08 August in the History of Psychology

On August 8:

1888 — Jacob Robert Kantor was born. Kantor was a prominent systematic psychologist who organized scientific values into a coherent system of psychology. For Kantor, both prescientific mentalistic issues and physiological events were alien to a science of behavior.

1889 — The First International Congress on Hypnotism began in Paris. Attendees included Jean-Martin Charcot, Alfred Binet, Hippolyte Bernheim, Sigmund Freud, Joseph Babinski, Joseph Delboeuf, Ambroise-Auguste Liébeault, and William James.

1918 — Margaret Kuenne Harlow was born. Her contributions were in the areas of clinical and comparative psychology. Harlow managed the primate laboratory at the University of Wisconsin for 20 years, established the Publication Office of the APA, and edited the Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology from 1951 to 1962.

1936 — Sandra Wood Scarr was born. Scarr's studies of intelligence among adopted children have raised estimates of the contribution of environment to intelligence. Later work has focused on the quality of child care. She received the APA National Book Award for her Mother Care/Other Care (1985). APA Distinguished Contributions to Research in Public Policy Award, 1988.

1959 — Argentina issued a postage stamp honoring Ivan Pavlov.

1961 — Rensis Likert's book New Patterns of Management, a landmark in organizational psychology, was published.

1973 — William Corning, John Dyal, and Dennis Willow's book Invertebrate Learning was published. The book was the first comprehensive review of the topic after World War II.

1989 — The first meeting of the board of directors of the American Psychological Society was held in Irvine, California. Since 2006, the name of this organization has been the Association for Psychological Science.