who received the first phd in psychology from harvard

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Biography of Psychologist G. Stanley Hall

Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

Emily is a board-certified science editor who has worked with top digital publishing brands like Voices for Biodiversity, Study.com, GoodTherapy, Vox, and Verywell.

G. Stanley Hall (bottom center in photo) was a psychologist best known as the first American to earn a Ph.D. in psychology and the first president of the American Psychological Association. He also had a significant influence on the early development of psychology in the United States.

Through his work as a teacher, Hall influenced a number of other leading psychologists, including John Dewey and Lewis Terman , a student of his. According to a 2002 review of eminent psychologists of the twentieth century, Hall was ranked as the 72nd most influential psychologist, a ranking he shared with Terman.

Best Known For

• First president of the American Psychological Association (APA) in 1892
• Founder the first American psychology laboratory at John Hopkins University
• First American to earn a Ph.D. in psychology

His Early Life

Granville Stanley Hall was born on February 1, 1844. He grew up on a farm in Ashfield, Massachusetts. His father was a politician and his mother a teacher, an upbringing that had an early influence on his love of learning. 

He enrolled at Williston Academy in 1861, but later transferred to Williams College. After his graduation in 1867, he attended Union Theological Seminary. His initial studies and work centered on theology.

However, like many students of this time period, he was inspired to turn to psychology by Wilhelm Wundt's Principles of Physiological Psychology . While it was still a very young field, Hall's readings inspired him to make the switch from philosophy to psychology.

Hall went on to earn a doctorate in psychology from Harvard University under psychologist William James and Henry P. Bowditch. G. Stanley Hall holds the distinction of being the first American to receive a Ph.D. in psychology. Hall also studied briefly in Wundt's experimental lab, noted as the first experimental psychology laboratory in the world.

Career and Accomplishments

When he returned to the U.S. following his time working with Wundt, Hall presented a series of lectures focused on education and then published his first written work, an analysis of German culture. 

While G. Stanley Hall initially began his career teaching English and philosophy, he eventually took a position as Professor of Psychology and Pedagogics at John Hopkins University. Among his many accomplishments was the creation of the American Journal of Psychology in 1887.

During his time at John Hopkins, he also established the first experimental psychology laboratory in the United States.

In 1888, Hall left John Hopkins University and became President of Clark University, where he would remain for the next 32 years.

Hall's approach represented a transitional period in psychological thought. Many of his ideas were still rooted in his conservative, Victorian upbringing, but they were also influenced by more modern 20th-century thought. 

While these years were a time of great professional triumph, but the period was marked by personal tragedy. In 1890, his wife and eight-year-old daughter both died of accidental asphyxiation. Later, his second wife was admitted to a mental hospital after years of erratic behavior.

Hall had a wide circle of friends and professional acquaintances throughout the world but also had his critics. He was professionally prolific, writing extensively and also founding a number of journals and associations.

In 1892, Hall was elected as the first president of the American Psychological Association. In 1909, he famously invited a group of psychologists, including Sigmund Freud , to speak at Clark University. The trip was Freud's first and only visit to the United States.

Contributions to Psychology

G. Stanley Hall's primary interests were in evolutionary psychology and child development . He was heavily influenced by Ernst Haeckel's recapitulation theory, which suggested that embryonic stages of an organism resemble the stages of development of the organism's evolutionary ancestors, a theory that is today rejected by most evolutionary scientists.

Hall was also a eugenicist, often opening expressing his racist views in writing. He also led a number of organizations devoted to eugenics. The eugenics movement suggested that the human population would be improved by promoting reproduction in groups thought to be genetically superior to others.

While much of Hall's work is considered outdated and unscientific by today's standards, some of his writings on adolescence remain relevant.  

Hall devoted a large amount of his work to understanding adolescent development , particularly in the area of aggression. He is often referred to as "the father of adolescence" thanks to his early interest and emphasis on this critical point in development.

He described two different types of aggression , which were relational aggression and physical aggression. Where he suggested that physical aggression was more common among males, he believed that females were more likely to exhibit relational aggression. This type of aggression involves tactics such as social exclusion and gossip.

Perhaps his greatest contribution was to the development and growth of early psychology. By the year 1893, Hall had supervised 11 out of the 14 doctorates in psychology that had been awarded in the United States. Some of those who studied under his influence include Lewis Terman , John Dewey, and James McKeen Cattell .

Hall's contributions helped establish psychology in the United States and paved the way for future psychologists.

He died on April 24, 1924, at the age of 80.

Select Publications

• Hall, G.S. (1904). Adolescence: Its Psychology and Its Relations to Physiology, Anthropology, Sociology, Sex, Crime, Religion, and Education. 2 vols. New York, Appleton.
• Hall, G.S. (1906). Youth: Its Education, Regiment, and Hygiene. New York, Appleton.
• Hall, G.S. (1911). Educational Problems. 2 vols. New York, Appleton.

Haggbloom SJ, Warnick R, Warnick JE, et. al. The 100 most eminent psychologists of the 20th century . Review of General Psychology . 2002;6(2):139–152. doi:10.1037/1089-2680.6.2.139

Arnett JJ. G. Stanley Hall's Adolescence : Brilliance and nonsense . Hist Psychol . 2006;9(3):186-197. doi:10.1037/1093-4510.9.3.186

Editors of Encyclopaedia Britanica. G. Stanley Hall . Encyclopaedia Britannica.

Parry M. G. Stanley Hall: Psychologist and early gerontologist .  Am J Public Health . 2006;96(7):1161. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2006.090647

Thorndike, EL. Biographical Memoir of Granville Stanley Hall. Vol 12. National Academy of Sciences; 1925.

By Kendra Cherry, MSEd Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

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Beth Adelson: 2018 Centennial Medal Citation

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How can the human mind help us find contentment in the face of our most difficult personal challenges? As an interdisciplinary scholar of meditation and cognition, Beth Adelson has devoted her professional life to addressing this question. Her work draws on early Buddhist teachings and practices, supported by her training in experimental and analytical cognitive science.

Adelson completed her PhD in psychology at Harvard in 1983 on a topic that was not widely familiar at the time: the scientific study of complex problem-solving. Her Harvard classmate Lisa Gualtieri, PhD ’89, a computer scientist interested in psychology who now teaches at Tufts University School of Medicine, greatly appreciated Adelson’s trailblazing work. “What Beth was doing to understand how people think about problem-solving and computer science was very seminal and very important,” she says.

Adelson’s work led to a broader understanding of mental processes, such as the ability to form abstract categories. Her achievements in cognitive science have been widely recognized; she has held faculty appointments at several universities—including Rutgers, where she is Professor Emerita of Psychology and Computer Sciences—and while on the faculty at Yale she was invited to serve as a program director for the National Science Foundation. She has been a principal investigator on a number of projects focused on benefiting society, including Girls in Engineering, Mathematics and Science, or GEMS, which gave underprivileged high-school girls the opportunity to work side-by-side with women science faculty at Rutgers, opening up career pathways that they might not otherwise have considered. Another of Adelson’s projects has focused on helping survivors of mass disasters, like the tsunami in Southeast Asia in 2004, by investigating the use of yoga breathing techniques to enable them to cope with post-traumatic stress.

Adelson’s research in complex cognition led her to the Brahma Viharas, the meditation practices of kindness, compassion, empathetic joy, and equanimity. Seeing how Brahma Vihara practice resulted in the growth of these qualities inspired her to focus her efforts on the relief of personal suffering. She spent seven years in retreat preparing for this work and has studied with many respected Buddhist teachers, including the Dalai Lama. To become a teacher herself, she took the Bodhisattva vow in 2012 and received the name Sopa Yeshe , or Patience Wisdom.

Adelson’s goal is to create ways to use ancient teachings and practices to address difficulties common in today’s society: finding accord in sometimes challenging personal, professional, or social relationships; finding ease in the face of acute and chronic pain; building strength of heart in times of physical and emotional change and loss; and staying with rather than giving into cravings, even in fear or pain. In teaching the meditations that she has developed for these concerns, Adelson provides clear instructions for practice. She then teaches her students to improvise: to choose and combine the practices that best address their difficulty at any given time.

The Dalai Lama has endorsed Adelson’s work on the Brahma Viharas in the context of the Shamatha Project, an extensive study of the long-term benefits of meditation practice. He writes: “I believe this research project has the potential to be of significant benefit for advancing scientific understanding of the effects of meditation… as well as in showing that traditional Buddhist meditative practices can be extremely effective in alleviating the inner causes of suffering and bringing forth the potentials of human consciousness in today’s world.”

Adelson is the founder of the 24th Street Sangha, a meditation community in Philadelphia that she leads as head teacher. Brian Arnell, a senior teacher at a nearby dharma center, notes that Adelson’s students depend on her for guidance and strength. “She has attracted quite a following because she is extremely kind, and because she’s effective,” Arnell says. “She encourages people to accept that they can transform their relationship to some of the difficulties they have in their lives. It’s really a pleasure to watch her work.”

Adelson’s colleagues admire her passion for using her knowledge to benefit others. Her Harvard classmate Jamshed Bharucha, PhD ’83, president emeritus of Cooper Union, appreciates her ability to translate early Buddhist teachings in a way that makes them relevant and accessible to contemporary audiences. “She’s been able to take the very ancient study of the mind, through Buddhist writings and meditative practice, and talk about it in a very contemporary way,” Bharucha says. “I think her academic training enabled her to be very articulate about it. She’s been able to distill from ancient writings and practices things that have validity and pertinence today.”

Beth Adelson , for your insight and perseverance in creating meditation texts and practices, and for your compassion and dedication in helping others replace fear and reactivity with kindness and contentment, we are proud to award you the 2018 Centennial Medal.

Read about the 2018 Centennial Medalists

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