As a leading psychologist of her time, Mary Whiton Calkins actively opposed the behaviorist movement, a school of thought that was gaining prominence in American psychology during her career.

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Mary Whiton Calkins (1863–1930) was a prominent first-generation American psychologist. Mentored by William James, she completed all doctoral requirements at Harvard in the mid-1890s, but the university refused to grant her the degree due to her gender, despite James's advocacy on her behalf. Her major contributions include founding an early experimental psychology lab, conducting key research on memory, opposing the behaviorist movement, and becoming the first female president of the American Psychological Association in 1905.

Mary Whiton Calkins

Spielman, R. M., Jenkins, W. J., & Lovett, M. D. (2020, April 22). Psychology (2nd ed.). OpenStax. https://openstax.org/books/psychology-2e/pages/1-introduction

OpenStax Psychology (2nd ed.) Textbook

Which of these people was the first female president of the American Psychological Association?

A key area of Mary Whiton Calkins's research was memory, where she specifically studied the phenomena of primacy and recency.

Mary Whiton Calkins's Research on Memory

In her theoretical work, Mary Whiton Calkins demonstrated how the distinct psychological frameworks of structuralism and functionalism could both be utilized to understand and explain self-psychology.

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