Margaret Floy Washburn - Research Paper Example

Margaret Floy Washburn Abstract The essay aims to address a two-fold objective to wit: (1) to choose and research a minority psychologist; and (2) to summarize the life of the psychologist and vast contributions in psychology. Individual perceptions and psychology textbooks entail a lot about white male researchers and psychologists. Most of the well-known psychologists are male and of European descent but far from these are vast minorities who have made an outstanding contribution to the field of Psychology, especially women; one of these is Margaret Floy Washburn. Margaret Floy Washburn was born on July 25, 1871 in Harlem, New York City. Washburn was raised by her parents, Reverend Francis and Elizabeth Floy Washburn. The first eight years of Washburn’s life was spent in Harlem and her intellectual life began when she celebrated her fifth birthday. Washburn was not sent to school until she was seven. During that time, it was hard to find better teaching that the first school Washburn attended was under Misses Smuller wherein, Washburn was taught of arithmetic, foundation of French and German, and music (Green, 2000, n.p.). Then, Washburn entered a public school in Kingston when she was eleven and entered high school at twelve. Washburn was fond of reading and spent three years of earning Regents’ credits in Ulster Academy. At age 15, Margaret Floy Washburn graduated from high school in 1896 and went to Vassar College where she discovered experimental psychology and philosophy and majored in chemistry and French (Hull, 2005, 2521). Margaret Floy Washburn graduated in 1891 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Vassar College. During the time, the Columbia University just opened a psychology laboratory and currently developing a new field in experimental psychology. Even though James McKeen Cattell wanted to admit Washburn in graduate courses in Psychology, Washburn still needed to petition to Columbia’s board of trustees wherein the latter delayed the process for four months and only gave Washburn a special dispensation allowing Washburn to attend Cattell’s class as a hearer (Hull, 2005, 2521). Cattell was impressed with Washburn when she was asked about what she think could be happening in a psychology laboratory and answered that she’s expecting hypnotism, telepathy, and spiritism but she’d rather preferred reaction-time, complication experiments, and work on the limens and Weber's Law to gain knowledge (Green, 2000, n.p.). Then on, Cattell treated Washburn as equal of men and of other regular student. Cattell even convinced Washburn to apply for a scholarship to Cornell University’s Sage School of Philosophy for Cattell believed that as a woman, Washburn could earn a degree in Psychology. Washburn got a scholarship and went to Cornell University in 1892 under Edward Titchener. Washburn was the only major graduate student of Titchener and chose philosophy and ethics as minor subjects. Ethics was taught by Jacob G. Schurman and the course in German philosopher R.H. Lotze by visiting lecturer F.C.S. Schiller (Hull, 2005, 2521). Washburn’s work in absentia, which was accepted in June at Vassar, gave Washburn her Masters of Arts degree in 1893. Washburn was asked to take the Chair of Psychology at the Woman's College of Western Reserve University but she refused to accept it to finish her Doctors degree in Cornell University. Washburn thought of a topic for her doctor’s thesis entitled “The Influence of Visual Imagery on Judgments of Tactual Distance and Direction” (Green, 2000, n.p.). June 1984 had marked the history as Washburn got her PhD and became the first woman to achieve a doctorate in psychology in U.S. (Hull, 2005, 2521). Washburn considered teaching and became a professor of psychology, philosophy, and ethics at Wells College in New York from 1894-1900. In addition, Washburn also taught at Sage College of Cornell and at the University of Cincinnati. President Taylor called Washburn to be the Associate Professor of Philosophy at Vassar. Washburn worked with H. Heath Bawden in 1903 but became the head of psychology department and a full professor in 1908 due to separation of the psychology and the philosophy department of Vassar. Eager to share her expertise in psychology and research methods, Washburn conducted and produced extensive research with her students. Successful researches appeared in the American Journal of Psychology as "Studies from the Psychological Laboratory of Vassar College" where Washburn was listed as a joint-author of her students’ researches (Green, 2000, n.p.). Because of the manner by which Washburn taught her students, she was quickly known for superior teaching skills. In general, Washburn published two major books and over 200 articles within psychology and philosophy. In fact, Washburn served on the editorial boards of major psychological journals and various committees. Recognition was given to Washburn for her outstanding contributions and passion for psychology as she was elected President of the American Psychological Association in 1921, the second woman to receive the honor aside from Mary Whiton Calkins (Hull, 2005, 2521). Among other achievements noted are the following: Vice President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (1927); membership to the Society of Experimental Psychology (1929); President of the New York Branch of the American Psychological Association (1931); elected as the second woman scientist to the National Academy of Sciences (1931); and US delegate to the International Congress of Psychology (Hull, 2005, 2521). Most of Washburn’s achievements and fond of reading reflect her devotion for psychology. Since her senior course in psychology was based on James Clark Murray’s Handbook, the book impressed her on the failures of associationism. Washburn became attached to Wilhelm Wundt absolute idealism limitations and William James Principles of Psychology (1890) which advanced dualistic parallelism and voluntaristic empirism (Hull, 2005, 2521). Of all the experimental theory, the structural psychology of Titchener was the most developed and available experimental theory at that time; however, Washburn chose to reveal the underlying “atoms” of sensation and refused extreme alliance on introspection. Margaret Floy Washburn was the one to propose that motor activity is essential to intellectual processes, a conclusion similar to John Dewey and James Angell, functional and pragmatic psychologists at Chicago University. However, Washburn’s rejection of the efficacy of mental ideas and pragmatic theory of truth could not joined Washburn’s in pragmatists or even in James group. Meanwhile, the dualist and epiphenomenalist position of Washburn is closer to Hugo Münsterberg, a Harvard psychologist who stated that neither materialism nor idealism could explain psycho-physiological phenomena (Hull, 2005, 2521). The motor theory of consciousness by Washburn was fully developed in Movement and Mental Imagery (1916). The theory rejected the idea of association through simple, consecutive, or complex ideas made purely out of intellectual processes. Washburn argued that ideas become related if attentive focus is relevant to ongoing motor activities, to the point that activities are no longer habitual (Hull, 2005, 2522). With Washburn’s work, speculative philosophy and scientific psychology are markedly separated as the principle provides the foundation for mental phenomena of flow or temporal blockage of voluntary physical behavior. Free will, teleology, and spiritualism were attacked by Washburn’s experimental methodology. Despite presenting strong arguments, Washburn’s scientism has also limitations. Washburn’s principle has no sense of friendliness towards consciousness because John B. Watson’s theory of behaviorism contradicted Washburn’s conclusion. Washburn defended the idea of introspection and objected that no one can deny the existence of mental processes as psychology interprets mental processes with activity through perception of subjects. Washburn also advanced comparative psychology by conducting extensive research in animal psychology. Consequently, Washburn’s text “The Animal Mind” (1908) showed how animal mental processes are analogous to human mental processes (Hull, 2005, 2522). In 1937, Margaret Floy Washburn retired from Vassar and died in Poughkeepsie, New York on October 29, 1939. In general, gender discrimination and racial inequality imposed by the society limit the potential of most of the researchers, psychologists, and scientists, particularly women and those who belong to the oppressed races. Acceptance and reduction of stereotyping among members of the society will resolve problems of humanity and contribute to the betterment of the community. Ideas are shared and discuss if men and women work together and if members of different races unite with one another. People should let qualities of humanity such as determination, good morals and values, strong will, and integrity rule over. Inequality is a greater challenge and no one can choose gender nor do the race people believe to be superior. The openness of society would help to inequality in gender and in race. The struggles faced by Margaret Floy Washburn clearly demonstrate discrimination among women aspiring to become psychologists. If societies are more open for capabilities and voices of women, it would not be hard for women like Washburn to become a psychologist. In addition, openness will also unite contrasting theories to contribute to human development. References Green, C.D. (2000). Autobiography of Margaret Floy Washburn. Retrieved October 31, 2011 from http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Washburn/murchison.htm Hull, R.T. (2005). Biographical Entries A-Z. The Dictionary of Modern American Philosophers (Vol. 1) (p. 1-2680). Bristol: Continuum International Publishing Group. Read More