Psychology and gender at the turn of the century

The turn of the 20th century in America was a period of changing gender ideals. The younger generation of women pressed for economic independence and political rights. Men became caught up with the virility and physicality of the new standard of passionate manhood. These gender shifts were reflected in turn-of-the-century American psychology. With men dominating the discipline, the emerging scientific psychology projected the values of the new man. Several examples of this androcentric psychology are reviewed, including the views of such prominent psychologists as G. Stanley Hall, James McKeen Cattell, and William James. There were also a few women psychologists who challenged the androcentric bias by attempting to incorporate the values of the new woman, most notably Mary Whiton Calkins, Helen Thompson Woolley, and Leta Stetter Hollingworth.