August 19 in Psychology

APA Historical Database: Selected Entries

On August 19:

1871 - The first state mental hospital in Washington State, Western State Hospital, opened for the admission of patients. The hospital was housed in the buildings of Fort Steilacoom, an abandoned U.S. Army base near Tacoma, purchased by the territorial government for $850 on January 15, 1870. Stacy Hemenway was the hospital's first superintendent.

1880 - Adelbert Ames, Jr., was born. Ames was a ophthalmologist whose research focused on visual sensation and perception. His "transactional functionalism" emphasized the interactions between person and environment as determinants of perception. The distorted room apparatus and rotating trapezoidal window apparatus were among the demonstration stimuli invented by Ames.

1909 - Hedda Bolgar was born. Bolgar, a specialist in personality theory, psychoanalysis, and projective techniques, was a prominent trainer of clinical psychologists for 40 years.

1949 - An anonymous prize of $100 for the best psychology article of 1948 was awarded to Louis L. Thurstone's "Psychological Implications of Factor Analysis," published in the American Psychologist.

1952 - Susan T. Fiske was born. Fiske's program of social psychological research has probed the nature of causal attributions, social schema, perceived nuclear threat, gender stereotyping, and responses to adversity. Her findings have been cited in recent gender discrimination lawsuits. APA Award for Distinguished Contribution to Psychology in the Public Interest, 1991.

1959 - John W. Thibaut and Harold H. Kelley's book The Social Psychology of Groups was published.

1972 - The first of two articles on psychologist Neal E. Miller was published by the New Yorker magazine. The articles, written by Gerald Jonas, won the first APA National Media Grand Prix Award in 1973. The award gave special recognition to one of the five winners of APA National Media awards for psychology-related presentations in periodicals, films, television, radio, and books.

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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