September 30 in Psychology

APA Historical Database: Selected Entries

On September 30:

1715 - Etienne de Condillac was born. Condillac introduced Locke's empiricism to France and argued that sensation is the source of mental life.

1887 - The American Journal of Psychology was first published. The publisher and editor was G. Stanley Hall.

1887 - James Mark Baldwin's book Elementary Psychology and Education was published.

1911 - David Rapaport was born. Rapaport was a psychoanalytic psychologist who attempted a merger of psychoanalysis with mainstream psychology.

1921 - Leon J. Yarrow was born. Yarrow's work focused on the important effects of early experience on child development and resulted in many public program applications. He studied transitioning infants from foster care to adoptive parents, maternal deprivation, racially integrated summer camps, preschool experiences, and mastery motivation in infancy.

1968 - The journal Behavior Research Methods and Instrumentation was first published by the Psychonomic Society. Joseph B. Sidowski was the editor of the new journal. The name of the journal was later changed to Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, and Computers.

1968 - The Federal Aviation Administration was directed to expand its human factors research activities. Psychologist Clay Fushee was subsequently named chief scientific officer for human factors research.

1970 - After months of controversy, the report of the President's Commission on Obscenity and Pornography was released. The commission integrated many psychological and sociological studies into their report, which recommended the repeal of all laws prohibiting sale of sexual material to consenting adults. Vice President Spiro T. Agnew attacked the report, saying, "As long as Richard Nixon is President, Main Street is not going to turn into Smut Alley."

1977 - The drug Ativan (lorazepam; Wyeth) was approved for use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Lorazepam is a benzodiazepine used as an antianxiety agent and as a sedative.

1982 - The Human Resources Research Office (HumRRO) won a 7-year, $23 million U.S. Army grant to revise personnel selection. It was the largest single behavioral science research and development grant ever awarded.

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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