01 December in the History of Psychology

On December 1:

1847 — Christine Ladd-Franklin was born. The focus of her work was color vision. The theory that bears her name describes the nature and evolutionary emergence of black-white, red-green, and blue-yellow photoreceptors. She and Mary Whiton Calkins were the first women members of the APA.

1847 — The Butler Hospital for the Insane was opened in Providence, Rhode Island. Butler Hospital was Rhode Island's first hospital exclusively for mentally ill patients. It was originally endowed by the will of Nicholas Brown, dated March 3, 1843. Mentally ill patients were also cared for at the Dexter Hospital for the Insane, a portion of a general hospital for the poor, founded in 1828. Isaac Ray planned the hospital and was its superintendent until 1867.

1903 — Jerzy Konorski was born. Konorski investigated the physiological and experiential nature of the learning of voluntary behavior, with special attention to instrumental conditioning of autonomic responses. His books, Conditioned Reflexes and Neuron Organization (1948) and Integrative Activity of the Brain: An Interdisciplinary Approach (1967) reflect his life's work.

1913 — Mary D. Salter Ainsworth was born. Ainsworth is known for her longitudinal naturalistic cross-cultural studies of mother-infant attachment and separation. She was strongly influenced by John Bowlby's theory of attachment. APA Award for Distinguished Professional Contributions, 1987; APA Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award, 1989.

1920 — A. A. Brill's English translation of Sigmund Freud's book Interpretation of Dreams was published in the United States.

1927 — The Journal of General Psychology was first published. The journal was founded by Carl Murchison and Edward B. Titchener.

1928 — The Conference of Editors and Business Managers of Anthropological and Psychological Journals adopted the first form of the APA publication manual. These "instructions in regard to preparation of manuscripts" appeared in the February issue of Psychological Bulletin in 1929. The authors wrote that "a badly prepared manuscript almost always suggests uncritical research and slovenly thinking."

1947 — B. F. Skinner was elected professor of psychology at Harvard University. The appointment became effective July 1, 1948.

1949 — The Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (16 PF) was published by Raymond B. Cattell and his Institute for Personality and Ability Testing at the University of Illinois. The personality trait test was based on Cattell's factor analysis of self-report statements.

1980 — The antidepressant drug Ludiomil (maprotiline; CIBA Pharmaceutical) was approved for use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Maprotiline is a tetracyclic antidepressant that may operate by selectively inhibiting reuptake of the neurotransmitter norepinephrine.

1984 — The National Conference on Training in Psychoanalysis, sponsored by APA Division 39 (Psychoanalysis) began at the William Alanson White Institute of Psychiatry, Psychoanalysis, and Psychology in New York. The meeting was promoted by Helen Block Lewis and chaired by Murray Meisels. This conference established contact between many local organizations of psychoanalytic psychologists.