Mary Whiton Calkins (1863-1930)

Mary Whiton Calkins was one of the most influential women in early psychology.  In a time where women were oppressed in most fields, achieving any kind of status in the workforce was nearly impossible.  There were not many options for women who were looking to attend college, especially in the field of psychology.  She had her heart set on attending Harvard, which only admitted male students, however, her father sent letters asking that she be allowed to take classes.  In addition, William James, a professor at the time, put in a good word for her.  Even though she was denied the opportunity to earn a degree from the school, she was allowed to audit classes, despite heavy opposition from male students.  In one particular case, four fellow male students refused to attend a class in which she was a student and dropped out.  She never received her PhD from Harvard, despite completing all of their requirements.  Ten years later, she was offered an honorary degree from Harvard’s sister school, Radcliffe University.  This is just a typical example of sexism in these times. 

            Despite the setbacks, Calkins was able to earn respect in her field and eventually became the first female president of the American Psychological Association.  She worked her way up to the position of a research professor at Wellesley College, where she studied dreams, memory, and self-psychology.  She contributed her own system of self-psychology when there were several competing perspectives.  She explains that the self is an “active agent acting consciously and purposefully”.  She was also the first female to establish an experimental psychology lab.  Her lab operated on a quarter of the money that most other labs used, but she was still able to utilize the equipment at other labs to make up for it.  Eventually her hard work led her to be ranked twelfth on the APA’s list of most influential psychologists of the United States. 

            Dr. Calkins had to “prove herself” at every obstacle that stood in her way and was able to rise above many of her colleagues in the field of psychology.  The famous psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud cited Calkins’ research on dreams, which later became an essential part of his own body of work.  Calkins opened the door for other women interested in all fields of study to pursue their passion and power through the challenges that lie ahead of women to this day.

Learn about self psychology here.