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Reflections on the golden age of Columbia psychology
Author(s) -
Thorne Frederick C.
Publication year - 1976
Publication title -
journal of the history of the behavioral sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.216
H-Index - 26
eISSN - 1520-6696
pISSN - 0022-5061
DOI - 10.1002/1520-6696(197604)12:2<159::aid-jhbs2300120207>3.0.co;2-t
Subject(s) - columbia university , staffing , psychology , genius , orientation (vector space) , field (mathematics) , sociology , management , psychoanalysis , media studies , political science , law , mathematics , developmental psychology , geometry , pure mathematics , economics
This paper discusses the Golden Age (1920–1940) of the Columbia University psychology department and analyzes some of the sources of its strengths and weaknesses. Much of the credit goes to Robert S. Woodworth, the dean of American experimental psychology, who set up the objective eclectic orientation of the department, recruited a remarkable group of competent faculty members, and above all kept up a cooperative unified spirit in the department. Because the Columbia University psychology department was so influential during its Golden Age, its organization, staffing and departmental characteristics are analyzed. Probably the key to its success was the capability of its guiding genius, Robert S. Woodworth, who gathered a remarkable group of scholars about him. Woodworth's objective eclectic orientation provided the broadest possible approach within a rigorous experimental‐statistical orientation. Woodworth's scholarly approach pervaded the department so that many of his colleagues also wrote pioneering encyclopedic works in their particular fields of specialization. The writings of the Columbia psychologists truly shaped the field.