[APA World Wide Web Logo]

APA Historical Database: Selected Entries


On January 13:

1843 — Sir David Ferrier was born. Ferrier discovered the visual and sensory cortex areas of the brain and mapped the functions of much of the cortex through electrical stimulation and ablation. He founded the journal Brain.

1846 — The first legislation to provide for separate treatment of people with mental retardation was introduced in the New York State Senate by E. F. Backus. Backus introduced a resolution calling for purchase of land and construction of buildings. It was not until 1851 that an experimental school was established in Albany. It proved so successful that a permanent state facility was established in 1854.

1908 — The Vocation Bureau of Boston, the first vocational guidance center, opened on the premises of the Civic Service House in Boston. Frank Parsons, the founder of organized vocational guidance, was the director. The bureau's executive committee was comprised of Boston educators, employers and trade union executives. In 1917, the center changed its name to the Bureau of Vocational Guidance.

1948 — The Library of Congress received its copy of the first issue of the journal Human Relations. The journal was edited by a joint committee of the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations and the Research Center for Group Dynamics.

1959 — Frederick I. Herzberg, Bernard Mausner, and Barbara B. Snyderman's book The Motivation to Work was published. By 1984, this book had been cited in over 795 other publications and was selected as a "citation classic" by the journal Current Contents.

1965 — Unable to sleep in the early morning, Fred Keller planned the teaching technique later called the personalized system of instruction. The first classroom trials began on February 10, 1965.

1976 — The U.S. District Court ruled in Wyatt v. Stickney that conditions in Alabama prisons were unconstitutionally cruel. The state was ordered to contract with the University of Alabama to implement an improvement plan. Psychologist Raymond D. Fowler headed the team that submitted its plan on June 25, 1976. Court supervision of these prisons ended on September 22, 1987.

1992 — In the APA's centennial year, the APA central office staff occupied the association's new building at 750 First Street, NE, Washington, DC.


Copyright © 1995, American Psychological Association. Web version by permission. Source: Street, W. R. (1994). A Chronology of Noteworthy Events in American Psychology. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. The American Psychological Association and Central Washington University have supported the development of the APA Historical Database.

Choose Another Day
How to Cite This Page in APA Style