Mary Whiton Calkins
(1863-1930)
Overview
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Brief timeline/biography of Mary Whiton Calkins
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Historical antecedents that influenced the individual
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Zeitgeist in which individual was developing her ideas
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Specific professional obstacles/struggles of the individual
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Experiments/research/clinical data supporting her ideas/theories
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Strengths and weaknesses of her ideas/theories
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Influence of individual on the event and ideas of her time and on later
events in psychology
Timeline/Biography of Mary Whiton
Calkins
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Born March 30, 1863
Attended Smith College and earned degrees in both the
classics and philosophy
Held a teaching position at Wellesley in Greek and
philosophy
Showed talent in psychology and was appointed to head the
experimental lab…
Died at home on February 27, 1930
Historical Antecedents
Family
Eldest of 5 children
Very Devoted to her family, close knit
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Maude
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Sister that died in 1883 after her first year at Smith College
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Diagnosed with inflammatory rheumatism
It was an “experience which permanently influenced her
thinking and character”
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Her first encounter with deep grief
The following academic year Mary stayed home & took
private lessons
She re-entered Smith College in the Fall of 1884 as a senior
and graduated with a concentration in classics and
philosophy
Historical Antecedents
Family
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Wolcott Calkins
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Presbyterian minister
Designed & supervised Mary’s education
Arranged an interview with President of Wellesley
College
 She was offered a position there as a tutor in
Greek & she began teaching in the Fall of
1887
 Mary stayed in the Greek Department for 3
years
Historical Antecedents
Trip to Europe
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Stayed for 16 weeks
Briefly attended the University of Leipzig
Broadened Mary’s knowledge of the classics
Became acquainted with an instructor from
Vassar College: Abby Leach
 Leach was planning a trip to Greece &
invited Calkins
 Studied modern Greece and the classics
Historical Antecedents
Wellesley College
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A professor in the Department of Philosophy noticed her talent
for teaching
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Philosophy department was planning to introduce work in
psychology as part of new curriculum and would need someone to
teach courses in this new area
Calkins was excited about new opportunity, but the position was
open to her if she first prepared herself by studying psychology for 1
year
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Problems meeting this condition
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Admittance was not offered to her because of her gender
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Go abroad?
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Study with G. T. Ladd at Yale, William James at Harvard, & G.
S. Hall at Clark University?
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It was Harvard that Calkins went to take seminars with William
James & Josiah Royce (October 1, 1890 Harvard considered
and approved petition)
Historical Antecedents
William James & Harvard University
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Attended seminars conducted by James at Harvard
University
Helped Calkins face barriers of prejudice and
discrimination
Harvard University refused to grant her a graduate
degree, even though she had done the work
Calkins examination was described as the “most brilliant
examination for the Ph.D. that we have had at Harvard” –
William James
Calkins influenced by William James’s chapter on the
stream of consciousness in Principles of Psychology
Historical Antecedents
Other
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Experimental Psychology lab (1890)
 While attending seminars at Harvard, Calkins also studied in
an experimental psychology lab with Edmund Sanford at Clark
University
 Influenced by the experimental procedure
 “Richness & Precision”
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Fall of 1891, returned to Wellesley College as an instructor
in Psychology/ the Department of Philosophy and introduced
a new course into the curriculum
 “Psychology approached from the philosophical standpoint”
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1891: Established a lab for experimental psychology at
Wellesley College
Zeitgeist
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Discrimination against women
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Disagreed outright with belief that there were
inherent sex differences in mental abilities
Variability Hypothesis
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Darwinian idea of male variability
Notion that men show a wider range a variation of
physical and mental development that women
The abilities of women are seen as more average
Zeitgeist
Mary Calkins presented her system of self-psychology
and contrasted it to the rival systems of the day
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Structuralism, functionalism, behaviorism, hormic
psychology, Gestalt psychology, and psychoanalysis
Wundt & Titchener
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In 1900, Calkins presented her self-psychology
Departure from Wundt and Titchener system that was
dominant in American Psychology
Structuralism
 Study of the contents of consciousness
 Introspection as the main source of data
Zeitgeist
Functionalism
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James; System of psychology concerned with mind as it is used
in an organism’s adaptation to its environment
Behaviorism (1913)
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Watson; Focused solely on observable acts that could be
described in objective terms
Hormic Psychology
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McDougall; emphasis on the emotional and purposive (goaloriented) side of human nature
Gestalt Psychology
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Opposition to elementalism; holistic
Psychoanalytic Movement
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Freud; Emphasis on instinctive and emotional side of human
nature; the unconscious mind
Calkins’ Struggles and Obstacles
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Educational Struggles
Struggles at Harvard
Struggles for her Ph.D.
Other Struggles
Professional Obstacles
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Calkins had the opportunity to teach a philosophy class at
Wellesley College, but had to study psychology for one year
There were few Psychology departments for Calkins to study
in. Also few departments accepted females as students
Could have studied at Yale or Michigan
Both schools were too far away from Calkins home
Neither included a laboratory, which was important for
Calkins to study physiological psychology
Struggles at Harvard
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Calkins was not allowed to study at Harvard
President Eliot said, “her presence would receive an angry reaction
for the governing body at Harvard”
Her father and the President of Wellesley college petitioned to let
Calkins study at Harvard
On October 1, 1890 Calkins was allowed to “sit-in” on the lectures
at Harvard. William James and Josiah Royce also supported her
Calkins wanted to further her education by working with
Munsterberg who was coming to Harvard to do research
Once again she was refused the opportunity to study at Harvard
with Munsterberg
She was later allowed to sit in but not as a student only as a guest
Struggles for her Ph.D.
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Calkins finished all of her work for her Ph.D., but she was refused her
Ph.D. because she was a woman and also she was not a student
Munsterberg wrote a letter to the president and fellows of Harvard that
Calkins should be a candidate for her Ph.D. His request was considered
and refused
A group 13 psychologist who were Harvard graduates and professors of
prestigious institutions sent in a petition to the president of Harvard
requesting that Calkins should get her Ph.D.
Harvard said “No adequate reason for granting Calkins the degree”
Calkins was offered her Ph.D. from Radcliffe college the Harvard for
women. She refused the offer because she earned her degree at Harvard
Calkins thought that “Harvard was making a distinction between the sexes
by withholding the Harvard Ph.D. from female students who did the work,
took the same exams at Harvard like their counterparts”
Other Struggles
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Calkins opposed the Variability hypothesis
and the differentiation between men and
women’s right to vote because these issues
held her back from reaching her goals
Calkins came up with the technical method
for studying memory called paired
associates; however, Titchner took full
credit for it
Experiments/Research/Clinical Data Supporting
her theory’s and ideas
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Dream Research:
- studied the contents of individual dreams by having them record,
in detail, their dreams over a seven week period
- discovered that there was a “close connection between the
dream-life and waking life, and that the dream will reproduce in
general, the persons, places, and events of recent sense
perception.”
-rejected Freud’s theory of dreams; dreams did not represent one’s
unconsciousness.
Experiments/Research/Clinical Data
Supporting her Theory’s and Ideas Cont.
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Paired-Associate Tasks (Memorization Method)
- wanted to look at how frequency, dominance, regency,
and vividness influenced memory
- research method involved showing individuals a series of colors paired
with numbers
- tested how many numbers the individual could recall that had been paired
with colors
- discovered that individuals were more likely to remember any number that
was joined with any given color vs. numbers that were vividly colored or a
number that was last paired with a color.
Experiments/Research/Clinical Data
Supporting her Theory’s and Ideas Cont.
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Self-Psychology
- Believed that the self is the central factor in psychology
- Three important elements of the self: the self, the object, and the
self’s relationship/attitude toward the object
Self-Theory
Self includes:
The self that his changed
The self that remains the same
The self that is unique
The self that is a unity of perceptions, memories, thoughts and
feelings
The self that is related to the larger social and physical
community in which it lives
Calkins said the soul is a conscious being. It is the self.
This is different than the Structuralist view, which asserted that it
was the organism that was experiencing sensations, not a
indefinable being.
Strengths of Self-Theory
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The theory allowed for “individual
differences” in studying mental processes
Calkins did not deny the validity of atomistic
(idea) psychology. She believed they were
two equally valid approaches
Original theory put forth by a female
psychologist in a an aversive climate
Weaknesses of Self-Theory
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The self is “indefinable” (Calkins, 1915)
Tested through introspection, which had
questionable empiricism
Connected to her ideas about ethics and
morality (Wentworth, 1999)
Calkin’s Influence Then
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The timing of Calkin’s theory did not mesh
well with the scientific ideals of her peers
(Not objective experimental methods)
“We still find certain residues of the soul
theory, masquerading in modern discussion
as accounts of empirical or quasi-empirical
realities” (Troland, 1929)
Calkins’ Influence Later
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Psychoanalytic self psychology
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Heinz Kohut, MD (1913-1981)
Theoretical basis for most of the therapeutic benefits of
contemporary psychoanalysis.
Rejects importance of innate Freudian sexual drives in the
organization of the human psyche
First major psychoanalytic movement in the United States
to recognize the critical role of empathy in explaining
human development and psychoanalytic change.
Summary
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Family huge influence
Studied under James, Royce, & Sanford
Never received her degree from Harvard
Contrasted all her work against the Zeitgeist,
“Variability Hypothesis”
Paired-Associate Task was a big influence on
learning theory
Self-theory was a contrast to the times, and it was
not embraced by her contemporaries
References
Bumb, J. Mary Whiton Calkins. Retrieved March 4, 2004, from
Calkins, Mary W. An Introduction to Psychology. New York: Macmillan & Co., 1904.
Calkins, Mary W. A First Book in Psychology. New York: Macmillan & Co., 1911.
Calkins, M. W., (1917). The case of self against soul. Psychological Review, 24, 278300.
Calkins, M.W. (1911). General standpoints; Mind and body. Psychological Bulletin, 8,
14-19.
Calkins, M.W. http://www.earlham.edu/~harriem/contributions.htm
Christopher, Green D. “Autobiography of Mary Whiton Calkins.” Classics in the History
Of Psychology. 27 Jan. 2004. Mar. 2000 http://www.psychclassics.yorku.ca
Furumoto, L. (1980). Mary Whiton Calkins (1863-1930). Psychology of Women Quarterly, 5,
Furumoto, Laurel, Mary Whiton Calkins. Psychology of Women Quarterly, Vol 5(1).
Human Sciences Press:1980
55-68.
References
Madigan, S. & O’Hara, R. (1992). Short-term memory at the turn of the century: Mary Whiton Calkins’s memory
research. American Psychologist, 47, 170-174.
Minton, H. L. (2000). Psychology and gender at the turn of the century. American Psychologist,
55, 613-615.
Schultz, D. P. & Schultz, S. E. (2004). A history of modern psychology (8 th Edition).
Wadsworth: Belmont.
Seigfried, C. H. (1993). 1895 letter from Harvard Philosophy department. Hypatia, 8, 230-231.
Wentworth, P. A. (1999). The moral of her story: Exploring the philosophical and religious
commitments in Mary Whiton Calkins’ self-psychology. History of Psychology, 2,
119-131.
Women's Intellectual Contributions to the Study of Mind and Society. Mary Whiton
Calkins. http://www.webster.edu/`wollflm/calkins.html