Mary Whiton Calkins
Natalie Scrivens
Katrina Ramos

The field of psychology is one that seems to be dominated with the presence of men especially in the 18th and 19th century. The world was not focused on equal rights for women. Psychology did however have women who contributed greatly to the study and focus of theories

and ideas that we still use today. In this paper I will discuss the life of Mary Whiton Calkins, theoretical prospective, and contributions to the field of psychology. Mary Whiton Calkins was born in Hartford, Connecticut in 1863. She was the daughter of a Presbyterian minister and was the oldest of five children. Mary had a very close relationship with her family. She was especially close with her mother. Mary was very much the strong and independent type. She moved to Newton, Massachusetts at the age of 17. Her family built her a house and she would remain in that house throughout her life. Mary’s father was very adamant about her education. He knew that without him overseeing and designing and education plan that Mary would not get the education that she needed to be successful in a male dominated world. Her father made sure that she got the best education possible and he gave her education privately. Mary’s father’s dedication and supervision of her education would reap great benefits for her. All of his instruction allowed her to enter Smith College in 1882 with an advanced standing as a sophomore. Mary would however face a crushing loss. She lost her sister in 1883. The lost of her sister changed her thinking and her character. She took off of school for one academic year. She reentered Smith College in 1884 as a senior and graduated with a concentration in classics and philosophy. In 1886 her family went to Europe for 16 months where she focused more on classics. Mary and her family returned to Massachusetts. When Mary returned to Massachusetts her father set her up an interview at the President of Wellesley College a liberal arts college for women. Mary was offered a position as a tutor in Greek and she began her position in 1887. Mary remained in the universities Greek department for three years. Mary was recognized for her ability to teach and was offered to teach psychology. Psychology was still in its beginning stages and was a sub discipline of philosophy. The only requirement of the position was that she studies in psychology for one year. She faced many challenges because very were only a few schools for psychology. The other challenge was the few schools offering courses for psychology were not admitting women. She started inquiring about what schools to study at. She finally decided to study at a school that was close to home and had a psychological lab. Harvard was one of the few schools who have a lab. She received a letter from two professors to sit in on their lectures. When she requested to sit in on the lectures the university President Eliot refused Calkins admittance. Her father requested that his daughter be admitted to the lectures. Mary also received a letter of referral from the President of Wellesley College so that she could gain admittance to the lecture. Harvard approved the petition. She was permitted to attend the seminars of James and Royce. The university’s records stated that by accepting this privilege Miss Calkins would not become a student of the university entitled to registration. She began classes that fall at Harvard. She also began studying experimental psychology with Dr Edmond Sanford of Clark University. In the fall of 1891 she returned to Wellesley College as an instructor of psychology. She established a psychology lab the same year. She sought to further her education so she filed for permission to attend Professor Munsterberg’s lab. The university’s President said that she would be admitted to the lab as a guest but not as a registered student of the university. She started writing and conducting several experiments within the field of psychology. She invented the paired associate technique. This was a suggested classification of cases of associations. She research she originated a technical method for studying memory, later referred to as the method of paired associates. She continued to conduct research under Professor Munsterberg until October 1894. Professor Munsterberg wrote to Harvard requesting that Calkins be admitted an s a candidate for the PHD Harvard considered and refused. In 1895 she returned to Wellesley College where she was made an associate professor of psychology and philosophy and was promoted to professor in 1898. She wrote several hundred papers between the two disciplines and wrote four books. In 1900 she developed self psychology. Calkins was the first to discover the psychology of selves. She called it reconciliation between structured and functional psychology. Her first basic definition of psychology is as follows: She felt all sciences dealt with facts and that there were two classes of facts. Fact-selves and facts- for- the selves. Facts- for the –selves is capable of important division into internal and external facts. Facts-selves include percepts, images, memories, thoughts, emotions, and volitions, inner events as we may call them. Facts-for-the-selves include the things and the events of the outside world, the physical facts. Physical sciences study independent or external facts. Psychology is the science of consciousness, the study of selves and the inner facts for selves. She felt that her psychology related directly and indirectly within the current models of psychology. She felt self psychology could explain all the facts discovered by Sigmund Freud. She wrote self psychology was finally at the core of every one of the psychoanalytic systems. Not only does the conscious ego play a role, if only a minor role on the psychoanalytic stage, but even unconscious closely studied turns out to resemble nothing so much as a dissociated self. (1972) Her own work in the field dealt primary with topics as space and time, consciousness, emotion, association, color theory and dreams. Her theory held in contrast to behaviorist views then in the ascendant, that the conscious self is the central fact of psychology. In 1905 she was elected president of the APA and the president of the American Philosophical association in the United States. She ranked 12th on the apas list. She received a doctor of letters degree in 1909 and doctor of law degree in1910 from Smith College. In 1929 she retired from teaching after a career of forty-two years. She retired from Wellesley College with the title Research professor. She devoted her retirement to writing and enjoying the companionship of her mother, but in less than a year’s time she passed from cancer. She was a very hard working and persistent woman. She believed that women should have the same rights and abilities as men. She fought for equal rights for women in education, voting, and general treatment. She never gave up and continued to push forward despite the injustice, rejection, and disrespect that she faced. Some of Calkins theories were stolen and others took credit for her work. The vast majority of her ideas and work have been swept under the rug and are not acknowledged. Some of her ideas and theories are no longer used due to them being dated. Mary Whiton Calkins was one of the first women to reach success in the field of psychology. She was recognized for her talent, ambition, and ability to succeed against all odds. She worked tiredly to achieve equal rights for women her efforts helped her achieve great success in the field of psychology. She was one of the first women to attend Harvard for instruction in psychology even though she was denied a degree due to her being a woman. She developed self psychology and the paired associate task. She was a teacher, activist, psychologist, lawyer, and a physiologist. She earned the respect of her male counterparts due to her dedication and adamant ability to learn and pursue knowledge. Her strong family support helped her to push herself and to overcome obstacles. Mary was a thinker and she was always thinking and viewing things. She wrote many different papers and books that supported and helped her peers learn and understand psychology and the self as a whole. She was one of the first women appointments to the APA and was ranked in the top fifth teen in the United States. Mary’s ability to be a free thinker is a great inspiration and had a big impact on psychology as a whole.
References
Retrieved April 1,2014 http://www2.webster.edu/~woolflm/marycalkins.html Retrieved April 2, 2014
http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Calkins/murchison.htm