The Eastern Psychological Association (abbreviated EPA ) is a professional organization for psychologists in the Eastern United States . It holds annual meetings where members present their research findings to colleagues. Established in 1896, it is the oldest regional psychological organization in the United States.
33-736: The Eastern Psychological Association was founded on April 27, 1896 as the Section of Anthropology, Psychology, and Philosophy of the New York Academy of Science . In 1903, it was renamed as the "New York Branch" of the American Psychological Association (APA), with this name reaffirmed in 1930. It was renamed again to the "Eastern Branch" of the American Psychological Association in 1936, and obtained its current name in 1938. The group that would eventually become
66-489: A "disciplinary subject" education under the assumption that the brain can be exercised. Many subjects like Latin were taught for their disciplinary value and not necessarily the subject matter. Woodworth and Thorndike empirically studied the benefits of a disciplinary education along with transfer of training and found no effect. However, as their contemporaries pointed out, they did not use a control group and, therefore, their studies had minimal value. In 1902, Woodworth accepted
99-439: A career path in psychology. In 1895, he returned to college as an undergraduate student at Harvard University , studying philosophy with Josiah Royce , psychology with William James , and history with George Santayana . Here at Harvard, he met Edward Lee Thorndike and Walter B. Cannon , and the three became longtime friends. While working with James, he encouraged Woodworth to keep a dream diary. The two were not able to find
132-506: A fellowship to work with Charles Sherrington at the University of Liverpool. Sherrington and Cattell both offered him a job afterwards, and Woodworth accepted Cattell's offer to study at Columbia, where he remained for the rest of his life. Woodworth followed in Cattell's footsteps in psychological testing and measurement. He first was in charge of a project where he tested about 1,100 people at
165-435: A graduate fellowship at Columbia University , one of the two primary functionalist schools in psychology. In 1899, Woodworth earned his PhD under Cattell. His dissertation was entitled The Accuracy of Voluntary Movement . Thorndike, who was now at Columbia, worked with Woodworth on the concept of transfer of training . These studies related to a significant issue of the time within education, as academics like James supported
198-459: A population. Additionally, Woodworth disagreed with the norm of the time with labeling civilizations as "primitive" or "advanced" because he noted that differences on the evolutionary time scale are likely minute to produce a mental status change . In 1906, the American Psychological Association appointed Woodworth as part of a committee to study psychometrics. With the onset of World War I, APA asked Woodworth to assist them in trying to prevent what
231-627: A significant correlation between the content of one's dreams and the day's events. However, Woodworth noted that he often dreamed about incomplete or interrupted topics and events, later emphasized by Bluma Zeigarnik with the Zeigarnik effect . In 1896, Woodworth earned his A.M from Harvard, followed by being an assistant at the Harvard Medical School in the physiology department from 1897 to 1898. Here, he observed Cannon's experiments on hunger and emotions. James McKeen Cattell offered Woodworth
264-646: A year on psychology and three on anthropology. Before 1930, the organization was loosely organized, with no bylaws or constitution. Its only official officer was the Secretary who organized the meeting programming. Its change in identity to the New York Branch of the APA was the result of a 1901 APA bylaw change which allowed the establishment of local branches in response to the complaints Midwesterners had in attending APA meetings. On February 23, 1903 Edward Thorndike chaired
297-464: A year until 1925, holding regular meetings even though World War I . In the 1920s members of the group grew concerned about the number of non-scientists in their midst. Because the New York Section had not required APA membership or any other membership requirements other than paying dues, a number of non-psychologists and applied psychologists had joined. Out of 150 members only 40 were APA members,
330-600: Is Amy Silvestri Hunter. Past presidents of the EPA include: New York Academy of Science Too Many Requests If you report this error to the Wikimedia System Administrators, please include the details below. Request from 172.68.168.150 via cp1114 cp1114, Varnish XID 458064498 Upstream caches: cp1114 int Error: 429, Too Many Requests at Fri, 29 Nov 2024 06:52:07 GMT Robert S. Woodworth Robert Sessions Woodworth (October 17, 1869 – July 4, 1962)
363-454: Is what the EPA counts as its first meeting and uses to number its meetings. The bylaws (published 1931) restricted membership to those who were either members or associates of APA who lived within a 100 mile radius of New York City, and who paid dues, set at $ 1. While non-members were allowed to attend meetings, they had to be sponsored by a member in order to present a paper. Graduate students were still encouraged to participate—they could join
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#1732863127160396-625: The American Philosophical Society in 1936. A Review of General Psychology survey, published in 2002, ranked Woodworth as the 88th most cited psychologist of the 20th century, tied with John Garcia , James J. Gibson , David Rumelhart , Louis Leon Thurstone , and Margaret Floy Washburn . Woodworth was born in Belchertown, Massachusetts on October 17, 1869. His father was a Congregationalist minister who had graduated from Yale College and Yale Divinity School , and his mother
429-568: The 1904 St. Louis Exposition. According to Hothersall, he took a "remarkably sensible and fair-minded position on racial differences in test performance" (p. 376). Woodworth emphasized that that labeling is based on alleged differences both internal (mental function and size) and external (skin color), making it difficult to compare them empirically. The characteristics are not equally measurable, and individual differences are very important, according to Woodworth, so experiments that claim to demonstrate sharp differences in races ignore overlap within
462-549: The APA as associates. The bylaws established that future programs wouldn’t rule out applied research, but that members needed to present experimental results. These changes resulted in the consulting psychologists withdrawing to their own organization, The New York State Association of Consulting Psychologists. Under pressure from psychologists who did not live in New York City, future meetings alternated between New York City locations and locations like Princeton and Yale. Eventually
495-554: The Eastern Psychological Association was formed when some New York psychologists asked the New York Academy of Sciences to broaden their coverage to include the human sciences. The resulting Section of Anthropology, Psychology, and Philosophy met on the fourth Monday of every other month, starting in 1896. At first the anthropology and psychology papers were mixed, but in 1902 they settled on holding three meetings
528-462: The Selection of Salesmen”, and Anathon Aall on “The Problem of Animal Mind” (the last with lantern illustrations). Out of these four talks, probably only Aall's would have been considered non-applied and thus "scientific." In 1930 two of the group’s leaders decided to address this issue and invited 360 psychologists who lived within 100 miles of New York City to a one-day meeting. On April 12, 1930,
561-463: The classics, mathematics, science, and history. During his senior year, Woodworth took a class in psychology by Charles Edward Garman , which caused him to change his future plans. Rather than becoming a minister, he taught mathematics at a high school for two years and at a college for two years in Topeka, Kansas . Following his stint as a teacher, Woodworth attended a lecture by G. Stanley Hall , and he
594-406: The definitive texts for thousands of psychology students. Additionally, Woodworth published Contemporary Schools of Psychology in 1932. He described the history of psychology according to a view that differing schools of psychology are complementary and not incompatible. This tolerant, open-minded view was likely a result of his unique perspective of psychology, being part of the subject for nearly
627-634: The entire fifty years of its existence. He was renowned for this contribution, later being known as the dean of American Psychology. In 1914, Woodworth was elected president of APA, and in his presidential address, he discussed the question of the existence of imageless thoughts. He spent the summer of 1912 working in Oswald Külpe 's lab studying the topic much to Titchener 's dismay. According to Titchener, imageless thoughts were not possible. Woodworth disagreed, stating that even if most thoughts have corresponding sensations and/or images, some do not. Woodworth
660-532: The first introduction to psychology for generations of undergraduate students. His 1938 textbook of experimental psychology was scarcely less influential, especially in the 1954 second edition, written with Harold H. Schlosberg . Woodworth is known for introducing the Stimulus-Organism-Response (S-O-R) formula of behavior. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1935 and
693-669: The first official meeting of the New York Branch of the APA. At that first meeting James McKeen Cattell , Franklin Henry Giddings , Livingston Farrand , and Franz Boaz all read papers. Notable papers from other meetings in this period include John B. Watson ’s “Psychology as the Behaviorist Views It,” given on the February 24, 1913 meeting—just before the same paper was published in the Psychological Review (no reaction to
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#1732863127160726-524: The group expanded its geographic catchment to include the eastern part of the US and Canada and renamed itself the Eastern Branch of the APA. Eventually the APA discontinued its branches and instead allowed regional groups to affiliate with the APA. In response, in 1938, the Eastern Branch voted to rename themselves The Eastern Psychological Association. The current president of the Eastern Psychological Association
759-575: The invited psychologists, 240 in number met on the Heights campus of New York University and voted to form a scientific organization. They would re-form themselves as the New York Branch of the APA and to ask the APA Council of Directors to affirm its existence. They also appointed an executive committee to draft bylaws and decided henceforth hold a day-long meeting in the spring. This first meeting in 1930, presided over by Honorary President Robert S. Woodworth ,
792-471: The paper was recorded). The first woman to present was Naomi Norsworthy , in March 1904. Her presentation, based on her PhD thesis, reported on the mental testing of 150 children in state institutions for the “ feeble-minded ” and in special classes in New York City schools. Generally the meetings were not organized around a theme, with a few exceptions, such as a 1911 memorial session on William James , who had died
825-411: The previous year. Presenters were often faculty from Columbia University and New York University and meetings were often held there. Compared to other conferences, the group was friendly to graduate students. For example, a student of James McKeen Cattell presented at the first meeting as the New York Branch and space was made for graduate work to be presented. The group continued to meet three times
858-551: The rest were “psychiatrists, educators, ministers, sociologists, graduate students” and likely lay members of the public who practiced psychology using their membership in the group as accreditation. The papers presented had also turned towards more applied, consulting directions, which concerned the more academic members of the group. For example a meeting in 1925 featured presentations by Lillian Moller Gilbreth on “Motion Study and Psychology”, Bess Cunningham on “A Report of Studies of Pre-School Children”, Henry Link on “An Experiment in
891-529: The theory in Dynamic Psychology (1918) and Dynamics of Behavior (1958). Within his modified S-O-R formula, Woodworth noted that the stimulus elicits a different effect or response depending on the state of the organism. The "O" (for organismic) mediates the relationship between the stimulus and the response. Woodworth advocated the creation of a technical vocabulary for psychology rather than only relying on often subjective operational definitions, but he
924-480: Was a teacher who had graduated from Mount Holyoke College . Since Woodworth's mother was his father's third wife, he grew up in a large family with children from each of his father's marriages. His father's approach to parenting was authoritative and strict. He attended high school in Newton, Massachusetts with the plan of becoming a minister. He received his A.B. degree from Amherst College in 1891, focusing on religion,
957-401: Was an American psychologist and the creator of the personality test which bears his name . A graduate of Harvard and Columbia, he studied under William James along with other prominent psychologists as Leta Stetter Hollingworth , James Rowland Angell , and Edward Thorndike . His textbook Psychology: A study of mental life , which appeared first in 1921, went through many editions and was
990-411: Was enthralled by Hall's emphasis on “the importance of discovery through investigation” (p. 374). The lecture had such a profound effect on Woodworth that he hung a sign labeled “investigation” over his desk at home. He then read James's Principles of Psychology , and he had a similar captivating experience to many other students interested in psychology of the time. He decided then to finally follow
1023-649: Was ignored by the community. He conveniently ignores the fact that he held very important and influential positions, such as being chairman of the National Research Council's Division of Anthropology and Psychology, in his autobiography. He only mentions his participation, demonstrating his modesty. In 1956, Woodworth was first recipient of the American Psychological Foundation gold medal for "Distinguished and continuous service to scholarship and research in psychology and for contributions to
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1056-481: Was strongly opposed to "epistemological tables of commandments" such as the strict and narrow approaches of Titchener and Watson, preferring a somewhat eclectic approach. Woodworth introduced and popularized the expression Stimulus-Organism-Response (S-O-R) to describe his functionalist approach to psychology and to stress its difference from the strictly Stimulus-Response (S-R) approach of the behaviorists in his 1929 second edition of Psychology . He later published
1089-704: Was then known as " shell shock ". He generated the Woodworth Personal Data Sheet (WPDS), which has been called the first personality test. It was a test of emotional stability to measure a soldier's susceptibility based on existing cases of the disorder. Although the test was designed too late for it to be used operationally, the test was highly influential in the development of later personality inventories with measures of neuroticism. Woodworth published Psychology: A study of mental life , which appeared first in 1921, and Experimental Psychology in 1938, which he worked on for nearly twenty years, and they became
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