The contribution by women to the field of psychology has been extensive.

Prominent psychologists

Mary Ainsworth (1913-1999)

Following her interest in psychology, Mary Ainsworth attended the University of Toronto. She was a part of the honors psychology program and earned her B.A. in 1935, her M.A. in 1936 and her Ph.D. in 1939 from the University of Toronto.^[1] Ainsworth is perhaps best known for her Strange Situation assessments and her research into infant attachment theory. The Strange Situation Test measures the level of attachment between the infant and their caregiver. The results of her Strange Situation Test categorized children into three specific types of attachment; Secure, Anxious-Ambivalent Insecure, and Anxious-Avoidant.^[2] Ainsworth received numerous awards and was a part of many organizations including the American Psychological Association and the Association for Child Psychology and Psychiatry.

Magda Arnold (1903-2002)

Despite enduring a childhood raised in poverty, Magda Arnold knew by the age of sixteen that she wanted to follow a career in psychology. She married and followed her husband to Canada in the late 1920’s.^[3] After moving to Canada, Arnold enrolled at the University of Toronto in 1935. She earned her Bachelor degree in 1939, followed with her Masters and finally completed her Ph.D. in 1942. Arnold held great interest in psychoanalytic psychology and developed a new method, which she referred to as “Story Sequence Analysis”, for scoring the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT). This new method became the basis for the book Story Sequence Analysis: A New Method of Measuring Motivation and Predicting Achievement, published in 1962.^[4] Arnold developed this “Story Sequence Analysis” where narratives about the pictures were coded and then used to understand the individual’s thought development from story to story. This would in turn reveal motivations, values and attitudes.^[5] Arnold was also an accomplished scientist and leader in North American emotion research and wrote the two-volume book Emotion and Personality.^[6]

Sandra Bem (1944-2014)

Sandra Bem held a strong belief of gender equality even at an early age. She pursued her education at the Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh where she met her husband, a professor at the college. Bem graduated with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in 1965.^[7] She then continued her studies at the University of Michigan and earned her Ph.D. in 1968 in Developmental Psychology.^[8] She developed the Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI) a test to measure how individuals identify themselves psychologically, based on masculine and feminine gender roles; and also introduced the Gender Schema Theory to explain how society and culture influence our ideas about gender. Bem also earned recognition as an author and wrote the award winning book The Lenses of Gender: Transforming the Debate on Sexual Inequality in 1993.^[9] Bem is well known for her influence on sex roles, gender and sexuality resulting in numerous awards and honors. Bem’s work has paved the way for many women resulting in advancements for gender equality in the workforce.

Helene Deutsch (1884-1982)

Personally trained in psychoanalysis by Sigmund Freud, Helene Deutsch received recognition as the first woman analyst to be analyzed by Freud. Earning her Ph.D. from the University of Vienna in 1912 she began her career working in the Vienna University's Psychiatric Clinic. She gained notoriety when she was given charge of the Vienna Psychoanalytic Training Institute and became the first woman to head a psychoanalysis clinic.^[10] She soon became interested in women’s sexuality and was the first psychoanalyst to write a book about feminine psychology, the Psychoanalysis of the Sexual Functions of Women.^[11] After moving to the United States to become an Associate Psychiatrist at the Massachusetts General Hospital she wrote the two volume book The Psychology of Women published in 1944 and 1945. Deutsch is also well known for her clinical concept of the “as-if” personality and her work regarding borderline personality disorders.^[12]

Anna Freud (1895-1982)

The youngest daughter of Sigmund Freud, [Anna Freud]] was born in 1895 in Vienna, Austria. Her journey into psychoanalysis began with her father’s analysis of her. Anna Freud originally began her career as a teacher, but was drawn to psychoanalysis and in 1918 began analyzing patients and attending psychoanalytic meetings.^[13] Freud is most famous for her work with child analysis and although never earned any advanced academic degrees has been bestowed many awards and honorary degrees in England, Europe and the United States.^[14] Freud believed that children and adults must receive different psychological treatments and that children who experience abandonment or early disruptions in attachment can suffer psychological consequences later in life. She did not suggest that every disturbed child should be the subject of psychoanalysis and explained that many children experience developmental upsets that will pass. Her therapy style was one of patience, support and protection for the child.^[15] Freud has many publications including “Normality and Pathology in Childhood” and “The Ego and the Mechanisms of Defense”^[16]

Eleanor J. Gibson (1910-2002)

Earning both her bachelor’s and master’s degree from Smith College, Eleanor J. Gibson continued to follow her passion for psychology earning her Ph.D. from Yale in 1938.^[17] Working as her husband’s research assistant for many years at Cornell University; Gibson began her studies with animals and eventually moved to working with children.^[18] Throughout her research, she is maybe most well known for her work involving experimentation of the visual cliff, a measure of the ability for infants to realize depth perception. This was an important advancement towards the understanding of infant development. Gibson is also very well recognized for her work regarding her differential theory.^[19] Gibson received many notable awards for her work, including the National Medal of Science in 1992 and was only the fifth psychologist at the time to receive this honor.^[20]

Leta Hollingworth (1886-1939)

Leta Hollingworth attended the University of Nebraska for her undergraduate studies where she met her husband. She graduated from the University in 1906 with her B.A. in addition to her Nebraska State Teacher’s Certificate.^[21] She went on to earn her Master’s degree and her Ph.D. from Columbia University under the guidance of Edward Thorndike. Hollingworth’s early work included the studies of the psychology of women. She was the first psychologist to study the topic of female inferiority and her studies provided significant insight in rejecting the validity of functional periodicity.^[22] Functional Periodicity is described as the belief that women suffered from physical and mental impairments during their menstrual cycle. Hollingworth went on to pioneer into the study of gifted children and how to appropriately educate them.^[23] Her studies with exceptional children included the role of inheritance, nurturing giftedness in the child as well as educational and environmental factors affecting the child’s development.^[24]

Karen Horney (1885-1952)

A pioneer for women in psychology, Karen Horney's contributions to the research in feminine psychology paved the way for many to continue upon. She believed that men and women were different only in the cultural restrictions placed upon women, and countered Freud’s “penis envy” in women with what she described as “womb envy” in men.^[25] She received her M.D. from the University of Berlin in 1913, and was one of the first German women to enter the University. After the loss of her parents Horney sought out clinical assistance which led her to psychoanalysis by Karl Abraham, and in time, her analyst became her mentor. Following a newly discovered interest, she soon began analyzing patients of her own in private practice.^[26] After moving to the United States, Horney co-founded the Association for the Advancement of Psychoanalysis as well as co-founded and co-edited the American Journal of Psychoanalysis.^[27] Horney was also known for her study of neurotic personality and believed that individuals with an anxiety filled childhood would eventually develop a personality of neurosis.^[28]

Melanie Klein (1882-1960)

A prominent psychoanalyst, Melanie Klein developed the “play technique” in child psychoanalysis that is still widely used today in play therapy. Klein believed that you could interpret children’s play as symbolic of unconscious material. She theorized that these findings could be studied in the same way that dream analysis and free associations are interpreted in adults.^[29] Although never receiving a formal degree, Klein was able to become instrumental in the science of child psychoanalysis. Among her accomplishments was her book The Psychoanalysis of Children.^[30]

Maria Montessori (1870-1952)

Maria Montessori has become a prominent name in both education and developmental psychology. She is perhaps best known for her infamous “Montessori Method”, which is the practice of stimulating learning in children through play and environment. Montessori earned her first degree in engineering, which she followed up with becoming the first Italian woman to receive a medical degree. She had a successful private medical practice before she decided to continue her education into philosophy and psychology.^[31] In 1907 Montessori opened her own school Casa dei Bambini (Children's House) for children who were mentally disadvantaged and with this school she was able to put her educational theories into practice. Montessori introduced a style of education that included manipulative learning materials, teaching toys, and development of the open classroom. She believed that teachers were best educating students when they stood back and followed the child’s lead in learning.^[32] Montessori provided a basis of education and learning that has been widely expanded upon and is still currently used today.

Inez Prosser (1895-1934)

Inez Prosser was a highly intelligent woman who graduated as valedictorian of her High School, the Yoakum Colored School in 1910.^[33] After graduation she attended Prairie View State Normal and Industrial College where she earned her Teaching Certificate and began teaching at different segregated schools around the Austin Texas area. Deciding to expand upon her education, Prosser earned her bachelor’s degree in 1926 from Samuel Huston College and then her master’s degree from the University of Colorado.^[34] In 1933 Prosser graduated from the University of Cincinnati and became the first African-American woman to earn her Ph.D. in Psychology. Prosser was well known for her studies involving the possible differences in the personality and self-esteem of African-American youth attending segregated versus integrated schools.^[35] Prosser was tragically killed in a car accident in 1934 at the age of 38, drastically cutting short her promising future.

Mary Whiton Calkins (1863-1930)

Mary Whiton Calkins was a prominent psychologist and philosopher. She was elected into the American Psychological Association (APA) in 1893 and went on to become the first woman president of the APA in 1905.^[36] Looking to further her education in experimental psychology, Calkins petitioned Harvard for the ability to attend the university and officially enroll with student status. She was granted permission to study, however because she was a woman, was not allowed to enroll as a student. Calkins proved to be quite impressive in her studies earning praise and recognition from her professors, Hugo Münsterberg, Josiah Royce and William James. Her research initially was focused on association of ideas and she developed the "paired-associates technique" of studying memory while under the instruction of Münsterberg. The majority of her career involved her concentration on self-psychology and the belief that the conscious self should be the foundation of psychological study. She attributed her conception of the self as social to the influence of both Royce and James.^[37] Despite petitions from her professors, she was not able to receive her Ph.D. because at the time, Harvard refused to grant a degree to a woman.^[38]

References