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APA Historical Database: Selected Entries


On August 29:

1632 - John Locke was born. Locke was the founder of empiricism in England, laying the foundation for scientific psychology. His An Essay Concerning Human Understanding proposed that ideas are derived from sense experience, not from innate or divine sources.

1862 - Ernst Meumann was born. Meumann did some early introspective work on sensation but is most noted for becoming the founder of experimental pedagogy.

1900 - John Dollard was born. Dollard brought a background in sociology and psychoanalytic study to bear on the psychology of frustration and aggression, social learning and imitation, social stratification, and learning processes in psychotherapy.

1904 - Ralph M. Stogdill was born. For 30 years, Stogdill was identified with leadership research, culminating with the Handbook of Leadership in 1974.

1909 - Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung arrived in New York aboard the steamer George Washington to attend the Clark University 20th anniversary celebrations convened by G. Stanley Hall. They stayed at the Hotel Manhattan in New York.

1923 - Janet Taylor Spence was born. Spence was the first woman on the Northwestern University psychology faculty. Her research interests have included the measurement and effects of manifest anxiety, intrinsic motivation, achievement motivation, and gender-related issues. APA President, 1984; American Psychological Society President, 1988.

1929 - Carl Murchison's book Foundations of Experimental Psychology was published.

1929 - The first APA membership directory, the Psychological Register, was published by Carl Murchison.

1947 - The first meeting of German psychologists after World War II was held in Bonn. The Berufsverban Deutscher Psychologen (Professional Association of German Psychologists) was founded by a Dr. Jakobsen and Max Simoneit, one of the group that plotted the July 20, 1944, attempt on Hitler's life.

1958 - Psi Chi, the national honor society in psychology, was accepted as an APA-affiliated organization. Psi Chi was founded in 1929.

1969 - The APA convention did not begin in Chicago, as originally scheduled. Because of Chicago police brutality in dealing with Vietnam War protesters at the Democratic National Convention in 1968, the APA moved its convention to Washington, DC, in 1969. The convention began there on August 31.

1975 - The APA Council of Representatives endorsed the proposed Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

1978 - The charter meeting of APA Division 38 (Health Psychology) was held in Toronto. Joseph Matarazzo and Stephen Weiss were instrumental in founding Division 38.

1978 - The first APA Award for Distinguished Contributions to Psychology in the Public Interest was presented to Kenneth B. Clark at the APA convention in Toronto.

1987 - Former New York Member of Congress Bella Abzug addressed the convention of the APA. Photos in the APA Monitor show that she wore one of her trademark hats. Her topic was "Women and Political Power: Getting It and Keeping It." This was Abzug's second presentation to the APA.

1987 - The first APA Award for Distinguished Career Contributions to Education and Training in Psychology was presented to Wilbert J. McKeachie, of the University of Michigan. The award recognizes continuous contributions made over a lifetime of service.

1987 - The first APA Award for Distinguished Contributions to Education and Training in Psychology was presented to Florence L. Denmark, of the City University of New York. The award recognizes a specific major contribution to education and training.

1990 - Henry L. Roediger's article "Implicit Memory: Retention Without Remembering" was published in the American Psychologist. The article was frequently cited in the years following its publication.


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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