1909

On Aug. 20, Sigmund Freud fainted in the presence of Carl Jung, who later attributed the incident to a conversation between the two men about corpses found in a peat bog and Freud's inference that Jung's choice of topic symbolized his wish that Freud were dead. Freud attributed the incident to fatigue and wine.

1947

The importance of psychology in winning World War II and in consolidating the peace was a focus of the first Scandinavian Meeting of Psychologists, held Aug. 5 in Oslo. About 400 psychologists from Finland, Iceland, Denmark, Sweden and Norway attended.

1956

On Aug. 9, a computer successfully completed for the first time a simulation of human problem-solving. Psychologists Herbert A. Simon and Allen Newell were the principal investigators on this project. Their program used heuristic problem-solving methods to prove Theorem 2.01 of Whitehead and Russell's "Principia Mathematica."

1975

On July 9, the National Institute of Mental Health released "Behavior Modification: Perspective on a Current Issue," the government's first study on behavior modification. The report described successes in treating phobias, compulsive behavior and sexual dysfunction and cautioned against abuses of the legal rights of treated individuals.

1977

In July, Missouri became the last of the 50 states to adopt a law regulating the licensure of psychologists.

Source: APA Historical Database, created and maintained by Warren R. Street, Central Washington University, and published as "A Chronology of Noteworthy Events in American Psychology" (APA, 1994).



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