Significant Events in the History of Psychology

50 years ago... 1961

Alec Rodger is appointed Professor of Occupational Psychology at the University of London. Professor Rodger had been President of the British Psychological Society in 1957/58.

Influenced by Quine’s thoughts on logic, Peter Wason devises the ‘Wason Selection Task’ (Wason, 2001).

Having spent a year in New York, Michael Rutter returns to England impressed with the power of longitudinal and epidemiological methodologies. He later describes his experiences in America as ‘a turning point for me’ (Rutter, 2001).

On 20 October the British Psychological Society celebrates its Diamond Jubilee with a dinner held at Zoo Restaurant, Regents Park, London.

The British Psychological Society is asked to cooperate with the International Union of Scientific Psychology in the production of a revised edition of the International Directory of Psychologists.

The British Psychological Society’s legal advisers prepare the Petition for Royal Charter, the Draft Royal Charter and accompanying Statutes.

Membership of the British Psychological Society stands at 2801 (BPS Annual Report).

Rt Hon. Lord Walter Russell Brain of Eynsham is made an Honorary Fellow of the British Psychological Society.

75 years ago... 1936

The Practical Psychology Magazine is founded by the British Union of Practical Psychologists to develop an understanding of the expansive understanding of the self (Thomson, 2001).

Whilst working at the London Child Guidance Clinic, John Bowlby begins a series of studies into the familial experiences of juvenile thieves (Rose, 1989, p.162).

‘Next term I am going to send you a genius’, James Drever tells a startled Frederic Bartlett on a country walk. ‘From the beginning he was very much at home’, Bartlett recalled of Kenneth Craik, ‘with any amount of genuine modesty, but not a scrap of false humility. He knew, and within a very few minutes I knew, of the power that was within him.’ (Bartlett, 1946)

The Institute of Experimental Psychology is established at Oxford as a result of a benefaction from one of William Brown’s patients (Hearnshaw, 1964, p.208; Oldfield, 1950).

Membership of the British Psychological Society stands at 750 (BPS minutes).

100 years ago... 1911

Charles Spearman is appointed Grote Professor of the Philosophy of Mind and Logic at University College London (Hearnshaw, 1964, pp.196-201).

William Brown (1881-1952) publishes Essentials of Mental Measurement, in which he criticises Spearman’s two-factor theory of intelligence (Hearnshaw, 1964, p.176).

Rorschach develops the famous inkblot-style projective personality test. Though constructed in 1911, the test was not published until 1921.

Franz Boas publishes The Mind of Primitive Man, his most important book for psychologists.

The trial of U.S. v. 40 Barrels and 20 Kegs of Coca-Cola begins, in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The trial featured evidence from now-classic studies by psychologist Harry Hollingworth (who went on to be president of the APA in 1927) of the effects of caffeine on mental functions.

Professor Oswald Külpe is made an Honorary Member of the British Psychological Society.

References

Bartlett, F.C. (1946). Kenneth J.W. Craik, 1914-1945 [Obituary]. British Journal of Psychology, 36, 109-116.
Hearnshaw, L.S. (1964). A short history of British psychology 1840-1940. London: Methuen.
Oldfield,R.C. (1950). Psychology in Oxford, 1898-1949 Part I. Quarterly Bulletin of the British Psychological Society, 1(9),345-353.
Rose, N. (1989). Governing the soul:The shaping of the private self. London:Routledge.
Rutter, M. (2001).The emergence of developmental psychopathology. In G.C. Bunn, A.D. Lovie & G.D. Richards (Eds.) Psychology in Britain: Historical essays and personal reflections. Leicester: BPS Books in association with the Science Museum.
Thomson,M.(2001).The popular, the practical,and the professional: Psychological identities in Britain, 1900-1950. In G.C. Bunn, A.D. Lovie & G.D. Richards (Eds.) Psychology in Britain: Historical essays and personal reflections. Leicester: BPS Books in association with the Science Museum.
Wason, P. (2001).Creativity in research. In G.C. Bunn, A.D. Lovie & G.D. Richards (Eds.) Psychology in Britain: Historical essays and personal reflections. Leicester: BPS Books in association with the Science Museum.