The 10 essential women in the history of Psychology

Psychology in feminine: the ten most influential women who have left us a magnificent legacy.

Throughout history there have been many psychologists who have influenced the development of the science of the mind and human behavior. It is common to talk about Watson, Skinner, Bandura, Freud, among others, most of them men. Unfortunately, women's voices have been silenced for many years.and their contributions have been minimized or excluded from scientific circles.

But as Ann Johnson of St. Thomas University states, this changed beginning in the 1960s and 1970s and, in recent years, the new generations of women psychologists have become more and more important, new generations of women psychologists have begun to receive more recognition..

Women psychologists have not had an easy road.

Today it seems impossible to think that psychology was a profession exclusively for men, because today it is a career that is studied by more women than men. The truth is that psychology was considered a male domain, and women who wanted to carve out a professional future as psychologists had to carve out a niche for themselves in a discipline that only accepted men.

Fortunately, the social and economic changes of the last century have allowed the growth of "women's psychology" to take place.. As in other fields, women have struggled to gain the same rights as men. In the United States, data show that the number of women psychologists has been increasing over the years: in 1901 only 20 women earned their doctorates in psychology, in 1974 22% of doctorates in psychology went to women, and in 1983 56% of psychologists earned their doctorates.

Top 10 Most Influential Women in Psychology

It may seem normal now, but many of these women had to deal with discrimination, obstacles and difficulties that came their way for a long time. In today's article, and in honor of all these women, we have compiled a list of women psychologists who have made important and innovative contributions to the field of psychology..

These women deserve to be recognized for their pioneering work and for being references in the fight for equality. In spite of all the difficulties, they left us an invaluable legacy that we will detail today.

Brenda Milner

Neuropsychologist Brenda Milner (1918), born in Manchester (United Kingdom), is considered the founder of neuropsychology and is one of the most important figures in the study of memory. For 60 years she has contributed to the knowledge of how the brain works. Today she continues to teach and conduct research at the Montreal Neurological Institute (Canada) and is also a professor in the Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery at McGill University.

Brenda Milner is famous for her study of the case of patient H.M. H.M. was a young man who had suffered from severe epileptic seizures since the age of 10. In desperation, he went to Dr. Scoville for consultation and agreed to undergo experimental surgery in which his medial temporal lobes on both sides were removed. His epileptic seizures were greatly reduced, but he was affected with anterograde amnesiathe inability to store new events in long-term memory. Brenda Milner began working with H. M., conducting a series of experiments designed to assess his memory and learning ability. What he was observing eventually led to a revolutionary discovery: he found that H. M. was steadily improving from one day to the next in the tests, despite the fact that he had no recollection of having done those things before. In other words, the patient was effectively learning new skills despite having no memory of having done them before..

This indicated that the brain is not driven by a solitary memory system and caused a shift in the direction of memory research from that point on. In addition to this monumental finding, Milner identified the role of the hippocampus and the medial area of the temporal lobe in explicit memory and provided the first data on implicit memory storage.

2. Virginia Satir

Virginia Satir (1916 - 1988) is known for her work as an exceptional therapist, and is one of the most important people in Systemic Family Therapy. Virginia Satir believed that people are equipped with the capacity for growth, transformation and continuing education. Her methodology not only combined the interactive and intrapsychic elements of modern therapy, but strived to create an improved quality of communication and relationships within the family structure.

Satir's Systemic Transformational Therapy works to address a client's actions, emotions and perceptions as they relate to their dynamics in the family unit. As a highly trained and qualified therapist, she worked with patients to enable them to find their sense of harmony and unity, and to hold them accountable for addressing and accepting the traumas and wounds that ultimately lead to an inner sense of peace and joy.

3. Mary Ainsworth

Mary Ainsworth (1913) was born in Ohio, USA and developed an extensive and fruitful career. She was a pioneer in developmental psychology and is possibly best known for her research on the behavior of infants in the "strange situation" and her contribution to Attachment Theory.

This theory, first developed by John Bowlby, is a must in any introductory book on developmental psychology. Ainsworth identified three attachment styles that children have with their parents and caregivers. In a 2002 ranking of the most influential psychologists of the 20th century, Ainsworth was ranked 97th most frequently cited psychologist..

4. Elisabeth Loftus

Elizabeth Loftus (1944) is one of the most influential and controversial psychologists. She is famous for her research on the reliability of repressed memories and is a seminal figure in cognitive psychology. With her work she has made an enormous contribution to psychology and opened the debate on a controversial aspect of psychology and memory. During the 1970s, Loftus published a collection of influential studies on the fallibility of eyewitness testimony in the judicial setting.. At first his contributions did not have much impact, but now his work is beginning to make its mark.

The controversial side of his research is based on the role he has played in the cases of childhood sexual abuse accusations based on memory retrieval, which made him the subject of lawsuits and death threats. His research on the use of false memories to modify behavior is considered by some to be highly unethical.

5. Laura Perls

Laura Posner (1905 - 1990), better known as Laura Perls, is one of the most influential psychologists of this century. Together with her husband Fritz Perls and Paul Goodman, she developed Gestalt Therapy in the 1940s, a humanistic-existentialist therapeutic model that was originally designed as an alternative to conventional psychoanalysis. Experts in Gestalt therapy use experiential and creative techniques to enhance the patient's self-awareness, freedom and self-direction.

• If you want to know more about Gestalt Therapy, you can visit our article, "Gestalt Therapy: what is it and what are its principles?"

6. Leda Cosmides

Leda Cosmides (1957) is best known for her pioneering work in the field of developmental psychology. She developed her interest in this field while studying biology at Harvard University, and in 1985 she earned her Ph.D. in cognitive psychology. Cosmides was a member of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciencesbefore moving to the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he has been on the faculty since 1991.

In 1988 he won the Behavioral Science Research Award from the American Association for the Advancement of Behavioral Science. American Association for the Advancement of Scienceand in 1993 he was awarded the Distinguished Scientist Award of the American Psychological Association's Distinguished Scientist Award in 1993.. In 1992 he published his well-known book "The Adapted Mind" together with J. H. Barkow and J. Tooby. This text is recognized as one of the most important texts of the time in its field, both for establishing the theoretical and methodological principles underlying evolutionary psychology, and for its importance in the field of application.It is recognized as one of the most important texts of the time in its field, both for establishing the theoretical and methodological principles on which evolutionary psychology is based, and for its importance in the field of application.

7. Anna Freud

Anna Freud (1895 - 1982) was born in Vienna at the end of the 19th century. She is the daughter of Sigmund Freud but, far from remaining in the shadows, she was also important in the theory that her father originated, since she was a pioneer in the field of psychoanalysis. she was a pioneer in the field of child psychoanalysis and extended the concept of defense mechanisms that are set in motion to adjust the drives of the ego to the demands of the superego.

She was especially interested in the problems of communication between therapists. His contributions were eminently practical, the fruit of his experience at the Hampton Child Therapy Clinic. Hampstead Child Therapy Clinic in London. in London. He carried out many scientific works and contributed to founding the annual publication of the Psychoanalytic Study of the Child in 1945. His main work is "The Ego and the Defense Mechanisms" (1936), which has become a classic of psychoanalysis.

8. Mary Whiton Calkins

Mary Whiton Calkins (1863 - 1930) was an American psychologist who became the first woman president of the American Psychological Association (APA). Despite graduating with a degree in philosophy, she became an influential figure in the development of early psychology, especially the psychology of the self, and trained many students through her teaching position at Wellesley College.

In her time, women were not allowed to study psychology, and although she was invited to some seminar at Harvard University, the school refused to grant her the degree because she was a woman.

9. Melanie Klein

Melanie Klein (1882 - 1960) was born in Vienna in and was an Austrian psychologist known for creating a therapeutic technique called "Play Therapy". Her initial intention was to serve the medical school, but she became a highly became a well-known psychoanalyst..

She first met Sigmund Freud in 1918 at the International Psychoanalytic Congress at the International Psychoanalytic Congress in Budapest (Hungary), and inspired her to write her first article on psychoanalysis called "The Development of a Child". This experience was a motivation for her to remain linked to this stream of psychology and she began to dedicate herself to psychological therapy. The Kleinian school is one of the most famous in the school of psychoanalysis.

10. Margaret Floy Washburn

Margaret Floy Washburn (1871 - 1939) was a pioneer in her time because she will always be remembered for being the first woman to receive a doctorate in psychology. the first woman to receive a doctorate in psychology.

D. in 1984 and her contributions to psychology were many. This psychologist spent many years of her life conducting research with animals. It should be noted that Washburn was only the second woman to preside over the American Psychological Association (APA) after Mary Whiton Calkins.