How Did Margaret Floy Washburn
Hazel Harkness
Dr. Holmes
Introduction to Psychology
8 November 2013
Margaret Floy Washburn
Margaret Floy Washburn was born to Reverend Francis and Elizabeth Floy Washburn in Harlem, New York City on July 25, 1871. She was the only child. Although Margaret did not attend school until the age of seven, she was taught how to read and write before then. The first school she attended was a private school kept by The Misses Smuller, three accomplished daughters of a retired Presbyterian minister who lived in the next house. During her schooling, Washburn gained the fundamentals of mathematics, a basis in the languages of French and German, and the ability to read and play music, which was one of her favorite pastimes. Between the ages of eight and ten she moved to Walden. There she began to write stories frequently and acquired a wide range of vocabulary due to her constant reading.
As Margaret grew older, she progressed through her studies …show more content…
and continued to read. She enjoyed reading stories like Gulliver 's Travels, Fox 's Book of Martyrs, Canterbury Tales and many others. At the age of sixteen she attended Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York with primary studies in philosophy and science. When she graduated from Vassar, Washburn pursued graduate studies with James McKeen Cattell, who had recently established a new laboratory of psychology at Columbia University.Although at that time, women were not usually allowed in graduate programs, Washburn was allowed to sit in on classes at Columbia as a class "hearer." At the end of her senior year Margaret gained two major academic interests in the fields of science and philosophy. Both of these fields appeared to be a part of what she referred to as the wonderful new science of experimental psychology. After a year at Columbia, she took Cattell 's advice and applied to work with Edward B. Titchener, founder of the theory of psychological structuralism, at the Sage School of Philosophy at Cornell University. By attending Cornell she would be able to receive a degree as a woman. There she was the first graduate student recommended by Titchener to the Ph.D. program. She earned her master’s degree in 1893 and became the first woman to obtain her Ph.D. in Psychology in 1894.
Margaret Floy Washburn spent six years teaching at Wells College for women. She taught psychology, ethics, and philosophy. She then spent two years as a supervisor at Sage College for women and one year as the psychology department chair at the University of Cincinnati. In 1903 she returned to Vassar as an associate professor in psychology. Also in that year she was listed in Cattell 's list of 1000 most important "Men of Science" and appointed as a collaborating editor of the American Journal of Psychology. She was then given the position of professor of psychology at Vassar College five years later. Washburn’s accomplishments proved that regardless of her sex any women of any age can be successful the field of psychology or anything else they want to accomplish.
Washburn 's primary contribution was to the study of consciousness and the examination of mental processes in both animals and humans. In 1908 Washburn wrote her first book entitled, The Animal Mind, a compilation of experimental studies exploring the existence of conscious processes such as learning and attention in animals. She argued that animals ' mental states should be studied combined with their behavior. The book was commonly known and heavily explored by other researchers including Boring (1929) who claimed it was important in the field 's maturation. Washburn’s worked defined numerous experiments in animal behavior, consciousness, and psychology. Washburn examined the behavior of over 100 different animal species, unlike other researchers, who studied mainly on rodents.
Washburn eventually moved away from structural psychology and became critical of its reduction of the mind into parts. Washburn was also interested in examining how mental states could be discovered through evident behaviors which eventually led to the thorough study of motor development. She argued that basically all mental functions produce physical reactions. Margaret wrote a second book entitled Movement and Mental Imagery (1917), which outlined her motor theory of consciousness and the connection between mental processes and motor skills. She believed that psychology should entail the study of both behavior and consciousness. Washburn joined the experimental method of reflection with an emphasis on motor processes. The basic source of her work was that thinking was based in movement. Therefore, consciousness is connected to motor activity. This theory emphasized the importance of motor movements in all psychological processes, but particularly in learning, attention and emotion. The ability of animals to perceive movement at a distance and delay responsive action, Washburn theorized, resulted in the existence of an array of possible incomplete actions: mediate, partial or tentative responses.
In 1926, Washburn conducted an experiment on white mice. This experiment measured the actual speed of motion in a maze along with the intensity of hunger by the time the mice spent eating. In the experiment, the effects of hunger and the impulse to consume were separated and the results of each mouse were treated individually. Washburn continued her experiments and wrote over a hundred scholarly articles on various subjects including experimental psychology, memory, animal behavior and consciousness, psychology, individual differences in behavior, and spatial reasoning. She also studied elements of functionalism, Gestalt psychology, and behaviorism. She then began using many of her undergraduate students, all women, as authors on many of her publications, as well as making them active in her laboratory.
In 1927 at the Wittenberg Conference on Feelings and Emotions, one of the most important moments in Washburn 's career took place.
This conference gathered an important crowd of international scholars in chemistry and psychology and Washburn was the only female speaker that evening. This event brought on a new respect from different parts of the society that never counted women 's intellectual contributions before. After this accomplishment, Washburn was named a Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences becoming the second woman to ever receive that honor. Washburn continued to receive a great deal of praises for her work in the field of psychology. In 1932, Washburn was elected as the U.S. delegate to the International Congress of Psychology in Copenhagen.
On March 17, 1937 Margaret Washburn became ill and was forced her to an early retirement. Two years later Washburn suffered a stroke and died on October 29, 1939 at her home in Poughkeepsie, New York, at the age of sixty-nine (“History of Psychology in Autobiography”
333-358).
I chose Margaret Floy Washburn because she overcame the obstacles that came with being a woman during that time. She served as a great example, teacher and leader. She gave a sense of understanding to all with her mental insight on different aspects of psychology. One of Washburn’s past students quoted during her time at Vassar, “Miss Washburn 's lectures were brilliant, exact, clear, with such a wealth of references and citing of original sources as almost to overwhelm a student...I recall wishing that the course in social psychology would never end, both because of the absorbing fascination of the material, and because of the consummate skill with which she unfolded and developed the theme” (“Psychology of Women Quarterly” 69-80). I think this comment is a clear example of the kind of person and educator Washburn was. She was passionate about her studies in psychology and helping others understand. As a leading American psychologist in the early 20th century Margaret Floy Washburn and her contributions will always be around.
Works Cited
Murchison, Carl, and James Mark. Baldwin. A History of Psychology in Autobiography.
Worcester Mass.: Clark UP, 1930. 333-58. Print
Goodman, Elizabeth S. "Margaret F. Washburn (1871–1939): First Woman Ph.D. in
Psychology." Psychology of Women Quarterly 5.1 (1980): 69-80. Print.
Rodkey, Elissa. "Profile of Margaret Floy Washburn." Margaret Floy Washburn. N.p., 2010. Web. 05 Nov. 2013
Dr. Holmes
Introduction to Psychology
8 November 2013
Margaret Floy Washburn
Margaret Floy Washburn was born to Reverend Francis and Elizabeth Floy Washburn in Harlem, New York City on July 25, 1871. She was the only child. Although Margaret did not attend school until the age of seven, she was taught how to read and write before then. The first school she attended was a private school kept by The Misses Smuller, three accomplished daughters of a retired Presbyterian minister who lived in the next house. During her schooling, Washburn gained the fundamentals of mathematics, a basis in the languages of French and German, and the ability to read and play music, which was one of her favorite pastimes. Between the ages of eight and ten she moved to Walden. There she began to write stories frequently and acquired a wide range of vocabulary due to her constant reading.
As Margaret grew older, she progressed through her studies …show more content…
and continued to read. She enjoyed reading stories like Gulliver 's Travels, Fox 's Book of Martyrs, Canterbury Tales and many others. At the age of sixteen she attended Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York with primary studies in philosophy and science. When she graduated from Vassar, Washburn pursued graduate studies with James McKeen Cattell, who had recently established a new laboratory of psychology at Columbia University.Although at that time, women were not usually allowed in graduate programs, Washburn was allowed to sit in on classes at Columbia as a class "hearer." At the end of her senior year Margaret gained two major academic interests in the fields of science and philosophy. Both of these fields appeared to be a part of what she referred to as the wonderful new science of experimental psychology. After a year at Columbia, she took Cattell 's advice and applied to work with Edward B. Titchener, founder of the theory of psychological structuralism, at the Sage School of Philosophy at Cornell University. By attending Cornell she would be able to receive a degree as a woman. There she was the first graduate student recommended by Titchener to the Ph.D. program. She earned her master’s degree in 1893 and became the first woman to obtain her Ph.D. in Psychology in 1894.
Margaret Floy Washburn spent six years teaching at Wells College for women. She taught psychology, ethics, and philosophy. She then spent two years as a supervisor at Sage College for women and one year as the psychology department chair at the University of Cincinnati. In 1903 she returned to Vassar as an associate professor in psychology. Also in that year she was listed in Cattell 's list of 1000 most important "Men of Science" and appointed as a collaborating editor of the American Journal of Psychology. She was then given the position of professor of psychology at Vassar College five years later. Washburn’s accomplishments proved that regardless of her sex any women of any age can be successful the field of psychology or anything else they want to accomplish.
Washburn 's primary contribution was to the study of consciousness and the examination of mental processes in both animals and humans. In 1908 Washburn wrote her first book entitled, The Animal Mind, a compilation of experimental studies exploring the existence of conscious processes such as learning and attention in animals. She argued that animals ' mental states should be studied combined with their behavior. The book was commonly known and heavily explored by other researchers including Boring (1929) who claimed it was important in the field 's maturation. Washburn’s worked defined numerous experiments in animal behavior, consciousness, and psychology. Washburn examined the behavior of over 100 different animal species, unlike other researchers, who studied mainly on rodents.
Washburn eventually moved away from structural psychology and became critical of its reduction of the mind into parts. Washburn was also interested in examining how mental states could be discovered through evident behaviors which eventually led to the thorough study of motor development. She argued that basically all mental functions produce physical reactions. Margaret wrote a second book entitled Movement and Mental Imagery (1917), which outlined her motor theory of consciousness and the connection between mental processes and motor skills. She believed that psychology should entail the study of both behavior and consciousness. Washburn joined the experimental method of reflection with an emphasis on motor processes. The basic source of her work was that thinking was based in movement. Therefore, consciousness is connected to motor activity. This theory emphasized the importance of motor movements in all psychological processes, but particularly in learning, attention and emotion. The ability of animals to perceive movement at a distance and delay responsive action, Washburn theorized, resulted in the existence of an array of possible incomplete actions: mediate, partial or tentative responses.
In 1926, Washburn conducted an experiment on white mice. This experiment measured the actual speed of motion in a maze along with the intensity of hunger by the time the mice spent eating. In the experiment, the effects of hunger and the impulse to consume were separated and the results of each mouse were treated individually. Washburn continued her experiments and wrote over a hundred scholarly articles on various subjects including experimental psychology, memory, animal behavior and consciousness, psychology, individual differences in behavior, and spatial reasoning. She also studied elements of functionalism, Gestalt psychology, and behaviorism. She then began using many of her undergraduate students, all women, as authors on many of her publications, as well as making them active in her laboratory.
In 1927 at the Wittenberg Conference on Feelings and Emotions, one of the most important moments in Washburn 's career took place.
This conference gathered an important crowd of international scholars in chemistry and psychology and Washburn was the only female speaker that evening. This event brought on a new respect from different parts of the society that never counted women 's intellectual contributions before. After this accomplishment, Washburn was named a Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences becoming the second woman to ever receive that honor. Washburn continued to receive a great deal of praises for her work in the field of psychology. In 1932, Washburn was elected as the U.S. delegate to the International Congress of Psychology in Copenhagen.
On March 17, 1937 Margaret Washburn became ill and was forced her to an early retirement. Two years later Washburn suffered a stroke and died on October 29, 1939 at her home in Poughkeepsie, New York, at the age of sixty-nine (“History of Psychology in Autobiography”
333-358).
I chose Margaret Floy Washburn because she overcame the obstacles that came with being a woman during that time. She served as a great example, teacher and leader. She gave a sense of understanding to all with her mental insight on different aspects of psychology. One of Washburn’s past students quoted during her time at Vassar, “Miss Washburn 's lectures were brilliant, exact, clear, with such a wealth of references and citing of original sources as almost to overwhelm a student...I recall wishing that the course in social psychology would never end, both because of the absorbing fascination of the material, and because of the consummate skill with which she unfolded and developed the theme” (“Psychology of Women Quarterly” 69-80). I think this comment is a clear example of the kind of person and educator Washburn was. She was passionate about her studies in psychology and helping others understand. As a leading American psychologist in the early 20th century Margaret Floy Washburn and her contributions will always be around.
Works Cited
Murchison, Carl, and James Mark. Baldwin. A History of Psychology in Autobiography.
Worcester Mass.: Clark UP, 1930. 333-58. Print
Goodman, Elizabeth S. "Margaret F. Washburn (1871–1939): First Woman Ph.D. in
Psychology." Psychology of Women Quarterly 5.1 (1980): 69-80. Print.
Rodkey, Elissa. "Profile of Margaret Floy Washburn." Margaret Floy Washburn. N.p., 2010. Web. 05 Nov. 2013