Noteworthy Happenings in Psychology in 1945

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I am having difficulty finding three noteworthy happenings in Psychology in 1945. I came up with a bunch of not - so - noteworthy ones. Please Help!!

-- Melissa (melissafm@hotmail.com), March 27, 2001

Answers

One of my 1945 "top ten" is the symposium on operational definitions that appeared Psychological Review. It involved Boring, Bridgman, Feigl, Skinner, and some other famous folks as well.

-- Christopher Green (christo@yorku.ca), March 27, 2001.

Hi Melissa, you will want to check out the Central Washington University psychology department web page, look for faculty member Dr. Warren Street and look for his personal home page. Or look for his book in your library. He is Mr. on this day in psychology... If it happened in '45 and it happened in psychology, my bet is he has made note of it. Best, David

-- david clark (doclark@yorku.ca), March 27, 2001.

Melissa -- I was able to find 20 events that happened in 1945 on the APA Historical Database I maintain (Thanks, David, for mentioning this work). It's a fairly long list, so I'll email it to you as a separate document. For those of you tuning in, though, a few selected items follow. Best wishes, Warren -------- 16 Feb 1945 The APA Journal Committee recommended publishing the American Psychologist. The new journal was to take over publication of association activities, previously reported in Psychological Bulletin. SOURCE Psychological Bulletin 1945, JConsultPsy1946p367

6 May 1945 Abraham Maslow began his "good human being" notebook, recording the characteristics of exceptionally well-adjusted college students. His hierarchical theory of self-actualization developed from these observations. SOURCE Lowrey p51

2 Jun 1945 B. F. Skinner began writing his manuscript for The Sun is But a Morning Star. Before publication in 1948, the title of this work was changed to Walden Two. SOURCE Skinner Particulars

30 Aug 1945 The first certificate to practice psychology was granted by a U.S. state board of examiners in psychology. The Connecticut board granted the certificate to its chair, Walter R. Miles, on the occasion of the first meeting of the board. The Connecticut certification law, the nation's first, had been enacted on July 19, 1945. p295 SOURCE Turcotte letter (CT Dept Health Srv)

26 Dec 1945 Ludy T. Benjamin, Jr., was born. Benjamin's work has included influential research and writing on the history of psychology and the teaching of psychology. American Psychological Foundation Distinguished Teaching in Psychology Award, 1986. SOURCE 85 Mem Dir

29 May 1945 The Psychology Branch of the Aero Medical Research Laboratory was approved and Lieutenant Colonel Paul M. Fitts was assigned the duties of Chief. The Psychology Branch was the first human engineering laboratory in the Army Air Forces. The first studies were of instrument legibility, movement of controls, instrument reading under acceleration, and shape coding of controls. The latter studies eliminated accidental raising of the landing gear while on the ground. SOURCE Dempsey

-- Warren Street (warren@cwu.edu), April 11, 2001.


Here's one more 1945 event.... Warren

6 Sep 1945 The modern, reorganized APA was officially inaugurated. Within a few months, Dael Wolfle was installed as the first executive secretary. SOURCE Evans p171

-- Warren Street (warren@cwu.edu), April 11, 2001.


E. G. Boring edited in 1945 Psychology for the Armed Forces under the NRC.

This text was helpful in the decision to create 40 new departments opf psychology and to train 2000 psychologists starting in 1946. This created the profession!! APA had less thab 4000 members in 1943 and 2000 in training was a real boost. Veterans Admin became the main employer for 3 decades.

Is Boring text available somewhere?

-- Robert Leveille (robertleveille@videotron.ca), October 18, 2004.



www.abebooks.com currently lists two copies, one for $7.39 US (though it is Dehli, India) and another in Oakland CA (though it costs $101.56 US).

-- Christopher Green (cgreen@chass.utoronto.ca), October 20, 2004.

You might be interested by: J.H. Capsew (1999) Psychologits on the march: science, practice, and professional identity in America, 1929- 1969. Cambridge University Press. A book review by Kurt Danziger is available in the Annals of Science, 2000, vol.57, no 3, 322-323.

-- Rock Faulkner (rock.faulkner@umontreal.ca), October 22, 2004.

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