Origins and early years of the American Psychological Association, 1890–1906.

Abstract

Many personal and professional concerns led G. StanleyHall to found the American Psychological Association (APA) in 1892, and its subsequent development through its earliest years reflected the cultural and institutional milieu in which it emerged, much more than it did the intellectual and scientific issues that interested psychologists during that period. This essay traces APA's evolution through 1906 as an adaptation to the ecological setting in which it found itself and concludes that psychology's institutional relations with other sciences (and psychologists' professional relations with other scientists) did much to shape the ecological niche in which APA established itself during its first decade and a half.

The Lessons of the Development of the First APA Ethics Code: Blending Science, Practice, and Politics

“…Hall took an inclusive DEVELOPMENT OF FIRST APA ETHICS CODE approach in trying to attract those who wished to study psychological phenomena: APA's 31 charter members included psychiatrists and philosophers as well as those trained in experimental psychology in Germany. In 1896, Lightner Witmer founded the first psychological clinic in the United States and lectured at the APA's annual meeting on the application of psychology to applied fields like education and medicine (Sokal, 1992).…”

“…The APA was founded by G. Stanley Hall in 1892 as a conduit for scholars interested in the new discipline of psychology to have a place to exchange ideas (Sokal, 1992). Hall took an inclusive DEVELOPMENT OF FIRST APA ETHICS CODE approach in trying to attract those who wished to study psychological phenomena: APA's 31 charter members included psychiatrists and philosophers as well as those trained in experimental psychology in Germany.…”

“…The American Medical Association began as an applied clinical organization and as such required a code that would guide the membership's practice in professional affairs. The APA, in contrast, began as a scientific organization which decried clinical applications (Sokal, 1992). Not until the clinical members' influence increased would the APA finally decide to create an ethics code.…”

Bridge Over Troubled Waters? The Most “Central” Members of Psychology and Philosophy Associations Ca. 1900

“…5 Although the origins of the A A are well known, the origins of the philosophical organizations are somewhat more obscure to most historians of psychology. Because there were various proposals during the 1890s to isolate or even expel philosophers from the A A (see, e.g., Sokal, 1992), it is often assumed that this was the primary motive for philosophers to form organizations of their own. In point of fact, however, none of the efforts to dislodge philosophers from the A A met with the general approval of membership.…”

Cultivating a “Chairside Manner”: Dental Hypnosis, Patient Management Psychology, and the Origins of Behavioral Dentistry in America, 1890–1910

“…Countless varieties of literary public psychology flourished at the turn of the twentieth century, claiming to be "scientific" at the same time academicians were seeking to establish experimental, laboratory work as the recognized, independent science of psychology. Hence, professional psychologists such as Jacob Jastrow waged a continuing war against numerous published versions of public psychology, which dwelt on hypnotism, subliminal states, telepathy, mind-cure, and spiritualism in an attempt to diminish their position in the popular mind as "real" psychology (Coon, 1992;Sokal, 1992;Shore, 2011). 15.…”