05 December in the History of Psychology

On December 5:

1901 — Milton H. Erickson was born. Erickson was the best known American practitioner of hypnotherapy in the twentieth century. He reached a wide audience through 50 years of research, publications, editing, lecturing, and teaching. Erickson was the founder and first president of the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis and initiated The American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis.

1913 — The Psychoanalytic Review was first published. William Alanson White and Smith Ely Jelliffe founded the journal and were the first editor and managing editor, respectively. This was the first periodical in English devoted to psychoanalysis.

1913 — Susan Walton Gray was born. Gray's research and professional activities promoted educational programs to overcome the social and environmental conditions of poverty. Gray and Rupert Klaus's Early Training Project provided a model for Project Head Start. She founded research and training programs in early childhood education, school psychology, and mental retardation.

1924 — Jane Ross Mercer was born. Mercer developed the System of Multicultural Pluralistic Assessment, a culture-fair measure of adaptive abilities that reflects the contemporary broadening of the definition of intelligence.

1934 — In one of "Pavlov's Wednesdays," Ivan Pavlov attacked Kurt Koffka and Kurt Lewin's objections to the concept of association.

1936 — The irreverent Psychological Round Table first met. Many noteworthy psychologists have been members of the Round Table, but no members older than 40 years of age are allowed.

1947 — Alfred A. Strauss and Laura Lehntinen's book Psychopathology and Education of the Brain Injured Child was published, a landmark in special education.

1952 — The Iowa Board of Education approved the construction of an electronic machine to score the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS). The machine, invented by psychologists Everet F. Lindquist and Phillip J. Rulon, was the first scanning machine to sense pencil marks on a standard response form. The first formal use of the machine was on March 16, 1955, to score the 1955 ITBS.

1955 — The drug Ritalin (methylphenidate; CIBA Pharmaceutical) was approved for use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Methylphenidate is a mild stimulant of the central nervous system, increasing supplies of the neurotransmitter dopamine. Its paradoxic effect in children has led to its use as a treatment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

1972 — The APA granted its first accreditation for doctoral programs in clinical psychology to a professional school of psychology, the Fuller Theological Seminary Graduate School of Psychology in Pasadena, California.

1974 — The television documentary "Primate" appeared on Public Broadcasting System stations. The show depicted callous treatment of primate subjects at the Yerkes Laboratories of Primate Biology. In the ensuing public outcry, researchers charged the producer, Frederick Wiseman, with bias and misrepresentation.

1990 — At a news conference, the APA released a report titled "Women and Depression: Risk Factors and Treatment Issues." The report was edited by Ellen McGrath, Gwendolyn Puryear Keita, Bonnie R. Strickland, and Nancy Felipe Russo for the APA's National Task Force on Women and Depression. The report gained widespread media attention.