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APA Historical Database: Selected Entries

On July 4:

1841 — Wilhelm T. Preyer was born. Preyer's contributions were in the areas of color vision and child development. Preyer wrote the first book that specifically addressed child psychology, The Mind of the Child (1881).

1911 — The first mental hospital in the province of Alberta, located in Ponoka, was opened for the admission of patients. Alberta was part of the Northwest Territories until 1905 and its residents with mental illness were previously treated in Manitoba provincial institutions at the rate of one dollar per day.

1936 — The journal Nature published a short report by Hans Selye titled "A Syndrome Produced by Diverse Nocuous Agents." This was the first published description of Selye's "general adaptation syndrome" and described stressor-induced stages of alarm, adaptation, and exhaustion. The article, submitted on May 18, 1936, aroused considerable controversy and research.

1971 — The first Symposium of the International Society for the Study of Behavioral Development was held in Nijmegen, The Netherlands.

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.

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