14 May in the History of Psychology

On May 14:

1856 — In response to the urging of geologist Charles Lyell, Charles Darwin began to write a book on his theory of speciation. He first planned a "very thin and little volume," but later envisioned a long work that included all of his evidence. In the end, the brief book The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection was published in 1859.

1902 — Helen Flanders Dunbar was born. Dunbar was a psychoanalyst who specialized in psychosomatic medicine. She related "personality constellations" and situational factors to psychosomatic disorders.

1902 — William Stephenson was born. Stephenson was internationally known for his scientific approach to the measurement of subjective judgments, known as the "Q technique."

1904 — Charles W. Bray II was born. Bray and Ernest G. Wever introduced and expanded the field of auditory electrophysiology. His interests were in hearing, experimental methods, and U.S. Air Force personnel selection and training. Bray and Wever won the first Howard C. Warren Medal of the Society of Experimental Psychologists in 1936.

1951 — Solomon Asch's book chapter "Effects of Group Pressure Upon the Modification and Distortion of Judgments" appeared in Harold Guetzkow's Groups, Leadership, and Men. Asch here presented his studies of the effects of conformity on line length judgments. The studies had been sponsored by the Human Relations and Morale Branch of the Office of Naval Research.

1973 — The Seventh Annual Meeting of the North American Society for the Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity (NASPSPA) began in Monticello, Illinois. This was the first NASPSPA meeting held independently of the annual meeting of the American Association of Health, Physical Education, and Recreation. Ranier Martens of the University of Illinois organized the meeting.

1974 — Public Law 93-282 was passed, creating the Alcohol, Drug Abuse, and Mental Health Administration (ADHMA) and two new institutes: the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and the National Institute on Drug Abuse. The National Institute of Mental Health was the third, and biggest, institute in the ADHMA.

1977 — The first Georgetown University Conference on Biofeedback was held.

1978 — The APA's Dulles Conference was held. The conference resulted in the formation of the APA's Office of Cultural and Ethnic Affairs, later called the Ethnic Minority Affairs Office, and now part of the Public Interest Directorate.

1987 — Stephanie Booth-Kewley and Howard S. Friedman's article "Psychological Predictors of Heart Disease: A Quantitative Review" was published in Psychological Bulletin. The frequently-cited meta-analysis found that Type A personality, depression, anger, and anxiety were reliably related to coronary heart disease.