28 February in the History of Psychology

On February 28:

1888 — Francis Galton was measured at his own Anthropometric Laboratory. Some sample measurements include a right-hand squeeze strength of 80 lb (36 kg), head breadth of 6.15 in. (15.62 cm), and a 4.4-in. (11.2-cm) length of the middle finger of his left hand.

1892 — Calvin P. Stone was born. Stone was a comparative and physiological psychologist who studied innate behavior, learning, and the effects of electroconvulsive shock in animals. He also offered the first regular U.S. university course on Freudian psychology at Stanford University in 1923. APA President, 1942.

1901 — The National Herbart Society was reorganized as the National Society for the Scientific Study of Education at the Auditorium Hotel in Chicago. Nicholas M. Butler was elected president. In 1910, the organization assumed its current name, the National Society for the Study of Education.

1915 — Benton J. Underwood was born. Underwood extensively studied factors affecting verbal learning and memory, with special attention to distribution of practice, transfer, retroactive and proactive inhibition, and discrimination. APA Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award, 1973; American Psychological Foundation Distinguished Teaching in Psychology Award, 1987.

1939 — John Dollard, Leonard Doob, Neal E. Miller, O. Hobart Mowrer, and Robert Sears's book Frustration and Aggression was published.

1940 — Ernest Hilgard and Donald Marquis's book Conditioning and Learning was published.

1946 — The Connecticut State Psychological Society was incorporated. The organization's name was changed to the Connecticut Psychological Association on November 10, 1964.

1955 — The Time magazine issue for this day featured the work of Keller and Marian Breland in an article titled "I. Q. Zoo." The Brelands were both students of B. F. Skinner. In 1946, they established Animal Behavior Enterprises (ABE), a for-profit animal training business. ABE, informally called the I. Q. Zoo, used operant methods to train animals for a wide variety of entertainment, advertising, and military applications. Their article, "The Misbehavior of Organisms," reflected on the roles of innate and learned components of behavior.

1987 — The National Conference on Internship Training in Psychology began in Gainesville, Florida. The conference, cosponsored by the Association of Psychology Postdoctoral and Internship Centers and the Department of Clinical and Health Psychology at the University of Florida, focused on fundamental goals and policies of postdoctoral internship programs.