Calkins, Mary Whiton

Calkins, Mary Whiton

(1863–1930) psychologist; born in Hartford, Conn. She studied at Harvard and taught at Wellesley College (1887–1929). During the 1890s, she conducted research on memorization-by-association at Harvard and was influenced by William James. Often called "the first lady of psychology," she was a personality theorist who described the self as an integral unit that could be studied in its many variables.

The Cambridge Dictionary of American Biography, by John S. Bowman. Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995. Reproduced with permission.