on dreams and color/number association. Her greatest contribution to the field of psychology was “self-psychology,” a field that emphasized introspection (primarily the self-examination of personal experiences). Her books and papers indicate a a view of psychology that primarily dealt with the mind and spirit while minimizing physical input such as sensorimotor and physiological experiences.
Early Life
Mary Whiton Calkins was born on March 30, 1863, in Hartford, Connecticut. She was the eldest of eight children. Her parents were Wolcott and Charlotte Whiton Calkins. Mary was close with her family. In 1880, she moved to Newton, Massachusetts with her family to begin her education and remained there for the rest of her life. Her family moved from New York to Massachusetts because her father, who was a Presbyterian minister, got a new job there. Since Mary’s father took an active role in overseeing his children’s education and planned her studies, she was able to enroll in college when she graduated high school.
Education
Calkins attended Smith College, where she studied classics and philosophy. She graduated in 1882 with a Bachelor of Arts degree. After graduating from Smith, Calkins taught Greek at Wellesley College. In 1886, she returned to Smith to study psychology with G. Stanley Hall. She earned her doctorate in 1890, but Harvard University refused to grant her the degree because she was a woman.
Career
After earning her doctorate, Calkins returned to Wellesley College, where she taught psychology and philosophy. She also founded the psychology laboratory at Wellesley. In 1905, she was elected president of the American Psychological Association, the first woman to hold that position. Calkins retired from Wellesley in 1930 and died in 1930.
Contributions
Calkins made significant contributions to the field of psychology. She was one of the first psychologists to study the self, and she developed a theory of the self that is still influential today. She also made important contributions to the study of memory, dreams, and emotions.
Legacy
Calkins was a pioneering figure in the field of psychology. She was one of the first women to earn a doctorate in psychology, and she was the first woman to be elected president of the American Psychological Association. Her work on the self, memory, dreams, and emotions has had a lasting impact on the field of psychology.
Sources
- Calkins, M. W. (1909). A first book in psychology. New York: Macmillan.
- Calkins, M. W. (1918). The self in thought and feeling. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
- Calkins, M. W. (1930). Autobiography of Mary Whiton Calkins. New York: Longmans, Green.
- Furumoto, L. (1991). In defense of the self: Mary Whiton Calkins and the development of personality psychology. Albany: State University of New York Press.
- Marshall, C. (1982). Mary Whiton Calkins: Pioneering psychologist. In G. L. Kimble (Ed.), Historical perspectives in psychology (pp. 155-171). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.