Untold Lives: The First Generation of American Women Psychologists

by Elizabeth Ann Scarborough, Laurel Furomoto

It is a measure of the significance of Untold Lives that their superb scholarship not only enables the reader to appreciate the accomplishments of such remarkable women, but also offers a tantalizing glimpse into some issues of central importance in understanding the current status of scientific psychology. (Mary B Parlee, City University of New York )

Genres: Psychology

236 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1987

About the author

Elizabeth Ann Scarborough was born March 23, 1947, and lives in the Puget Sound area of Washington. Elizabeth won a Nebula Award in 1989 for her novel The Healer's War, and has written more than a dozen other novels. She has collaborated with Anne McCaffrey, best-known for creating the Dragonriders of Pern, to produce the Petaybee Series and the Acorna Series.

Reviews

[Liz · Rating 5 out of 5]

I checked this book out because it was genuinely so difficult to find Any academic information on early women in psychology. I’m so grateful to Furumoto and Scarborough for their work with the history of women in psychology, immortalizing their names when not many have.

[Liam · Rating 3 out of 5]

While the content of this book is important, I thought the prose wasn't great. I also disliked the structure. Since (most) chapters focused on a single psychologist at a time instead of overall themes and issues, there was a lot of repetition. Many of these women experienced the same (or similar) struggle, after all. The chapters also jumped around in time, quite often without reason. One second, I'd be reading about how one psychologist died, but then the next page would describe her childhood, before jumping forward to somewhere in the middle of her professional career. It felt very disjointed.

I might have liked this book better had I not already read my textbook's chapter on women psychologists. Unfortunately, my textbook provided almost as much information in 50 pages as this book did in 250.

[izad]

REF: La imaginación feminista: Debates y transformaciones disciplinares en el capítulo de Dau García Dauder

[Joy Fox · Rating 4 out of 5]

These are my thoughts after reading "Untold Lives". Women who excel academically have a habit of doing things well, especially in light of the times Puffer lived. She actually had to be better than a man academically to have had any advantage; therefore she most likely developed a very high internal locus of control. If one carries this over to raising children, there is likely no difference in perspective—one must do this well too. Puffer commented upon motherhood stating that it “. . . produces a kind of psychological disability for concentrated mental effort . . .” (p. 86). She felt this was an either/or situation: either children suffer or the profession suffers by both becoming diluted because of each other. She saw no solution.

I see gender as a salient diversity issue, especially since I grew up in times that did not provide as well for women as in present times. My own mother modeled a very different set of advantages for women than current mothers model for their children. Considering the changes we have seen in American society in a rather short span of time (about 30 years), it seems that these changes have accelerated toward the liberation of motivated women when comparing Puffer’s time to my mother’s time (about 50 years). I think this is because the 25 women in The First Generation of American Women Psychologists paved the way through their dedication, perseverance, and longing for knowledge. In this commentary, I want to acknowledge and salute progressive men. If it was not for the support of such men, women would have it no different than they had in Puffer’s day. Even Puffer’s husband, Ben, helped her around the house, which was probably unheard of in her day, so thank you Ben, and thank you to all the other supportive and caring men who have lightened women’s burdens on the home front (i.e., childrearing, house maintenance and upkeep, and kind words of encouragement). Professionally, the text stated, “. . . men in leadership positions who acknowledged women’s potential were willing to sponsor them” (p. 136). I think these men were brave, and educated American women own them a debt of gratitude.

That said, I was disappointed to learn of Seashore’s limiting attitude regarding women who held advanced degrees in psychology. I was especially unhappy to read he allegedly ‘thwarted’ the academic achievement of Mabel Clare Williams at the University of Iowa, yet made statements that women did not achieve the same type of job status as men with similar educations. It appears through the account in Untold Lives that career advancement was much more secure for educated women if they did not compete with men; therefore, teaching at women’s colleges was the most likely career path. I wonder if educated women in other professions felt the same way during the twentieth century. I suspect this might not have been true for medical doctors. I say this because I knew a woman doctor who was one of three females allowed into medical school during the early 1900s. I asked her how she got along in an educational environment composed mainly of males, and she replied that they were all gentlemen.

To sum up, I was very interested in Scarborough and Furumoto’s book, as their perspective obtained from historical documents provided unique insights into our psychological female predecessors. I see them as pioneers and hold feelings of veneration for them.