Ethel Puffer Howes
Sara Hardin
Joe Tomlins
Ben Schwartz
AKA: The Naughty Nuns
Childhood and Family Life
• Born October 10, 1872
• Eldest of four sisters
• Father, George
▫ Respected railroad station
agent
• Mother, Ella
▫ Received college education,
as did younger sister
▫ Taught high school until
marriage
• Family history of higher
education for women
Age 3
(Scarborough & Furumoto, 1987)
Education
• 1891 – graduated from Smith College at age 18
• Taught mathematics at Smith for 3 years
▫ Became interested in study of Psychology
• Fall 1895 – moved to Germany to study psychology at University of
Berlin
▫ Faced many struggles as female student
▫ Interview with Hugo Münsterberg
University of Berlin
(Scarborough & Furumoto, 1987)
Education
• 1896 – Attended University of
Freiburg
▫ Studied under Münsterberg
 Supervised her research
 Allowed use of his private
laboratory at his home
 Encouraged Puffer to earn
doctorate
• 1897 – Followed Münsterberg
to Harvard
▫ Denied Ph.D., appealed to
Radcliffe College
▫ Result: 4 women granted
Ph.D.s, Puffer one of 2 who
accepted
Hugo Münsterberg
(Scarborough & Furumoto, 1987)
Aesthetics
• Beauty - pleasure in
the senses;
discriminatory
• Aesthetics - all that
can be aesthetically
contemplated;
inclusive of the ugly
(Howes, 1914)
The Psychology of Beauty - 1905
• General principles of
Beauty:
▫ Excellence
▫ Standard
▫ Value
• Religious, domestic, and
commercial influences
• Synthesis of theory and
objective tests via:
▫ Music
▫ Literature
▫ Pictures
(Puffer, 1905)
Defining Beauty: Methodology
• Methodology (physiological responses &
introspection):
▫ Select a salient characteristic of the mental state during
exposure to beauty (e.g. art)
▫ Use introspection to analyze the transformation of the
physiological response of beauty translates into the mental
state
▫ Relation of senses to the colors, lines, compositions, and
other elements
• Zeitgeist - Structuralism & Elementism
(Puffer, 1905)
Conclusions
• Nature of beauty:
▫ Auditory, motor, visual, and other physiological
responses.
• Beauty is not perfection:
▫ Perfect moments (i.e. positive affect).
• Union of stimulation (senses) and repose
(emotion):
▫ Aesthetic experience
(Howes, 1914; Puffer, 1905)
Howes’ Research: Strengths and
Weaknesses
• Methodological Weaknesses:
▫ Large population
▫ Definition of an aesthetic feeling
▫ Subjective and implicit value judgments
▫ Exposure to many types of beauty
• Strengths:
▫ Attempt at using empirical methods of psychology to
define concept of beauty
 Historically, beauty part of abstract philosophical
theory
• Beauty provides a sense of unity and totality - selfcompleteness - creating an aesthetic experience (a
reflection of the infinite)
(Howes, 1905)
The Role of the Zeitgeist: Career vs.
Family
“Suppose every man had to cheese between marrying the woman of his
choice and instantly becoming a janitor for life, or remaining a bachelor
and following the work he loved best” – Charlotte Perkins Gilman, 1906
• Zeitgeist of Early 20th Century:
▫ Gender roles:
1. Woman as mother, domestic, “socialite”
2. Man as provider, works outside home
▫ Married women not considered for academic
positions
(Scarborough & Furumoto, 1987)
Career vs. Family
• 1908 – Married Benjamin Howes
• Extreme difficulty managing
academic career and a home
▫ 1910 Letter to Mother
• Gave birth to daughter (1915) and
son (1917)
• Early 1920s – Women had the
vote, WWI over, children reached
school age
▫ Published works reflect
experience of “the intolerable
choice”
(Scarborough, 1991)
Accepting the Universe - 1922
• Women’s role in the
universe - childbirth
the only contribution?
• Psychological
Disability inconsecutiveness of
the mind
• Mental conflicts Attention for child vs.
work
(Howes, 1922)
Continuity for Women - 1922
• Women cannot balance marriage and a career
simultaneously
• Rejected idea that women make full use of
abilities as a domestic
• Discontinuity: educated woman who marries
abandons career
• Solution: structure flexible work schedule
around role as wife and mother
(Howes, 1922b)
Later Theory
• Previous solutions aimed at resolving “the
intolerable choice” involved centering career
around role as wife and mother
▫ Mutually exclusive, sacrifice within career
• The meaning of progress in the woman
movement (1929)
▫ Solution: create new definition of marriage and
motherhood
(Howes, 1929)
References
• Howes, E. (1922). Accepting the universe. Atlantic Monthly 129,
444-53.
• Howes, E. (1914). Æsthetics. Psychological Bulletin, 11(7), 256-262.
doi:10.1037/h0075342
• Howes, E. Puffer (1922b). Continuity for women. Atlantic
Monthly, 130, 731-39.
• Howes, E. Puffer (1929). The meaning of progress in the women
movement. Annals of the American Academy of Political and
Social Science 143, 14-20.
• Puffer, E. D. (1905). The psychology of beauty. Boston, MA US:
Houghton Mifflin and Company. doi:10.1037/10836000
• Scarborough, E., & Furumoto, L. 1987. Untold Lives: The First
Generation of American Women Psychologists. New York:
Columbia University Press
• Scarborough, E. 1991. Continuity for women: Ethel Puffer's
struggle. In G. A. Kimble, M. Wertheimer & C. White Eds.,
Portraits of Pioneers in Psychology pp. 105-120. Washington,
D.C.: American Psychological Association.