01 April in the History of Psychology

On April 1:

1578 — William Harvey was born. Harvey is famous for establishing that blood circulates in the body. He also properly identified the brain as an information processing and coordinating center.

1794 — Pierre J. M. Flourens was born. Flourens introduced the method of extirpation to study brain functions, established the gross functional divisions of the central nervous system, and found evidence for cerebral "mass action," the principle that the brain acts as a whole.

1824 — The Connecticut Retreat for the Insane opened at Hartford for the reception of patients. The Connecticut Retreat's name and humane philosophy of treatment were patterned after those of the York Retreat, in England. The first superintendent of the Hartford Retreat was Eli Todd. The institution's name has changed several times but was called the Hartford Retreat for many years. It is now named the Institute of Living.

1843 — The first magazine for mental patients, The Illuminator, began publication at the Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia. The first issue was 24 pages in length.

1901 — The London Psycho-Therapeutic Society was inaugurated. The society was dedicated to "the study of Mesmerism, hypnotism, and other psychic phenomena and their adaptation to the cure and prevention of disease."

1906 — The Journal of Abnormal Psychology was first published by Morton Prince. It later became the Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, then was purchased by the APA in 1925, and resumed its original name in 1965.

1908 — Abraham Maslow was born. Maslow is best known for his studies of self-actualization and his hierarchical theory of motives. He strongly influenced the emergence of humanistic psychology in the 1950s and 1960s. Maslow was Harry Harlow's first doctoral student. APA President, 1968.

1926 — The APA acquired the Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology from Morton Prince. The journal was split into the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology and the Journal of Abnormal Psychology in 1965.

1938 — The ninth annual meeting of the Eastern Psychological Association was held. This was the group's first meeting under its current name, having met as the Eastern Branch of the APA and the New York Branch of the APA in previous years. Karl S. Lashley was president of the organization at this time.

1949 — The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) was founded, as provided by Public Law 79-487. The NIMH replaced the U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS) Division of Mental Hygiene, which was itself a 1930 reconstruction of the USPHS Narcotics Division.

1955 — The South Carolina Psychological Association was founded and legally incorporated.

1960 — Thomas Szasz's article "The Myth of Mental Illness" was published in the American Psychologist.

1969 — The first issue of the Counseling Psychologist was published by Division 17 of the APA. John M. Whitely was the first editor of the journal.

1973 — This was the last day of an APA Council of Representatives meeting later described as a "watershed" meeting. In an APA Monitor article, George Albee cited bloc voting domination of newer divisions (Nos. 16-32) and the new requirement of presidential candidate position papers as signs of a shift from "an educational-scientific society to a kind of professional guild ... la AMA [American Medical Association]."

1973 — A report titled Undergraduate Education in Psychology, informally called the Kulik report, was published. The Kulik report summarized a survey of American undergraduate psychology programs and 17 site visits, with special emphasis on 10 institutions. The survey was sponsored by the APA and the National Science Foundation. James A. Kulik, of the University of Michigan, directed the operation of the project and wrote the final report.

1979 — The APA's Journal of Personality and Social Psychology changed its editorial policy, creating three sections of the journal: Attitudes and Social Cognition, Interpersonal Relations and Social Interaction, and Personality Processes and Individual Differences.