Women in Psychology

ABSTRACT

Discuss the role of an important woman in the history of psychology. Discuss her past and how she helped to change the way that women are seen in the current career and world of psychology. Discuss in detail of how she was able to make a difference and how this has helped to make a difference. Show where she came from and where she went. Discuss her major roles and publications that helped the field. Discuss her education and the struggles that she had in getting to her role. Choose a woman who has made significant contributions to the field of psychology between the years 1850 and 1950. Obtain faculty approval of your selection prior to beginning this assignment and prepare a 1,400- to 1,750-word paper in which you describe her background, theoretical perspective, and contributions to the field of psychology. Discuss how she was seen as lesser to her male counterparts. Discuss her family and how they supported or did not support her in her carrer.

One of the most important and influential women in early psychology was Dr. Mary Whiton Calkins. She helped to lead the way for women and push for equal rights so that women were seen as equals and given the same opportunities as their male equivalent. At this time women were not seen by many as equals in the field of psychology. They were not allowed to be in class with males and were not allowed to receive their degrees from certain universities such as Harvard. This issue eventually did change, but it was not without work and hardships. Dr. Calkins also shows how many women who studied psychology did not do it as their first career choice and how it was a secondary career at first. Many women did not know much about it due to the restrictions that schools had put on it. Dr. Clakins eventually was able to hold the presidency of two major organizations. This helped women to move toward equality.

Mary Whiton Calkins (1863–1930) was an American philosopher and psychologist born on March 30, 1863 in...