Margaret Floy Washburn

Margaret Floy Washburn (July 25, 1871 – October 29, 1939) was a leading American psychologist in the early 20th century, best known for her experimental work in animal behavior and motor theory development. She was the first woman in the United States to earn a PhD in psychology, which she received in 1894. She later became the second woman to serve as president of the American Psychological Association, in 1921, and was the first woman elected to the Society of Experimental Psychologists. A 2002 survey ranked her as the 88th most cited psychologist of the 20th century.

Born in New York City and raised in Harlem, she was the only child of an Episcopal priest and a mother from a prosperous New York family. She learned to read well before starting school at age seven, advancing quickly, and graduated high school at fifteen. She entered Vassar College as a preparatory student due to lacking Latin and French, and there developed a strong interest in philosophy. Determined to study under James McKeen Cattell at Columbia University, she was admitted only as an auditor because Columbia had not yet admitted a woman graduate student. Cattell treated her as a normal student, and after a year encouraged her to obtain a PhD at Cornell University. At Cornell, she studied under E. B. Titchener, conducting experimental work on tactual perception. She earned her master’s degree from Vassar in absentia in 1893, and in June 1894 became the first woman in the U.S. to receive a PhD in psychology. Her master’s dissertation was translated and published by Wilhelm Wundt.

After graduation, she chaired psychology, philosophy, and ethics at Wells College for six years. She then served as warden of Sage College at Cornell for two years, followed by an assistant professorship at the University of Cincinnati, where she was the only woman on the faculty. In 1903, she returned to Vassar College as Associate Professor of Philosophy and head of the newly founded psychology department, remaining there for the rest of her life. She published 68 studies from the Vassar Undergraduate Laboratory between 1905 and 1938, the largest series from any American university at the time. She used money gifted by students for scholarship aids in the psychology department. Her love of cats inspired her animal behavior work; she owned two cats, the first named Hiram, and reported observations of his behavi