Margaret Floy Washburn

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Margaret Floy Washburn bigraphy, stories - American psychologist

Margaret Floy Washburn : biography

July 25, 1871 – October 29, 1939

Margaret Floy Washburn (July 25, 1871 – October 29, 1939), leading American psychologist in the early 20th century, was best known for her experimental work in animal behavior and motor theory development. She was the first woman to be granted a PhD in psychology (1894), and the second woman, after Mary Whiton Calkins, to serve as an APA President (1921).

Biography

Born July 25, 1871 in New York City, she was raised in Harlem by her father, Francis, an Episcopal priest, and her mother, Elizabeth Floy, who came from a prosperous New York family. She was an only child, entered school at age 7 and at age 9 moved to Ulster county, New York when her father was placed in a parish there. She graduated from high school in June 1886, at age fifteen, and that fall she entered Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York, as a preparatory student. During her undergraduate years at Vassar, Margaret developed a strong interest in philosophy through poetry and other literary works. She also became a member of Kappa Alpha Theta sorority, and was first introduced to the field of psychology. After she graduated from Vassar in 1891, Margaret became determined to study under James McKeen Cattell in the newly established psychological laboratory at Columbia University. As Columbia had not yet admitted a woman graduate student, she was admitted only as an auditor. At the end of her first year of admission at Columbia, Cattell encouraged her to enter the newly organized Sage School of Philosophy at Cornell University, which she did in the fall of 1892.

At Cornell, she studied under E. B. Titchener, his first and only major graduate student at that time. As a graduate student, she conducted an experimental study of the methods of equivalences in tactual perception, as was suggested by Titchner. After two semesters of experimental study, she subsequently earned her Master’s degree in absentia from Vassar College in the late spring of 1893 for that work. During her work on the method of equivalents, Margaret had simultaneously developed the topic for her master’s thesis, in which was done on the influence of visual imagery on judgements of tactual distance and direction. In June 1894, she gave her oral presentation, and became the first woman to receive a PhD in psychology (as Mary Calkins had previously been denied her PhD because she was a woman). She was also elected to the newly established American Psychological Association. Her master’s dissertation was also sent by Titchener to Wilhelm Wundt, whom translated it and published it in his Philosophische Studien in 1895.

Following her graduation, Margaret was offered the Chair of Psychology, Philosophy, and Ethics at Wells College, in Aurora, New York. She accepted the offer and delighted in spending the next six years there; however, she then grew tired of the place, and sought a change. In the spring of 1900, Margret received a telegram proposing her the warden’s position at the Sage College of Cornell University. She accepted the offer and spent the next two years there. Margaret was then offered an assistant professorship of psychology at the University of Cincinnati in Cincinnati, Ohio. She took the job, but only remained there for one school year before becoming homesick. While at Cincinnati, she was the only woman on the faculty. In the spring of 1903, she gladly returned to Vassar College as Associate Professor of Philosophy, where she remained until 1937, when a stroke necessitated her retirement (as Emeritus Professor of Psychology). She never fully recovered and died at her home in Poughkeepsie, New York on October 29, 1939. She never married, choosing instead to devote herself to her career and the care of her parents Woodworth, R. S. (1948). Biographical Memoir of Margaret Floy Washburn. National Academy of Sciences Biographical Memoirs Volume XXV. pp. 275-295.

Notes

Mary Floy Washburn is not a partner in the famed Cannon-Washburn experiment (where a balloon is swallowed and then inflated to determine the effect of stomach size on the hunger drive). This was erroneously indicated in Haggbloom, S., et al. (2002). The 100 most eminent psychologists of the 20th century. Review of General Psychology, 6, 139-152. The correct personage, A. L. Washburn, was a graduate student of W. B. Cannon, who together published, in 1912, An explanation of hunger, American Journal of Physiology, 29, 441-454. This error was uncovered by Black, S. L. (2003). Cannonical [sic] confusions, an illusory allusion, and more: a critique of Haggbloom, et al.'s list of eminent psychologists (2002). Psychological Reports, 92, 853-857.