Women in Psychology

Paper Summary:

The paper discusses the psychology academia's discrimination against women in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The paper focuses on the life and work of Eleanor Gibson, a female psychologist who struggled throughout her career to be fully recognized by her male colleagues. The paper concludes with the hope that the faces of psychology departments will change and begin to represent more equally the gender statistics of those studying in the field of psychology.

From the Paper:

"The majority of textbooks discussing the history of psychology or the major figures in psychology are written from the 'Great Man' perspective, in which the achievements of a few men mark the timeline of psychology and its progression as a recognized and respected discipline. Even individuals who have never taken psychology courses are likely to be familiar with names such as Freud, Maslow, and Wundt. But individuals, within psychology and not, who are familiar with the names of Mary Calkins, Marget Washburn, Christine Ladd-Franklin or Eleanor Gibson are few and far between. A number of women have contributed significantly to the field of psychology and yet received little to no recognition for their work."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Diehl, L.A. (1992). The discovering of Iva Lowther Peters: Transcending male bias in the history of psychology. IN J.C. Christer & D. Howard (Eds.) New directions in feminist psychology: Practice, theory and research (pp. 101-115). New York: Springer.
• Goodwin, C.J. (1999). A History of Modern Psychology. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
• Women in Psychology (2004). Women in Psychology. http://psychology.okstate.edu/museum/women/gi-go.html

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• Research Paper # 3038 : "The Representation of Women in the Media"

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