The Eastern Psychological Association (abbreviated EPA) is a professional organization for

psychologist A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and interpretation of how indi ...

s in the

Eastern United States The Eastern United States, commonly referred to as the American East, Eastern America, or simply the East, is the region of the United States to the east of the Mississippi River. In some cases the term may refer to a smaller area or the East C ...

. It holds annual meetings where members present their research findings to colleagues. Established in 1896, it is the oldest regional psychological organization in the United States.

History

The Eastern Psychological Association was founded on April 27, 1896 as the Section of Anthropology, Psychology, and Philosophy of the

New York Academy of Science The New York Academy of Sciences (originally the Lyceum of Natural History) was founded in January 1817 as the Lyceum of Natural History. It is the fourth oldest scientific society in the United States. An independent, nonprofit organization wit ...

. In 1903, it was renamed as the "New York Branch" of the

American Psychological Association The American Psychological Association (APA) is the largest scientific and professional organization of psychologists in the United States, with over 133,000 members, including scientists, educators, clinicians, consultants, and students. It ha ...

(APA), with this name reaffirmed in 1930. It was renamed again to the "Eastern Branch" of the American Psychological Association in 1936, and obtained its current name in 1938. The group that would eventually become the Eastern Psychological Association was formed when some New York psychologists asked the New York Academy of Sciences to broaden their coverage to include the human sciences. The resulting Section of Anthropology, Psychology, and Philosophy met on the fourth Monday of every other month, starting in 1896. At first the anthropology and psychology papers were mixed, but in 1902 they settled on holding three meetings a year on psychology and three on anthropology. Before 1930, the organization was loosely organized, with no bylaws or constitution. Its only official officer was the Secretary who organized the meeting programming. Its change in identity to the New York Branch of the APA was the result of a 1901 APA bylaw change which allowed the establishment of local branches in response to the complaints Midwesterners had in attending APA meetings. On February 23, 1903

Edward Thorndike Edward Lee Thorndike (August 31, 1874 – August 9, 1949) was an American psychologist who spent nearly his entire career at Teachers College, Columbia University. His work on comparative psychology and the learning process led to the theory o ...

chaired the first official meeting of the New York Branch of the APA. At that first meeting

James McKeen Cattell James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguat ...

Franklin Henry Giddings Franklin Henry Giddings (March 23, 1855 – June 11, 1931) was an American sociologist and economist. Biography Giddings was born at Sherman, Connecticut. He graduated from Union College (1877). For ten years he wrote items for the Springfi ...

Livingston Farrand Livingston Farrand (June 14, 1867 – November 8, 1939) was an American physician, anthropologist, psychologist, public health advocate and academic administrator. Early life and education Born in Newark, New Jersey, to Dr. Samuel Ashbel Far ...

, and

Franz Boaz Franz Uri Boas (July 9, 1858 – December 21, 1942) was a German-American anthropologist and a pioneer of modern anthropology who has been called the "Father of American Anthropology". His work is associated with the movements known as historical ...

all read papers. Notable papers from other meetings in this period include

John B. Watson John Broadus Watson (January 9, 1878 – September 25, 1958) was an American psychologist who popularized the scientific theory of behaviorism, establishing it as a psychological school.Cohn, Aaron S. 2014.Watson, John B." Pp. 1429–1430 in ''T ...

’s “Psychology as the Behaviorist Views It,” given on the February 24, 1913 meeting—just before the same paper was published in the

Psychological Review ''Psychological Review'' is a bimonthly peer-reviewed academic journal that covers psychological theory. It was established by James Mark Baldwin (Princeton University) and James McKeen Cattell (Columbia University) in 1894 as a publication vehi ...

(no reaction to the paper was recorded). The first woman to present was Naomi Norsworthy, in March 1904. Her presentation, based on her PhD thesis, reported on the mental testing of 150 children in state institutions for the “

feeble-minded The term feeble-minded was used from the late 19th century in Europe, the United States and Australasia for disorders later referred to as illnesses or deficiencies of the mind. At the time, ''mental deficiency'' encompassed all degrees of educa ...

” and in special classes in New York City schools. Generally the meetings were not organized around a theme, with a few exceptions, such as a 1911 memorial session on

William James William James (January 11, 1842 – August 26, 1910) was an American philosopher, historian, and psychologist, and the first educator to offer a psychology course in the United States. James is considered to be a leading thinker of the lat ...

, who had died the previous year. Presenters were often faculty from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

and

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

and meetings were often held there. Compared to other conferences, the group was friendly to graduate students. For example, a student of James McKeen Cattell presented at the first meeting as the New York Branch and space was made for graduate work to be presented. The group continued to meet three times a year until 1925, holding regular meetings even though

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. In the 1920s members of the group grew concerned about the number of non-scientists in their midst. Because the New York Section had not required APA membership or any other membership requirements other than paying dues, a number of non-psychologists and applied psychologists had joined. Out of 150 members only 40 were APA members, the rest were “psychiatrists, educators, ministers, sociologists, graduate students” and likely lay members of the public who practiced psychology using their membership in the group as accreditation. The papers presented had also turned towards more applied, consulting directions, which concerned the more academic members of the group. For example a meeting in 1925 featured presentations by

Lillian Moller Gilbreth Lillian Evelyn Gilbreth (; May 24, 1878 – January 2, 1972) was an American psychologist, industrial engineer, consultant, and educator who was an early pioneer in applying psychology to time-and-motion studies. She was described in the 1940s ...

on “Motion Study and Psychology”, Bess Cunningham on “A Report of Studies of Pre-School Children”, Henry Link on “An Experiment in the Selection of Salesmen”, and

Anathon Aall Anathon August Fredrik Aall (15 August 1867 – 9 January 1943) was a Norwegian academic, philosopher and psychologist. Originally educated as a theologian, he became a professor of philosophy at University of Oslo. Background He was born at Nes ...

on “The Problem of Animal Mind” (the last with lantern illustrations). Out of these four talks, probably only Aall's would have been considered non-applied and thus "scientific." In 1930 two of the group’s leaders decided to address this issue and invited 360 psychologists who lived within 100 miles of New York City to a one-day meeting. On April 12, 1930, the invited psychologists, 240 in number met on the Heights campus of New York University and voted to form a scientific organization. They would re-form themselves as the New York Branch of the APA and to ask the APA Council of Directors to affirm its existence. They also appointed an executive committee to draft bylaws and decided henceforth hold a day-long meeting in the spring. This first meeting in 1930, presided over by Honorary President Robert S. Woodworth, is what the EPA counts as its first meeting and uses to number its meetings. The bylaws (published 1931) restricted membership to those who were either members or associates of APA who lived within a 100 mile radius of New York City, and who paid dues, set at $1. While non-members were allowed to attend meetings, they had to be sponsored by a member in order to present a paper. Graduate students were still encouraged to participate—they could join the APA as associates. The bylaws established that future programs wouldn’t rule out applied research, but that members needed to present experimental results. These changes resulted in the consulting psychologists withdrawing to their own organization, The New York State Association of Consulting Psychologists. Under pressure from psychologists who did not live in New York City, future meetings alternated between New York City locations and locations like Princeton and Yale. Eventually the group expanded its geographic catchment to include the eastern part of the US and Canada and renamed itself the Eastern Branch of the APA. Eventually the APA discontinued its branches and instead allowed regional groups to affiliate with the APA. In response, in 1938, the Eastern Branch voted to rename themselves The Eastern Psychological Association.

Presidents

The current president of the Eastern Psychological Association is Roseanne Flores. Past presidents of the EPA include: *

(1903-1904) * F. J. E. Woodbridge (1905) *R. MacDougall (1906-1907) * Adolf Meyer (1908-1910) * Robert S. Woodworth (1911-1912) *W. T. Bush (1913-1914) *

Albert Poffenberger Albert T. Poffenberger (1885–1977) was an American psychologist and a past president of the American Psychological Association (APA). Growing up in Pennsylvania, Poffenberger graduated from Harrisburg High School and Bucknell University. He wa ...

(1915-1918) *F. E. Carothers (1919-1920) *E. M. Achilles (1921-1922) *H. K. Nixone (1923-1925) * Henry Garrett (1926-1929) * Robert S. Woodworth (1930) *

Howard C. Warren Howard Crosby Warren (1867 – 1934) was an American psychologist and the first chairman of the Princeton University Psychology department. He was also president of the American Psychological Association in 1913. The Society of Experimental Psy ...

(1930-1931) *

Margaret Floy Washburn Margaret Floy Washburn (July 25, 1871 – October 29, 1939), leading American psychologist in the early 20th century, was best known for her experimental work in animal behavior and motor theory development. She was the first woman to be grante ...

(1931-1932) *

Raymond Dodge Raymond Dodge (1871–1942) was an American experimental psychologist who studied the movements of the eye, developed an instrument known as the Tachistoscope to discover new eye movements and conduct experiments around reading. He began his educ ...

(1932-1933) *

(1933-1934) *

Joseph Jastrow Joseph Jastrow (January 30, 1863 – January 8, 1944) was a Polish-born American psychologist, noted for inventions in experimental psychology, design of experiments, and psychophysics. He also worked on the phenomena of optical illusions, ...

(1934-1935) *

Herbert Langfeld Herbert Sidney Langfeld (July 24, 1879 – February 25, 1958) was an American psychologist and a past president of the American Psychological Association (APA). Biography Langfeld grew up in Philadelphia and was initially drawn to a diplomatic ca ...

(1935-1936) *

Karl Lashley Karl Spencer Lashley (June 7, 1890 – August 7, 1958) was a psychologist and behaviorist remembered for his contributions to the study of learning and memory. A ''Review of General Psychology'' survey, published in 2002, ranked Lashley as the 61 ...

(1937-1938) * Karl M. Dallenbach (1938-1939) *

Walter Samuel Hunter Walter Samuel Hunter (March 22, 1889 – August 3, 1954) contributed to psychology by leading an effort to develop psychology as a science.Walter S. Hunter: Pioneer Objectivist in Psychology,1954 Hunter was one of the first scholars of the time to ...

(1940-1941) *

Gardner Murphy Gardner Murphy (July 8, 1895 – March 18, 1979) was an American psychologist who specialized in social and personality psychology and parapsychology.Martin Seymour-Smith, Andrew C. Kimmens. (1996). ''World Authors, 1900-1950, Volume 3''. H.W. Wi ...

(1941-1942) *

Gordon Allport Gordon Willard Allport (November 11, 1897 – October 9, 1967) was an American psychologist. Allport was one of the first psychologists to focus on the study of the personality, and is often referred to as one of the founding figures of personal ...

(1942-1943) *

Edna Frances Heidbreder Edna Frances Heidbreder (May 1, 1890 - February 19, 1985) was an American philosopher and psychologist who explored the study of history, and made contributions toward the field of study in psychometrics, systematic psychology, and concept forma ...

(1943-1944) * Henry Garrett (1944-1945) *

Edwin Boring Edwin Garrigues (Garry) Boring (23 October 1886 – 1 July 1968) was an American experimental psychologist, Professor of Psychology at Clark University and at Harvard University, who later became one of the first historians of psychology. A ''Rev ...

(1945-1946) *

Anne Anastasi Anne Anastasi (December 19, 1908 – May 4, 2001) was an American psychologist best known for her pioneering development of psychometrics. Her generative work, ''Psychological Testing'', remains a classic text in which she drew attention to the ...

(1946-1947) *

J. McVicker Hunt Joseph McVicker Hunt (March 19, 1906 – January 9, 1991) was a prominent American educational psychologist and author. He promoted and researched concepts related to the malleable nature of child intelligence (also promulgated by Benjamin Bloom) ...

(1947-1948) * Otto Klineberg (1948-1949) *

Hadley Cantril Albert Hadley Cantril, Jr. (16 June 1906 – 28 May 1969) was an American psychologist from the Princeton University, who expanded the scope of the field. Cantril made "major contributions in psychology of propaganda; public opinion research; appl ...

(1949-1950) *

Carl Hovland Carl Iver Hovland (June 12, 1912 – April 16, 1961) was a psychologist working primarily at Yale University and for the US Army during World War II who studied attitude change and persuasion. He first reported the sleeper effect after studying th ...

(1950-1951) *

Frank A. Beach Frank Ambrose Beach, Jr. (April 13, 1911 – June 15, 1988) was an American ethologist, best known as co-author of the 1951 book ''Patterns of Sexual Behavior.'' He is often regarded as the founder of behavioral endocrinology, as his publication ...

(1951-1952) *

Neal E. Miller Neal Elgar Miller (August 3, 1909 – March 23, 2002) was an American experimental psychologist. Described as an energetic man with a variety of interests, including physics, biology and writing, Miller entered the field of psychology to pursue ...

(1952-1953) *

Harold H. Schlosberg Harold Schlosberg (January 3, 1904 – August 5, 1964) was an American psychologist who was professor of psychology at Brown University from 1928 until the end of his life. Born in Brooklyn, N.Y, Schlosberg earned his Bachelor's (1925) and Ph ...

(1953-1954) *

B. F. Skinner Burrhus Frederic Skinner (March 20, 1904 – August 18, 1990) was an American psychologist, behaviorist, author, inventor, and social philosopher. He was a professor of psychology at Harvard University from 1958 until his retirement in 1974. ...

(1954-1955) * Fred S. Keller (1956-1957) * Stuart W. Cook (1957-1958) *

Carl Pfaffmann Carl Pfaffmann (May 27, 1913 – April 16, 1994) was an American physiological psychologist, noted for his research of the senses of smell and taste. Pfaffman was a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sci ...

(1958-1959) *

James J. Gibson James Jerome Gibson (; January 27, 1904 – December 11, 1979) was an American psychologist and is considered to be one of the most important contributors to the field of visual perception. Gibson challenged the idea that the nervous system ...

(1959-1960) * Stanley Smith Stevens (1960-1961) * George A. Miller (1961-1962) * Richard L. Solomon (1962-1963) *

David McClelland David Clarence McClelland (May 20, 1917 – March 27, 1998) was an American psychologist, noted for his work on motivation Need Theory. He published a number of works between the 1950s and the 1990s and developed new scoring systems for th ...

(1964-1965) *

Eliot Stellar Eliot Stellar (November 1, 1919 – October 12, 1993) was an American a physiological psychologist noted for his research of the physiological processes of the brain and how they affect motivation and behavior. The National Academy of Sciences ca ...

(1965-1966) * James Deese (1966-1967) *

Eleanor J. Gibson Eleanor Jack Gibson (7 December 1910 – 30 December 2002) was an American psychologist who focused on reading development and perceptual learning in infants. Gibson began her career at Smith College as an instructor in 1932, publishing her firs ...

(1967-1968) *

Morton Deutsch Morton Deutsch (February 4, 1920 – March 13, 2017) was an American social psychologist and researcher in conflict resolution. Deutsch was one of the founding fathers of the field of conflict resolution. A '' Review of General Psychology'' surve ...

(1968-1969) * Joseph V. Brady (1970-1971) * Roger Brown (1971-1972) * William N. Schoenfeld (1972-1973) * Jerome L. Singer (1973-1974) *

Jerome Kagan Jerome Kagan (February 25, 1929 – May 10, 2021) was an American psychologist, who was the Daniel and Amy Starch Research Professor of Psychology at Harvard University, as well as, co-faculty at the New England Complex Systems Institute. He was ...

(1974-1975) *Lorrin A. Riggs (1975-1976) *

Julian Rotter Julian B. Rotter (October 22, 1916 – January 6, 2014) was an American psychologist known for developing social learning theory and research into locus of control. He was a faculty member at Ohio State University and then the University of Conn ...

(1976-1977) *

Julian Hochberg Julian Edward Hochberg (July 10, 1923 – May 22, 2022) was an American psychology researcher and the Centennial Professor Emeritus of Psychology at Columbia University. Much of Hochberg's research involved visual perception. Before coming to Colum ...

(1977-1978) *

Leon Kamin Leon J. Kamin (December 29, 1927 – December 22, 2017) was an American psychologist known for his contributions to learning theory and his critique of estimates of the heritability of IQ. He studied under Richard Solomon at Harvard and contributed ...

(1978-1979) * Robert Perloff (1980-1981) * Mary Henle (1981-1982) *

Judith Rodin Judith Rodin (born Judith Seitz, September 9, 1944) is a philanthropist with a long history in U.S. higher education. She was the president of the Rockefeller Foundation from 2005 until 2017. From 1994 to 2004, Rodin served as the 7th permanent p ...

(1982-1983) * Virginia S. Sexton (1983-1984) *

Florence Denmark Florence Harriet Levin Denmark (born January 28, 1932) is an American psychologist and a past president of the American Psychological Association (APA) (1980-1981). She is a pioneering female psychologist who has influenced the psychological scie ...

(1985-1986) * Robert A. Rescorla (1986-1987) * Ethel Tobach (1987-1988) *Edwin P. Hollander (1988-1989) *Doris R. Aaronson (1989-1990) * Linda Bartoshuk (1990-1991) *

Russell Church Russell M. Church (December 24, 1930 – May 24, 2021) was an American psychologist, who was the Edgar L. Marston professor of psychology at Brown University, having formerly served as the Charles Pitts Robinson and John Palmer Barstow Professor ...

(1991-1992) *Lewis P. Lipsitt (1992-1993) *Norman E. Spear (1993-1994) * Kay Deaux (1994-1995) *George H. Collier (1995-1996) * Ludy T. Benjamin (1996-1997) *Bartley G. Hoebel (1997-1998) *

John Gibbon John Gibbon (April 20, 1827 – February 6, 1896) was a career United States Army officer who fought in the American Civil War and the Indian Wars. Early life Gibbon was born in the Holmesburg section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the fourt ...

(1998-1999) *Ralph R. Miller (1999-2000) *Barbara F. Nodine (2000-2001) *Jeremy M. Wolfe (2001-2002) *

Carolyn Rovee-Collier Carolyn Rovee-Collier (April 7, 1942 – October 2, 2014) was a professor of psychology at Rutgers University. Born in Nashville, Tennessee, she was a pioneer and an internationally renowned expert in cognitive development. She was named one of ...

(2002-2003) *Peter Balsam (2003-2004) *Mark Bouton (2004-2005) *Stanley Weiss (2005-2006) *Phillip Hineline (2006-2007) * Robert J. Sternberg (2007-2008) * Nora Newcombe (2008-2009) *Kurt Salzinger (2009-2010) *Ruth Colwill (2010-2011) *Andrew Delamater (2011-2012) *Debra A. Zellner (2012-2013) *Thomas Zentall (2013-2014) *Susan A. Nolan (2014-2015) *Terry Davidson (2015-2016) *Fred Bonato (2016-2017) * Susan Krauss Whitbourne (2017-2018) *Dana S. Dunn (2018–2019) *Amy Learmonth (2019-2020) *Bernard Beins (2020-2021) *Bonnie Green (2021-2022)

References

External links

*{{Official website, https://www.easternpsychological.org Psychology organizations based in the United States Organizations established in 1896 Organizations based in Maryland 1896 establishments in the United States