History of American Psychology

Research within Asian American psychology continually grows to include a range of topics that expand on the heterogeneity, hybridity, and multiplicity of the Asian American psychological experience. Still, research focused on distinct racialization and psychological processes of Asians in America is limited. To advance scientific knowledge on the study of race and racism in the lives of Asian Americans, we draw on Asian critical race theory and an Asian Americanist perspective that emphasizes the unique history of oppression, resilience, and resistance among Asian Americans. First, we discuss the rationale and significance of applying Asian critical race theory to Asian American psychology. Second, we review the racialized history of Asians in America, including the dissemination of essentialist stereotypes (e.g., perpetual foreigner, model minority, and sexual deviants) and the political formation of an Asian American racial identity beginning in the late 1960s. We emphasize that this history is inextricably linked to how race and racism is understood and studied today in Asian American psychology. Finally, we discuss the implications of Asian critical race theory and an Asian Americanist perspective to research within Asian American psychology and conclude with suggestions for future research to advance current theory and methodology.

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Contributions to the History of Psychology: LIV. Harry Miles Johnson: War without Peace

Psychological Reports ◽

10.2466/pr0.1989.64.3.907 ◽

1989 ◽

Vol 64 (3) ◽

pp. 907-913 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Wilse B. Webb

Keyword(s):

World War I ◽

Experimental Psychology ◽

History Of Psychology ◽

Accident Prevention ◽

World War ◽

American Psychology ◽

Johns Hopkins University ◽

History Of ◽

Psychology Program

Harry Miles Johnson (1885–1953) took his Ph.D. under John B. Watson at Johns Hopkins University. During World War I Johnson was the first “aviation psychologist” and did pioneering research in vision, accident prevention, and sleep. He founded the Ph.D. experimental psychology program at Tulane University. He was an acerbic critic of psychology from a position of “objective empiricism.” This position was modulated by his beliefs in the importance of applications of psychology and an emphasis on underlying philosophical issues. Despite a long and productive career, Harry M. Johnson is little remembered in the history of American psychology. This paper examines aspects of this paradox.

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