The Early Years of the American Psychological Association

I am proud to be a student affiliate of the American Psychological Association (APA) and I will be attending the annual convention this year. As this will be my first time attending the annual convention of the APA, I thought I would post on the history of the APA and their convention.

The American Psychological Association was formed in 1892 by a small group at Clark University with G. Stanley Hall as the first president (APA History). G. Stanley Hall, at the time, was also the president of Clark University. He invited this group of seven men to discuss the formation of an association to discuss psychological matters. At this time, they chose Hall as the president of the association and had determined the next meeting should be at the University of Pennsylvania in December of 1892 (The American Psychological Association: A Historical Summary 1892-1930).

The constitution of the APA was written at the annual meeting of 1894. This constitution gave requirements for membership, election of officers, and along with other duties of the association (The American Psychological Association: A Historical Summary 1892-1930). This article (which I provided a link to in the previous citation) discusses the constitution which was written in 1894. It is interesting to note that in this constitution there were only two classifications of membership: members and associates. I am not sure when they added affiliate membership such as students, high school teachers, and community college teachers.

 Membership of the APA remained relatively low for the first 50 years of its existence although it quickly picked up after the World War II. During WWII the APA reorganized which resulted in a broader conceptualization of psychology (APA History).

References

American Psychological Association. APA History and Archives. retrieved from http://www.apa.org/about/archives/apa-history.aspx

Green, C. D. (2000). The American Psychological Association: A Historical Summary 1892-1930 retrieved from http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Fernberger/1932/history.htm