Our History
In the year 1875, renowned Harvard philosopher, William James, launched the discipline of Psychology in America by offering a course in Physiological Psychology and establishing the first Psychology laboratory in the country. A mere decade later, in its first year of existence, Arizona State University’s progenitor, the Arizona Normal School, established its claim in Psychology with the initiation of a course in General and Educational Psychology.
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The Original Building, a 4-room Schoolhouse (1890)The original plot of land on which Arizona State University is built was purchased from George and Martha Wilson of Tempe in 1885. The Wilsons exchanged their 20 acre cow pasture for $500, and ASU has been a wellspring of fertile ideas ever since.
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Our fifth Principal, Dr. James McNaughton, is credited with being the first Psychology Professor at the Normal School. (see <http://www.asu.edu/lib/archives/asustory/pages/07lead.htm > and <http://www.asu.edu/lib/archives/asufirsts.htm>). Dr. McNaughton, Principal from 1895-1899, also introduced football to the burgeoning school. |
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In 1925, the Normal School became Tempe State Teachers College (and soon after the Arizona State Teachers College) and was authorized to grant a Bachelor’s Degree in Education. At that time, three Psychology courses were offered in the Department of Education. In 1932, a Department of Psychology was established and, with the part-time assistance of several faculty members from Education, 12 more courses in Psychology were gradually added. In 1937, the College was authorized to grant a Master of Arts in Education, and graduate courses in Psychology were initiated.
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Due to the expanding curriculum, in 1946 the school was renamed Arizona State College, and in 1958, Arizona State University. In 1946 the Psychology Department began to offer a major leading to a B.S. degree, and in 1953 it moved from Education to the newly formed College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. In 1959 the department established both its Clinical Training Program and the Psychology Clinic (renamed the Clinical Psychology Center in 1969). After many years of being located in the Old Main Building, and two in Lyceum, in 1960 the department moved to the new Social Sciences Building. In 1965, Psychology began offering Ph.D.s, and in 1971 had programs offering degrees in three administrative areas: Clinical Psychology, Experimental & Physiological Psychology, and Social & Environmental Psychology. |
Drs. Carolyn and Arthur Staats, Psychology Professors in the 1950s.
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In 1971, the department moved once again, to its current location in the Psychology Building on McAllister Avenue (we also later expanded northward into the Technology Center, renamed the Psychology North building in 2004).
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In 1983, the Social Psychology faculty approved the addition of an applied emphasis to the program, and the Experimental program endorsed a plan to emphasize cognitive processes. In 1985, a Developmental Psychology program was established, and the Clinical Psychology program added an emphasis in health psychology to its existing one in child & community psychology. In 1998, a Quantitative Psychology program was established, and in 2002, the Experimental area regrouped into two programs, Cognition & Behavior, and Behavioral Neuroscience. In 2004, the college of Liberal Arts and Sciences formed three subdivisions with Psychology in the Natural Sciences and Mathematics Division. The department currently has six programs: Behavioral Neuroscience; Clinical; Cognition, Action, & Perception; Developmental; Quantitative; and Social. In recent national polls, we consistently rank as one of the top 50 Psychology programs in the country (e.g. National Research Council and U.S. News and World Reports ).
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Departmental Chairs |
Arizona State Regents Professors |
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NAME |
Ph.D. INSTITUTION |
YEARS CHAIR |
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John O. Grimes |
U. Michigan |
1931-1941 |
Lee Meyerson |
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H. Clay Skinner |
New York U. |
1941-1959 |
Nancy Eisenberg |
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Hudson Jost |
Yale University |
1959-1962 |
Robert Cialdini |
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Art J. Bachrach |
U. Virginia |
1962-1968 |
Nancy Russo |
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George A. Peek [CLAS Dean - Interim Chair] |
1968-1969 |
Irwin Sandler |
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Gus Levine |
Columbia U. |
1969-1970 |
Laurie Chassin |
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Austin Jones |
U. Rochester |
1970-1974 |
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Len Goodstein |
Columbia U. |
1974-1979 |
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Peter Killeen |
Harvard U. |
1979-1983 |
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Stanley Parkinson |
U. California, Davis |
1983-1988 |
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William Uttal |
Ohio State U. |
1988-1991 |
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Jay Braun |
Ohio State U. |
1991-1998 |
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Darwyn Linder |
U. Minnesota |
1998-2004 |
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Keith Crnic |
U. Washington |
2005-Present |
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Office Manager Mary Redondo with her Six Consecutive Chairs Spanning Thirty Years (1974-2004)
From Left: Redondo, Darwyn Linder, Jay Braun, Bill Uttal, Stan Parkinson, Peter Killeen, Len Goodstein
PAST LUMINARIES
The University and Department achieve National Acclaim
The Birth of a Department