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Background

 * Margaret Floy Washburn was born July 25, 1871 as an only child in New York City. Her parents were Francis (an Episcopalian priest) and Elizabeth Washburn.
 * Her father was an avid reader and highly (and at times, violently) encouraged Margaret to take higher level education because of that. She filled her time with reading, music, and learning languages as well as traveling with her parents across the United States and Europe.
 * Margaret was homeschooled until the age of eleven when she attended public school.

Professional Education and Early Work

 * She then went to Vassar College and focused on chemistry and French and after graduation, she turned to psychology. This lead her to study under Cattell at Columbia University, where she was suggested to study at Cornell University under the Sage School of Philosophy.Margaret was given her MA degree "in absentia" for her work done with a psychologist named Titchener. She was also the first lady to get a Ph.D. in psychology.

Notable Years and Experiences

 * Washburn was mentioned in Cattell's list of 1,000 most important "men of science" as well as made cooperating editor of the American Journal of Psychology. She believed that mental events are valid and important psychological areas of study, compared to the common belief that mental events could not be observed. She studied every type of psychology such as behavioralism, structuralism, functionalism, and Gestalt psychology. Margaret was particularly acknowledged for her theory of consciousness and researched aesthetic inclinations towards color and sounds as well as psychology of the emotional processes.
 * She was known for experimenting on and studying animals and for writing the book // The Animal Mind //.
 * Later on in her life, Margaret was one of the four coeditors for the American Journal of Psychology. She was also elected president of the American Psychological Association as well as to the National Academy of Sciences in 1931. She did pass away in 1939 at age 68.

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