Мэри Уайтон Колкинс: Пионер американской психологии и философии.

American philosopher and psychologist

Mary Whiton Calkins ('/k//ɔː//l//k//ɪ//n//z//, /'/k//æ//l// /; 30 March 1863 – 26 February 1930) was an American philosopher and psychologist, whose work informed theory and research of memory, dreams and the self. In 1903, Calkins was the twelfth in a listing of fifty psychologists with the most merit, chosen by her peers. Calkins was refused a Ph. D. by Harvard University because of her gender. Calkins is a key figure in the history of women psychologists. At Wellesley College, Calkins established the first psychological laboratory for women. She was the first woman to complete the requirements for a doctoral degree in psychology with the unanimous support of the Harvard University psychology faculty, although the university refused to bestow it on the grounds that Harvard did not accept women. She later became president of the American Psychological Association and the American Philosophical Association, and was the first woman to be president of both. She taught psychology and philosophy at Wellesley College for four decades, and conducted research there and at Harvard University for the majority of that time.

Mary Whiton Calkins was born on March 30, 1863, in Hartford, Connecticut. She was the eldest of eight children. Her parents were Wolcott and Charlotte Whiton Calkins. Mary was close with her family. Since Mary's father took an active role in overseeing his children's education and planned her studies, she was able to enroll in college when she graduated high school. She returned to Smith College in 1884 to graduate with a degree in classics and philosophy. Although women had had more educational opportunities to attend and teach at colleges back then, Calkins still faced sexism in the field and didn't have many options to earn a degree in psychology. She considered psychology programs at the University of Michigan with John Dewey, Yale University with George Trumbull Ladd, Clark University with Granville Stanley Hall, and Harvard University with William James.

Calkins published four books and over one hundred papers in her career, in both the fields of psychology and philosophy. Calkins was interested in memory and later in the concept of the self. She is best known for her accomplishments within the field of psychology and her struggles to achieve. After being rejected for a degree from Harvard, Calkins continued to work and strive for equality.

Royce influenced Calkins to take classes taught by William James in Harvard, with men as her peers. However, Harvard president Charles William Eliot opposed this idea of a woman learning in the same room as a man. They slept with a notepad right beside their bed to allow note taking of dreams as quickly as possible. Each morning, they studied all the records regardless of whether they seemed slight and trivial, or significant. They also took account of the different types of dreams and they discovered elements of various emotions.

In 1891, Calkins returned to Wellesley as an instructor of psychology in the philosophy department. Although Georg Elias Müller criticized her method, he refined and adopted it, calling it Treffermethode and it has been widely used ever since. Edward B. Titchener included her research in his Student's Manual, and in her autobiography, Calkins refers to a Professor Kline who selected the paired associates method for his textbook, Psychology By Experiment. Although the paired associates technique is regarded as one of Calkins' biggest contributions to psychology, Calkins herself did not attach very much importance to this work. Her study on paired associates learning under Münsterberg constituted her doctoral dissertation which was published in 1896. Harvard refused to approve the unanimous recommendation of the Department of Philosophy and Psychology to grant Calkins her doctoral degree. Eliot believed strongly that the two sexes should be educated separately and, although he allowed Calkins to be a "guest," he and the rest of the board refused to grant her the degree. Calkins had completed all of the requirements for the Ph. D., including passing exams and completing a dissertation, and all of her Harvard professors had recommended her for the degree. Yet, solely due to her gender, she was denied the honour of a conferred degree. Despite ongoing petitioning, as of 2015 Harvard University continues to refuse to posthumously award her with a doctoral degree.

Outside of her contributions to the field of psychology, Calkins was an avid supporter of women's rights. Calkins was a suffragist active in the fight for women's right to vote, disputing "in a democratic country, governed as this is by the suffrage of its citizens, and given over as this is to the principle and practice of educating women, a distinction based on the difference of sex is artificial and illogical". Calkins was a pacifist and a member of the American Civil Liberties Union. While working at Wellesley around the time of World War I, a colleague of Calkins was fired for holding pacifistic views. Calkins offered her resignation, stating she held the same views as her colleague who was terminated, but her resignation from Wellesley was not accepted by the President or board. As it can be seen in her writings, although she was very grateful for the individuals who accepted her, she did not hold resentment against those who did not. For instance, instead of expressing disdain towards the Harvard board for not accepting her application for a degree, she conveyed her appreciation toward Harvard for allowing her to partake in the courses, conduct research under her professors, and work with individuals such as James, Sanford and Münsterberg. She also mentions the assistance of figures such as Robert MacDougall and several others who spent years with her as her mechanicians, subjects, counselors, and even friends. In addition, when the episode with the waiter refusing her admission took place, she stated in her autobiography that "he correctly insisted against her admission." Calkins served as a faculty member at Wellesley College for forty years until she retired in 1929. Calkins died in 1930 after writing four books and over a hundred papers that are evenly divided between the fields of psychology and philosophy.