The Pshychological Contributions of Mary Whiton Calkins - Research Paper Example

Self-Consciousness in Psychology of Affiliation: Self-Consciousness in Psychology by Mary Whiton Calkins Introduction Women, have experienced a number of challenges in the society for long period, most especially discrimination. The United States for example, the situation has been so adverse in that discrimination has taken different forms. Evidently, the 1890s had quite a number of discrimination aspects based on various factors including gender, race, ethnicity, and color among other aspects (Bohan, 2002). In instances in which one found him or herself as a victim of the various aspects of discrimination, then any contributions brought about by such an individual would never be considered. Based on such a perspective, this paper discusses the invention of paired association, a technique by Mary Whiton Calkins, and one that had a significant effect in the field of psychology, in addition to the work that Mary Whiton Calkins did in self-psychology (Strunk, 1972). Born on the 30th day of March 1863, Mary Whiton Calkins faced significant challenges in the society considering that the United States at the same period highly discriminated against women, with the belief that women had nothing better to offer the society. Women during the same time were never expected to many any contributions on any aspects pertaining to life, making their position in the society that of listening rather than talking. The women were to be seen and not to be heard (Furumoto, 1980). By such a perspective, it is significantly clear that gender played a substantive role in the American society, by determining aspects such as what roles an individual could engage in, as well as what contributions one could make to the society. Marginalization based on gender remains a challenge even to the modern American society. Having had a steady growth in her career to attain some of the greatest achievements in the society that had been previously reserved for the male gender, Mary Whiton Calkins had by 1898 risen to the level of becoming a professor of philosophy and psychology. With such an achievement, she established one of the very kind of experimental psychology laboratories in the United States, and indeed, the first of its kind specifically in a woman’s collage. As indicated earlier, the female gender was considered a minority group in the society and therefore, the reason for the lack of laboratories for experimental psychology in their institutions of learning (Furumoto, 1980). Additionally, in her contributions towards the development of the laboratory for experimental psychology, her focus remained in the aspect of self-consciousness as that was indeed the foundation to personal identity. Mary Whiton Calkins in her successful career worked in Harvard psychology laboratory, and through the numerous trainings she achieved in the field, sort to enroll as a student to enable her pursue her doctorate degree. Individuals of the female gender, a kind of species considered as a minority in the society had never met this achievement. By attaining the doctorate degree, Mary Whiton Calkins would be able to expand the contributions of the female gender in the field of psychology, a perspective through which the society would be changed. However, despite such efforts, the requests to attain her doctorate degree were denied in 1895, the year she participated in the PhD examinations. In psychology and most specifically multicultural psychology, where varying aspects of human behavior are involved, especially when different individuals of different cultural backgrounds are involved, it is ideal that diversities are understood effectively and addressed appropriate for a peaceful coexistence (Wentworth, 1999). It is in such a particular line of study that Mary Whiton Calkins made a significant contribution of the invention of the paired association technique and her work in self-psychology. According to her, Mary Whiton Calkins had a belief that in order to understand psychology, then the conscious self was the most important and significant aspect considering that it is indeed the primary focus of psychology. Mary Whiton Calkins brought this contribution into the field of psychology. A conscious self is indeed an important individual in every person’s life due to the various characteristics associated with it as Mary Whiton Calkins addressed it. The characteristics included aspects such as relation to consciousness, ability to experience change, having specific identity, uniqueness, and totality (Strunk, 1972). Uniqueness in the context in which Mary Whiton Calkins understood self-consciousness is because there is a distinction of every individual, and however, similar two or more individuals could be, none will ever take the place of the other. On the characteristics of identity and embracing change, Mary Whiton Calkins identifies that in identity, an individual’s personal self as an adult should always be of similarity to the same self of once a ten year old, however, in aspects pertaining to behavior, the adult self and that of 10 year old should exhibit significant differences (Wentworth, 1999). Ideally, all the above characteristics work in unison in the field of psychology in developing a conscious being and determining a conscious self. Relatedness is another important characteristic in the field of psychology, which is of substantive importance as Mary Whiton Calkins’ contribution to psychology despite the minority status of her female gender in the United States (Strunk, 1972). Ideally, relatedness brings into perspective the aspects pertaining to how an individual relates and associates with the environment, through both the behavior and functions. In both instances, and most especially the functionality, socialism plays a significant role in the development of self-consciousness and evidently the most important in the psychological field (Wentworth, 1999). Despite the importance of the above characteristics to individuals in the society, the concept behind them was never taken heavily. The female gender was considered a minority in the society and therefore, lacked the ability of making any significant contributions in the society. However, despite the great contribution to psychology on the aspect of self-consciousness, she never had the opportunity of being awarded her doctorate degree as the Harvard Collage maintained their refusal on the issue. Additionally, her influence on psychology has been overlooked in most instances by both a majority of scholars and students in equal measure, an occurrence majorly attributed to the gender discrimination in the United States during her era (Bohan, 2002). Sadly, on the 26th day of February 1930, Mary Whiton Calkins died of cancer. References Bohan, J. S. (2002). Sex differences and/in the self: Classic themes, feminist variations, postmodern challenges. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 26, 74-88. Furumoto, L. (1980). Mary Whiton Calkins (1863-1930). Psychology of Women Quarterly, 5, 55-68. Strunk, O. Jr. (1972). The self-psychology of Mary Whiton Calkins. Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences, 8, 196-203. Wentworth, P. A. (1999). The moral of her story: Exploring the philosophical and religious commitments in Mary Whiton Calkins self-psychology. History of Psychology, 2, 119-131 Read More