Margaret Floy Washburn: biography of this experimental psychologist

In addition to being the first woman to obtain a doctorate in psychology, this researcher was president of the APA.

Margaret Floy Washburn (1871-1939) was the first woman to obtain official recognition of her doctoral degree in psychology from Cornell University, and was also the second woman president of the APA (American Psychological Association).

Her studies have been pioneering, although little known, in experimental psychology, especially applied to the mental processes of animals and human beings. She is also one of the first representatives of the struggle for equal opportunities for women. for equal opportunities for women in higher education. in higher education.

In this article you will find a biography of Margaret Floy WashburnThe history of psychology, as well as some of their main contributions to psychology and some of the elements that generated important barriers to the participation and scientific development of women in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Margaret Floy Washburn: biography of a pioneer of psychology.

Margaret Floy Washburn was born on July 25, 1871 in New York City. She grew up in a context where education was provided in spaces reserved for men, and spaces reserved for women were gradually opening up as well.

Washburn received her education in philosophy and science at Vassar College and later pursued graduate studies with James McKeen Cattell, who had started a psychology lab at Columbia University. Although in this context women were not allowed to participate in the laboratories, Margaret Floy Washburn was admitted as a "listener".

A year after working with Cattell, Washburn decided to study at Cornell University with the British psychologist Edward B. Titchener, since there she seemed to have a better chance of obtaining an official degree as a psychologist. She became Titchener's first Ph.D. student and the first woman to be awarded a doctorate. the first woman to be officially recognized with a doctorate in psychology in 1894.in 1894.

Washburn developed in a privileged family context from which she was able to develop an important professional career and to confront the context that excluded women. the context that excluded women from academic activity, while at the same timeat the same time that demanded a life based on marriage and family.

She kept her professional career as a priority and gained much prestige for both her research and teaching activities. For example, she published a total of 69 experimental studies that were produced in her laboratory at Vassar College, where she also prioritized the participation of women. In 1903, she was included in the list of the 50 best psychologists in America.

Society of Psychologists and the first generation of women.

Edward B. Titchener had some disagreements with the psychology that the APA endorsed at the time, so he decided to found the first alternative society of experimental psychologists. Titchener had steadfastly refused to accept women as part of his society.among other things because she considered it improper for them to be present in the Smoking room, a place that the APA had already opened for women scientists.

In this context Washburn had distanced herself from Titchener and had become critical of his reductionist approaches to the mind, but she was already part of the first generation of prestigious women in experimental psychology. In fact, in 1921 she was appointed president of the American Psychological Association, becoming the second woman to be appointed president of the American Psychological Association.becoming the second woman to hold that position (the first was Mary Whiton Calkins).

Once Titchner had died, the Society of Experimental Psychologists reorganized, and for the first time admitted two women as members of the group: June Etta Downey and Margaret Floy Washburn. In 1931, Washburn even arranged for the annual meetings of psychologists to be held at Vassar College, the women's college to which she was attached. In the same year she became the second woman to be elected a member of the prestigious National Academic of Science.

Main works and books

The major contribution of Washburn's work to psychology was the study of consciousness and mental processes in animals and later in humans.. Specifically, he explored the existence of conscious processes, such as attention and learning. In addition, he emphasized the importance of motor movements for the activation and development of psychological processes, especially for learning, attention and emotion.

From his animal studies, Washburn argued that it is motor arousal argued that it is motor arousal that prepares for future actions.. In other words, higher mental processes, such as reflection and consciousness, decision making and learning, occur from physical movements that predispose or inhibit action in the presence of distal stimuli (those that activate the sensory system because they function as an announcement of the arrival of a proximal stimulus, which is the one that directly affects the organism).

Some of his main works are The Animal Mind (The Animal Mind), of 1908, which has been recognized as one of the pioneering studies in animal cognition, as well as one of the investigations that allowed the field of experimental psychology to mature and to standardize both definitions and vocabulary. and standardize both definitions and vocabulary.

Another of his main works is Movement and Mental Imagery (Movement and Mental Imagery) of 1917, where he developed in an important way his theory of consciousness. It is in the latter that Washburn succeeded in integrating the experimental method of introspection with an emphasis on motor processes.

Bibliographical references:

• American Psychological Association (2018). Margaret Floy Washburn, PhD. 1921 APA President. Retrieved June 19, 2018. Available at http://www.apa.org/about/governance/president/bio-margaret-washburn.aspx
• García Dauder, S. (2005). Psychology and Feminism. Forgotten history of pioneering women in Psychology. Madrid: Narcea.
• Rodkey, E. (2010). Margaret Floy Washburn. Psychology's Feminist Voices. Retrieved June 19, 2018. Available at http://www.feministvoices.com/margaret-floy-washburn/