Psychological Bulletin

Vol. 18, No. II. November, 1921 THE PSYCHOLOGICAL BULLETIN FURTHER STATISTICS OF THE AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION BY SAMUEL W. FERNBERGER University of Pennsylvania Boring1 has shown that the center of population of psychologists lies somewhere in central Pennsylvania. Another statistical treat- ment of the data of the membership of the American Psychological Association, namely, where psychologists did their major graduate work as indicated by the place of the taking of the Ph.D. degree, is also of interest in this connection. Data were obtained from the 1921 Year Book of the Association. A total of 377 members report the Ph.D. degree and the institution from which it was obtained. Of these, 36 are foreign degrees as follows: 14, Leipzig; 4 each from Berlin and Wurzburg; 3 each from Freiburg and Zurick; 2 each from Bonn and Halle; 1 each from Glasgow, Heidelberg, Jena and Strassburg. Thus the total number of American Ph.D.'s who also indicate the place of study is reduced to 341 which are distrib- uted as follows: 67, Columbia; 54, Chicago; 43, Harvard; 41, Clark; 33, Cornell; 19, Yale; 17, Hopkins; 16, Pennsylvania; 7, Iowa; 6, Michigan; 5, Stanford; 4, Illinois; 3 each from Geo. Wash- ington, Princeton and Radcliffe; 2 each from Boston, Brown, Byrn Mawr, Catholic, and Wisconsin; 1 each from Amherst, California, Illinois Wesleyan, Indiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New York University, Ohio State, and Union. Hence it appears that 75.1 per cent, of the American doctorates were obtained east of the Appalachian Mountains and 94.7 per cent, were obtained east of the Mississippi. Twice as many psychologists in America received their degrees abroad as received 1 BORING, E. G., PSYCHOU BULL, 1920,17, 271-278; 1921,18, 64. 569 570 SAMUEL W. FERNBERGER them west of the Mississippi. Professional American psychology seems to be largely an eastern product. One even more astonishing fact to be derived from these data is the relative dominance of a few institutions. In all, 30 institutions have granted a Ph.D. to at least one member of the American Psychological Association. Of these, five (Columbia, Chicago, Harvard, Clark and Cornell) have together granted 238 or 69.8 per cent, of all of the doctorates. Eight institutions (the five just mentioned plus Yale, Hopkins and Pennsylvania) have granted 290 or 85.0 per cent, of all of the American doctorates. The re- maining 22 institutions offering work for the Ph.D. degree have only granted 51 doctorates or 15 per cent, of the total number. It would seem that relatively few institutions in this country are producing the majority of men qualified for academic positions and hence are exerting an extreme influence on psychological thought in America. The situation with regard to where these men received their first psychological inspiration is very different, however. We may believe that a student receives his first inspiration at his undergraduate college or university and there acquires enough interest and curiosity with regard to the science to form the basis for his future psychological studies. We have therefore determined the frequency of individuals who have graduated from each undergraduate college represented in the Association Year Book. These data follow: 16, Indiana; 13, Chicago; 11 each from Cornell and Nebraska; 10 each from Harvard and Yale; 9 each from Amherst, California, and Michigan; 8 each from Columbia and Illinois; 7 each from Dartmouth, Pennsylvania, and Princeton; 6 each from Iowa, Stan- ford, and Vassar; 5 each from Missouri, Ohio State, Wellesley, Wil- liams, and Wisconsin; 4 each from Brown, Oregon, and Wesleyan; 3 each from Bethany, Clark, De Pauw, Haverford, Holyoke, Kan- sas, Northwestern, Ohio Wesleyan, Texas, and Vermont; 2 each from Arkansas, Barnard, Beloit, Bucknell, Campbell, Cincinnati, Colorado, Cornell College, Earlham, Hiram, Hopkins, Lafayette, Leander Clark, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Minnesota, Missouri Valley, Oberlin, Oklahoma, Randolph-Macon, Richmond, Rochester, Teachers College, Ursinus, Vanderbilt, Washington, and Wyoming; 1 each from Allegheny, Antioch, Augustana, Bates, Bow- doin, Bryn Mawr, Catholic, Central, Coe, College of the City of AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION 571 New York, Cumberland, Davidson, Denver, Dennison, Drake, Emory, Evansville, Franklin and Marshall, Furman, Gettysburg, Grand Island, Greenville, Grinnell, Gustavus Adolphus, Hamilton, Hedding, Hobart, Illinois College, Illinois Wesleyan, Juniata, Le- grange, Lebanon, Lombard, Michigan Agricultural College, Mari- etta, Monmouth, Muhlenberg, Muskingum, Nebraska State School, New Hampshire, Occidental, Olivet, Ouachita, Parsons, Radcliffe, Southwestern Presbyterian, Smith, South Carolina, South Dakota, Springfield Y. M. C. A., St. Andrews, St. Bonaventure, St. Lawrence, Swarthmore, Taylor, Temple, Texas Christian, Trinity (Conn.), Trinity (N. C), Tufts, Tulane, Union, Valparaiso, Vir- ginia, Wabash, West Virginia, West Virginia Wesleyan, William and Mary, and Wilson. Besides these, 16 persons received their inspiration outside of the United States as follows: Toronto, 5; McGill, 3; Oxford, 2; and one each from Acadia, Cambridge, Dalhousie, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Neuchatel. In the American "inspiration" list we find 105 institutions not represented in the list of institutions granting the Ph.D. Also, curiously enough, we find three institutions in the Ph.D. list which are not represented among the undergraduate colleges (Boston, George Washington, New York). Another fact that becomes evident from a study of the two lists is the loss of supremacy of the small number of universities granting the Ph.D.'s degree. While the five institutions (Columbia, Chicago, Harvard, Clark and Cornell) granted 69.8 per cent, of the American Ph.Ds., they only inspired 13.4 per cent, for psychological work. And while the eight institutions (the five just mentioned plus Yale, Hopkins and Pennsylvania) granted 85.0 per cent., they only inspired 19.0 per cent, for psychological work. The east also loses its supremacy in the matter of inspiration. One finds that only 48.2 per cent, received their initial inspiration east of the Appalachian Mountains while 75.1 per cent, were granted Ph.D. degrees in the same locality. Also only 76.4*per cent, received their inspiration east of the Mississippi as against 94.7 per cent, of doctorates from the same region. The geographical loca- tion of six institutions could not be determined in the World Al- manac but their inclusion would make very little difference in the percentages. Finally only 17.4 per cent, completed their graduate work in 572 SAMUEL W. FERNBERGER the same institution at which they received their initial inspiration. These facts would seem to indicate that, although the interest in psychology is widespread in this country and although one finds psychologists everywhere who are capable of arousing a lasting interest in the work among their students, still the number of laboratories, equipped to give adequate postgraduate work leading to the Ph.D. degree, is very small..

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