June Etta Downey

A Biography of June Etta Downey South Georgia Technical College August 20, 2010 June Etta Downey (1875-1932), Psychologist. Born on July 13, 1875, in Laramie, Wyoming. June came from a pi whizer family that contri aloneed a great deal to the maturation of the state. Her father, Colonel Stephen W. Downey was one of the first territorial delegates to the United States Congress from Wyoming, and it was largely by dint of his efforts that the University of Wyoming was established. Downey, like some other females pursuing schoolmaster careers, had to face many odds in order to achieve her goals.In early 1900s the reckon of a professional woman was an unusual sight, particularly in a small place like Laramie. Most professional females were destined to set about school teachers if they were not married. Downey avoided marriage in order to continue her higher(prenominal) education and being free to pass away in the field she forever wanted experimental psychology. Downey graduated fr om the University of Wyoming in 1895. After a socio-economic class of belief at the University of Chicago, where in 1898 she took a masters layer in Philosophy and Psychology.In that year she joined the faculty of the University of Wyoming as an instructor of Philosophy as well. In the summer of 1901 she studied Psychology low Edward Bradford Titchener at Cornell University. She was promoted to assistant prof of English and Philosophy in 1902 and to Professor in 1905. In 1904 she published a volume of poems tit lead supernal Dykes. After a sabbatical year of further study at the University of Chicago, she was awarded her P. H. D. in 1908, and on her return to the University of Wyoming she became head of her department.Downey soon gave up the teaching of English to concentrate on Philosophy and Psychology, and the title of her professorship was changed formally to that in 1915. A gifted and often ingenious experimenter, Downey followed her principal refer in the Psychology of a esthetics into many areas of the arts and the mental processes associated with them. Downeys work in muscle muscle pee-pee, handwriting, handedness, color perception, and such topics led to deeper investigations into personality and creativity.Her work resulted in more than 60 articles in professional journals and several books, including Graphology and the Psychology of Handwriting, 1919 Plots and Personalities, with Edward E. Slosson, 1922. Downey was greatly interested in the creative arts. She wrote poems, plays, and stories passim her life. She even wrote the school Alma Mater for the University of Wyoming. In 1911, she published the Imaginal Reaction to poetry, one of the most important experiments involving arts. This study examined the images people had in response to ready poetry.Downey believed that variation in such images revealed differences in character. Downeys preliminary work personality led her to the creation of the Downey Will-Temperament Test. The Will-Temper ament and Its Testing, a report on her approach to test clinically aspects of personality other than intelligence, 1923 and Creative Imagination Studies in the Psychology of Literature, 1929. She as well as published Kingdom of the Mind, a book on the experimental psychology for young readers, in 1927.Although the report presented several limitations itself, it brought the prudence of several influential psychology exponents. Although highly valuable in disembodied spirit and originality, the Downey tests also possessed great weaknesses. Downey continually pointed to the importance of the intra-individual relationship of the subtests, but did not provide any norms for comparisons. The tests had poor reliability, the subtests were very short and those subtests that supposedly measured similar traits did not correlate highly with each other.The tests also possessed poor validity, at least when the results were compared to personality ratings. In addition, thither were complaints t hat the administration was complicated and the scoring was too subjective. All of these weaknesses prevented the tests from being more widely accepted, and Downey was planning to revise the tests at the time of her death. Despite her visibility, Downey neer craved the spotlight. As she grew older, she concentrated on her teaching and left Laramie.Downey was recognised as an outstanding scholar in her field by resource to the Society of Experimentalists and membership on the council of the American Psychological Association in 1923-1925. In the last decade of her life she received many forms of recognition, including try-on to APA Council, membership in the Society of Experimentalists, and election as a chap of the American association of the Advancement of Service. She was also an inspiring teacher and a valuable asset to her university in its early years.Downey became ill while aid the Third International Congress on Eugenics in peeled York City. She died twain months later of cancer at the home of her sister in Trenton, New Jersey on October 11, 1932. She was 57 years old. The University held a memorial helper for her and a bronze plaque was unveiled in her honor. References 1. Uwadmnweb. Uwyo. edu/a&s/Development/People/Downey-June%2006. html 2. www. psych. yorku. ca/femhop/June%20Downey. htm 3. Ww. britannica. com/EBChecked/topic/170477/June-Etta-Downey