Your first encounter with the history of psychology must have started with names like Sigmund Freud, Wilhelm Wundt, John B. Watson, and B.F. Skinner, William James, Carl Rogers, Abraham Maslow, Erik Erikson, Albert Bandura, and the list can go on. They have indeed made an immense number of contributions to the field of psychology. However, one thing remains missing…The Women in Psychology.
With the social injustices, sexist treatment, and discrimination in society against women back then, it was not easy for them to seek higher education and attain a proper degree in the subject, let alone make it to the list of the major contributors. However, despite the hurdles, especially gender-based these female psychologists have made such huge contributions in history that it has helped us in today’s modern psychology.
Let’s again celebrate the history of Psychology and its critical contributors but this time the FEMALE ONES!
We have listed down the five female pioneers in the history of Psychology for you to start with:
1. Mary Whiton Calkins (1863-1930)
Born in: Hartford, Connecticut, United States
An American psychologist started her career as a Greek teacher at Wellesley College, Massachusetts. Later she gained a passion for psychology, attended lectures at Harvard by William James and Josiah Royce, and started her doctoral program at Harvard as “a guest” and not a student. Upon completion, she presented her thesis, An experimental research on the association of ideas, but was still denied a degree because of her gender.
Regardless of this, many still believed her to be the first woman to receive a doctorate in Psychology.
- First female president of the American Psychological Association (APA) in 1905.
- President of the American Philosophical Association in 1918.
- Developed Paired Association Technique to study Memory (the credits were acclaimed by another male pioneer of Psychology).
- A pioneer in Self Psychology.
2. Mary Ainsworth (1913-1999)
Born in: Glendale, Ohio, United States.
An American Canadian developmental psychologist. She worked with the psychologist John Bowlby and elaborated on his work on attachment. Her research work on attachment and its styles helped in a better understanding of the importance of early childhood experiences with caregivers in child development and thus influenced more research on early relationships and their effect on later life.
- Research on Attachment Theory, its nature, and attachment styles between children and their caregivers.
- Development of ‘Strange Situation Assessment’. The researcher observes the measure of maternal-child attachment by how the child responds when the mother leaves them alone in an unfamiliar situation.
3. Karen Horney (1885-1952)
Born in: Hamburg, Germany.
The most influential female neo-Freudian in the history of psychology.
A follower of the study of Psychoanalysis. Horney challenged Sigmund Freud’s views on women being overly sexualized. She countered the concept of ‘penis envy ‘in women by Sigmund Freud and presented ‘womb envy’ in males experiencing inferiority due to their inability to bear children. She rather focused on the importance of the childhood environment and its role in the development of neurosis. She is credited as a stepping stone for feminist psychology in times of discrimination and sexist treatment against women in education.
- Developed the theory of Neurosis. Neurosis means extreme anxiety caused due to overuse of coping mechanisms.
- Introduced the concept of ‘womb envy’.
- Contributor to feminist psychology.
4. Anna Freud (1895- 1982)
Born in: Vienna, Austria.
The Female Freud, being the daughter of the famous Sigmund Freud, Anna naturally stepped into the world of psychoanalysis. But very soon she also stepped out from her father’s shadow to make a name of her own. She made some major contributions to this field in terms of child psychoanalysis(which also led to the development of two opposing schools of thought on psychoanalytic, the other driven by equally strong-passionate Melanie Klein) and further extended the work in defense mechanisms and developed the concept of ego psychology.
- Elaborated on the concept of Defense Mechanisms. Her best-known work is The Ego and the Mechanisms of Defense. She stated repression as the principal defense mechanism and argued that the ego plays a crucial role in the resolution of conflict and tension.
- Expanded the field of child psychotherapy and influenced other thinkers like Eric Erikson.
5. Melanie Klein (1882-1960)
Born in: Vienna, Austria.
Melanie Klein was another influential woman psychoanalyst in the history of psychology. She had psychoanalyzed her children and was the first psychologist to consider children’s play a meaningful activity, she was also heavily criticized for child analysis. This however led to the emergence of ‘play therapy’, which today is still prevalent in psychotherapy. Klein’s concept of child analysis did not go with Anna Freud’s belief that a child cannot be psychoanalyzed, thus causing a rift.
She emphasized the importance of the mother-child relationship and its effect on the development of an individual overall personality is another major contribution to psychology.
- Contribution to the development of play therapy technique to uncover children’s unconscious thoughts.
- Development of object relations theory, a school of thought of psychoanalysis that emphasizes more on interpersonal relationships and less biological drives.
- Significant impact on Developmental Psychology, focusing on human growth throughout the lifespan.
Blog By : DEEBHA SITHTA
