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{{Short description|American psychologist and educator}}
{{Short description|American psychologist and educator}}
{{other people||James Burrill Angell}}
{{Infobox officeholder
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = James Rowland Angell
| name = James Rowland Angell
| image = James Rowland Angell cph.3a51566.jpg
| image = James Rowland Angell, President of Yale University.jpg
| order = 14th
| order = 14th
| title = [[List of Presidents of Yale University|President]] of [[Yale University]]
| title = [[President of Yale University]]
| term_start = 1921
| term_start = 1921
| term_end = 1937
| term_end = 1937
| predecessor = [[Arthur Twining Hadley]]
| predecessor = [[Arthur Twining Hadley]]
| successor = [[Charles Seymour]]
| successor = [[Charles Seymour]]
| birth_date = {{birth date|1869|5|8}}
| birth_date = {{birth date|1869|5|8}}
| birth_place = [[Burlington, Vermont|Burlington]], [[Vermont]]
| birth_place = [[Burlington, Vermont|Burlington]], [[Vermont]], U.S.
| death_date = {{death date and age|1949|3|4|1869|5|8}}
| death_date = {{death date and age|1949|3|4|1869|5|8}}
| death_place = [[Hamden, Connecticut|Hamden]], [[Connecticut]]
| death_place = [[Hamden, Connecticut]], U.S.
⚫
| spouse = {{marriage|Marion Isabel Watrous|1894|1931|end=divorced}}<br />{{Marriage|{{nowrap|[[Katharine Cramer Woodman]]}}|1932}}
| alma_mater = [[University of Michigan]]
⚫
| module = {{Infobox scientist
⚫
| spouse = Marion Isabel Watrous (1894–1931)<br /> [[Katharine Cramer Woodman]] (1932–1949)
⚫
| module = {{Infobox scientist
|embed = yes
|embed = yes
|image =
|image =
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| death_date =
| death_date =
| death_place =
| death_place =
|citizenship = [[United States|American]]
|ethnicity =
|ethnicity =
|field = [[Psychology]], [[Philosophy]]
|field = [[Psychology]]
|work_institution = [[Yale University]], [[University of Chicago]], [[University of Minnesota]]
|work_institution = [[Yale University]]<br />[[University of Chicago]]<br />[[University of Minnesota]]
|alma_mater =
|alma_mater =
|doctoral_advisor =
|doctoral_advisor =
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|prizes =
|prizes =
}}
}}
| education = [[University of Michigan]] ([[Bachelor's degree|BA]], [[Master's degree|MA]])<br />[[Harvard University]] ([[Master's degree|MA]])
}}
}}


'''James Rowland Angell''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|eɪ|n|dʒ|əl}}; May 8, 1869 – March 4, 1949) was an [[Americans|American]] [[psychologist]] and [[educator]]. He served as the [[List of Presidents of Yale University|President]] of [[Yale University]] between 1921 and 1937. His father, [[James Burrill Angell]] (1829–1916), was president of the [[University of Vermont]] from 1866 to 1871 and then the [[University of Michigan]] from 1871 to 1909.
'''James Rowland Angell''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|eɪ|n|dʒ|əl}}; May 8, 1869 – March 4, 1949) was an American psychologist and educator who served as the 16th [[President of Yale University]] between 1921 and 1937. His father, [[James Burrill Angell]] (1829–1916), was president of the [[University of Vermont]] from 1866 to 1871 and then the [[University of Michigan]] from 1871 to 1909.


==Biography==
==Biography==


===Early life and education===
===Early life and education===
Angell was born on May 8, 1869, in Burlington, Vermont. He was born into one of the stellar academic families in American history. A sixth-generation descendant of [[Thomas Angell]] who settled [[Providence, Rhode Island]], James's father, [[James Burrill Angell]], was the president of the [[University of Vermont]] and thence president of the [[University of Michigan]]. He was the youngest of three children, with an older brother and sister. When Angell was two years old, his family moved to Ann Arbor so that his father could take up the presidency of the [[University of Michigan]]. His maternal grandfather, [[Alexis Caswell]], was a professor of [[Mathematics]] and [[Astronomy]] at [[Brown University]], later becoming its president. He was also a charter member of the [[United States National Academy of Sciences|National Academy of Sciences]]. His brother [[Alexis C. Angell]] became a professor of law of Michigan, and later a federal judge. His sister's husband, [[Andrew C. McLaughlin]], was head of the history department at Michigan. His cousin, [[Frank Angell]], founded psychology laboratories at [[Cornell]] and [[Stanford]] Universities.
Angell was born on May 8, 1869, in Burlington, Vermont. He was born into one of the stellar academic families in American history. A sixth-generation descendant of [[Thomas Angell]] who settled [[Providence, Rhode Island]], James's father, [[James Burrill Angell]], was the president of the [[University of Vermont]] and thence president of the [[University of Michigan]]. He was the youngest of three children, with an older brother and sister. When Angell was two years old, his family moved to Ann Arbor so that his father could take up the presidency of the [[University of Michigan]]. His maternal grandfather, [[Alexis Caswell]], was a professor of mathematics and [[astronomy]] at [[Brown University]], later becoming its president. He was also a charter member of the [[United States National Academy of Sciences|National Academy of Sciences]]. His brother [[Alexis C. Angell]] became a professor of law of Michigan, and later a federal judge. His sister's husband, [[Andrew C. McLaughlin]], was head of the history department at Michigan. His cousin, [[Frank Angell]], founded psychology laboratories at [[Cornell]] and [[Stanford]] Universities.


Angell graduated from the [[University of Michigan]] with his bachelor's degree in 1890. He worked closely with [[John Dewey]], earning a master's degree under his supervision in 1891. At Michigan he was a member of [[Delta Kappa Epsilon]] fraternity (Omicron chapter). He then went to [[Harvard University]] where he received a second master's degree in 1892 in [[psychology]]. He studied for a doctorate in philosophy in Berlin and Halle. His dissertation on the treatment of freedom in Kant was accepted, but required stylistic changes, which he never completed.<ref>Dewsbury, D. (2003). James Rowland Angell, Born Administrator. In G. A. Kimble & M. Wertheimer (Eds.), ''Portraits of Pioneers in Psychology'' (vol. 5). APA & LEA</ref> Instead, he decided to take up a post at the [[University of Minnesota]] He did, however, receive 23 honorary degrees during his lifetime.<ref name=DNK>Kneessi, D. F. (2002). Datelines: James Rowland Angell. Retrieved from http://faculty.frostburg.edu/mbradley/psyography/datelines_jamesangell.html
Angell graduated from the [[University of Michigan]] with his bachelor's degree in 1890. He worked closely with [[John Dewey]], earning a master's degree under his supervision in 1891. At Michigan he was a member of [[Delta Kappa Epsilon]] fraternity (Omicron chapter). He then went to [[Harvard University]] where he received a second master's degree in 1892 in [[psychology]]. He studied for a doctorate in philosophy in Berlin and Halle. His dissertation on the treatment of freedom in Kant was accepted, but required stylistic changes, which he never completed.<ref>Dewsbury, D. (2003). James Rowland Angell, Born Administrator. In G. A. Kimble & M. Wertheimer (Eds.), ''Portraits of Pioneers in Psychology'' (vol. 5). APA & LEA</ref> Instead, he decided to take up a post at the [[University of Minnesota]]. He did, however, receive 23 honorary degrees during his lifetime.<ref name=DNK>Kneessi, D. F. (2002). Datelines: James Rowland Angell. Retrieved from http://faculty.frostburg.edu/mbradley/psyography/datelines_jamesangell.html {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160822082131/http://faculty.frostburg.edu/mbradley/psyography/datelines_jamesangell.html |date=2016-08-22 }}</ref>
</ref>


===Academic career===
===Academic career===
[[File:James Rowland Angell cph.3a51566.jpg|thumb|Portrait of Angell]]
In 1895, Angell was offered a position at the [[University of Chicago]] by [[John Dewey]], who had moved from Michigan the year before. Almost immediately, he co-authored an article with his Chicago colleague [[Addison W. Moore]]<ref>Angell, J. R. & Moore, A W. (1896). Studies from the psychological laboratory of the University of Chicago: 1. Reaction-Time: A study in attention and habit. Psychological Review, 3, 245-258. http://www.brocku.ca/MeadProject/Angell/Angell_Moore_1896.html</ref> that simultaneously settled a nasty dispute between [[Cornell]] psychologist [[Edward Bradford Titchener]] and [[Princeton University|Princeton]] psychologist [[James Mark Baldwin]] as well as laying the foundations for the school of [[Functional psychology|Functionalism]]. Later, while still at Chicago, Angell published the textbook ''Psychology; An Introductory Study of the Structure and Functions of Human Consciousness'' in 1904,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.brocku.ca/MeadProject/Angell/Angell_1906/Angell_1906_00.html |title = James Rowland Angell: Psychology: Preface and Table of Contents}}</ref> which became the major statement of the [[Functional psychology|functionalist approach]] to psychology. Angell noted that the goal of psychology was to study how the mind helps the organism adjust to the environment and [[Functional psychology|functionalism]] was a method in which to study consciousness and how it improves the organism relationship with the environment.<ref name=DNK/> In 1905 (the year after Dewey left Chicago for [[Columbia University]]), Angell became the head of the newly created psychology department at Chicago. During this time he served as the 15th and youngest president of the [[American Psychological Association]]. He also supervised the young [[John B. Watson]], who would later go on to found the behaviorist school of psychology. In 1908, Angell was raised to the level of Dean at Chicago, leaving the psychology department to another of his former students, [[Harvey Carr]]. During the last year of [[World War I]] Angell worked for the military under the supervision of [[Northwestern University]] psychologist [[Walter Dill Scott]]. The following year (1918), he returned to Chicago to serve as Acting President. The school would not make him president on a permanent basis, however, because he was not Baptist. In 1919 he left Chicago to head the [[United States National Research Council|National Research Council]]. In 1920, he headed the Carnegie Corporation of New York.
In 1895, Angell was offered a position at the [[University of Chicago]] by [[John Dewey]], who had moved from Michigan the year before. Almost immediately, he co-authored an article with his Chicago colleague [[Addison W. Moore]]<ref>Angell, J. R. & Moore, A W. (1896). Studies from the psychological laboratory of the University of Chicago: 1. Reaction-Time: A study in attention and habit. Psychological Review, 3, 245-258. http://www.brocku.ca/MeadProject/Angell/Angell_Moore_1896.html</ref> that simultaneously settled a nasty dispute between [[Cornell]] psychologist [[Edward Bradford Titchener]] and [[Princeton University|Princeton]] psychologist [[James Mark Baldwin]] as well as laying the foundations for the school of [[Functional psychology|Functionalism]]. Later, while still at Chicago, Angell published the textbook ''Psychology; An Introductory Study of the Structure and Functions of Human Consciousness'' in 1904,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.brocku.ca/MeadProject/Angell/Angell_1906/Angell_1906_00.html |title = James Rowland Angell: Psychology: Preface and Table of Contents}}</ref> which became the major statement of the [[Functional psychology|functionalist approach]] to psychology. Angell noted that the goal of psychology was to study how the mind helps the organism adjust to the environment and [[Functional psychology|functionalism]] was a method in which to study consciousness and how it improves the organism relationship with the environment.<ref name=DNK/> In 1905 (the year after Dewey left Chicago for [[Columbia University]]), Angell became the head of the newly created psychology department at Chicago. During this time he served as the 15th and youngest president of the [[American Psychological Association]]. He also supervised the young [[John B. Watson]], who would later go on to found the behaviorist school of psychology. In 1908, Angell was raised to the level of Dean at Chicago, leaving the psychology department to another of his former students, [[Harvey Carr]]. During the last year of [[World War I]] Angell worked for the military under the supervision of [[Northwestern University]] psychologist [[Walter Dill Scott]]. The following year (1918), he returned to Chicago to serve as Acting President. The school would not make him president on a permanent basis, however, because he was not Baptist. In 1919 he left Chicago to head the [[United States National Research Council|National Research Council]]. In 1920, he headed the Carnegie Corporation of New York.


===Yale presidency===
===Yale presidency===
In 1921, Angell was appointed [[List of Presidents of Yale University|President of Yale University]], the first non-Yale graduate to hold the position since the early 18th century. At Yale, he oversaw a major expansion of Yale's physical campus, including the completion of the [[residential colleges of Yale University|residential college system]] and [[Sterling Memorial Library]]. He remained president of the university until his retirement in 1937, at which point he became educational counselor of the [[NBC|National Broadcasting Company]]. He was elected a Fellow of the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]] in 1932.<ref name=AAAS>{{cite web|title=Book of Members, 1780-2010: Chapter A|url=http://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterA.pdf|publisher=American Academy of Arts and Sciences|access-date=18 April 2011}}</ref> As president of Yale, Angell was a proponent of [[eugenics]].<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Conniff|first1=Richard|title=God and white men at Yale|journal=Yale Alumni Magazine|date=May–Jun 2012|volume=LXXV|issue=5|url=https://yalealumnimagazine.com/articles/3456|access-date=7 November 2017|publisher=Yale Alumni Publications, Inc.|language=en-US}}</ref>
In 1921, Angell was appointed [[List of Presidents of Yale University|President of Yale University]], the first non-Yale graduate to hold the position since the early 18th century. That same year, he was elected as an honorary member of the Connecticut [[Society of the Cincinnati]]. At Yale, he oversaw a major expansion of Yale's physical campus, including the completion of the [[residential colleges of Yale University|residential college system]] and [[Sterling Memorial Library]]. He remained president of the university until his retirement in 1937, at which point he became educational counselor of the [[NBC|National Broadcasting Company]] (NBC). He was elected a member of the [[American Philosophical Society]] in 1924 and a Fellow of the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]] in 1932.<ref>{{Cite web |title=APS Member History |url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=James+R.+Angell&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced |access-date=2023-08-23 |website=search.amphilsoc.org}}</ref><ref name=AAAS>{{cite web|title=Book of Members, 1780-2010: Chapter A|url=http://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterA.pdf|publisher=American Academy of Arts and Sciences|access-date=18 April 2011}}</ref> As president of Yale, Angell was a proponent of [[eugenics]].<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Conniff|first1=Richard|title=God and white men at Yale|journal=Yale Alumni Magazine|date=May–Jun 2012|volume=LXXV|issue=5|url=https://yalealumnimagazine.com/articles/3456|access-date=7 November 2017|publisher=Yale Alumni Publications, Inc.|language=en-US}}</ref>


===NBC===
⚫
Angell died on March 4, 1949 in New Haven, Connecticut.
Angell's role at NBC was to "devise and suggest methods by which we may more capably serve radio's listening millions".<ref name="thb">{{cite book |last1=Mazow |first1=Leo G. |last2=Benton |first2=Thomas Hart |title=Thomas Hart Benton and the American Sound |date=2012 |publisher=Penn State Press |isbn=978-0-271-05083-6 |page=130 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=emHWx_0DDOcC&dq=%22Art+for+Your+Sake%22+NBC&pg=PA124 |access-date=December 13, 2023 |language=en}}</ref> He often wrote about that topic and lectured about it. Angell was a driving force behind the development of the art-appreciation program ''[[Art for Your Sake]]'', which debuted on NBC radio in October 1939. He was also chairman of the Board of Trustees of the National Art Society, which devoted efforts to "'mass production plus mass distribution' of cultural products".<ref name=thb/>

===Death===
⚫
Angell died on March 4, 1949, in New Haven, Connecticut.


===Marriages===
===Marriages===
Line 73: Line 75:
==Criticisms==
==Criticisms==
James Angell did have some criticism come his way for his views. The backlash from some about his implication of leaving out the [[Structuralism (psychology)|structuralism]] model in studies and having a completely [[Functional psychology|functionalist]] view did not sit well amongst some of his peers. There was also the dissecting of his works and the assumption that he contradicted himself in his view of what consciousness was and its function. Some think that he portrayed consciousness as more of a [[deux ex machina]] entity in its function due to his claim that the function of the conscious was to appear when the organism was in trouble and then disappear soon after the trouble had passed.<ref>Thilly, F. (1905) Untitled. [Review of the book: Psychology: An Introductory Study of the Structure and Function of Human Consciousness]. The Philosophical Review, 14, 481-487.</ref>
James Angell did have some criticism come his way for his views. The backlash from some about his implication of leaving out the [[Structuralism (psychology)|structuralism]] model in studies and having a completely [[Functional psychology|functionalist]] view did not sit well amongst some of his peers. There was also the dissecting of his works and the assumption that he contradicted himself in his view of what consciousness was and its function. Some think that he portrayed consciousness as more of a [[deux ex machina]] entity in its function due to his claim that the function of the conscious was to appear when the organism was in trouble and then disappear soon after the trouble had passed.<ref>Thilly, F. (1905) Untitled. [Review of the book: Psychology: An Introductory Study of the Structure and Function of Human Consciousness]. The Philosophical Review, 14, 481-487.</ref>
In her book ''Primate Visions: Gender, Race, and Nature in the World of Modern Science'', [[Donna Haraway]] writes that "Angell paradigmatically represented the elaborate interconnections of university, industry, philanthropy, and science policy in the development of the material structures and ideologies of scientific management of society." (p.&nbsp;67)<ref>{{cite book|last1=Haraway|first1=Donna|title=Primate Visions|url=https://archive.org/details/primatevisionsge0000hara|url-access=registration|date=1989|publisher=Routledge|isbn=0-415-902940|pages=[https://archive.org/details/primatevisionsge0000hara/page/67 67]}}</ref>
In her book ''Primate Visions: Gender, Race, and Nature in the World of Modern Science'', [[Donna Haraway]] writes that "Angell paradigmatically represented the elaborate interconnections of university, industry, philanthropy, and science policy in the development of the material structures and ideologies of scientific management of society." (p.&nbsp;67)<ref>{{cite book|last1=Haraway|first1=Donna|author-link=Donna Haraway|title=Primate Visions|url=https://archive.org/details/primatevisionsge0000hara|url-access=registration|date=1989|publisher=Routledge|isbn=0-415-902940|pages=[https://archive.org/details/primatevisionsge0000hara/page/67 67]}}</ref>


==Published books and articles==
==Published books and articles==
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* ''Chapters from Modern Psychology''
* ''Chapters from Modern Psychology''
* "The Influence of Darwin on Psychology" (part of a larger collection, ''Darwinism: Critical Reviews from Dublin Review, Edinburgh Review, Quarterly Review'')
* "The Influence of Darwin on Psychology" (part of a larger collection, ''Darwinism: Critical Reviews from Dublin Review, Edinburgh Review, Quarterly Review'')
* "The Evolution of Intelligence" (part of a larger collection, ''The Evolution of Man: A Series of Lectures Delivered before the Yale Chapter of the Sigma XI during the Academic Year 1921-1922'')
* "The Evolution of Intelligence" (part of a larger collection, ''The Evolution of Man: A Series of Lectures Delivered before the Yale Chapter of the [[Sigma Xi]] during the Academic Year 1921-1922'')


==Notes==
==Notes==
Line 89: Line 91:
* Dewsbury, D. (2003). James Rowland Angell, Born Administrator. In G. A. Kimble & M. Wertheimer (Eds.), ''Portraits of Pioneers in Psychology'' (vol. 5). APA & LE
* Dewsbury, D. (2003). James Rowland Angell, Born Administrator. In G. A. Kimble & M. Wertheimer (Eds.), ''Portraits of Pioneers in Psychology'' (vol. 5). APA & LE
* Hergenhahn, B. R. (2009). An Introduction to the History of Psychology. Belmont: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.
* Hergenhahn, B. R. (2009). An Introduction to the History of Psychology. Belmont: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.
* Kelley, Brooks Mather. (1999). [https://books.google.com/books?id=B2aDRhohtx8C&client=firefox-a ''Yale: A History.''] New Haven: [[Yale University Press]]. {{ISBN|978-0-300-07843-5}}; [http://www.worldcat.org/wcpa/oclc/810552 OCLC 810552]
* Kelley, Brooks Mather. (1999). [https://books.google.com/books?id=B2aDRhohtx8C ''Yale: A History.''] New Haven: [[Yale University Press]]. {{ISBN|978-0-300-07843-5}}; [http://www.worldcat.org/wcpa/oclc/810552 OCLC 810552]
* Kneessi, D. F. (2002). Datelines: james rowland angell. Retrieved from http://faculty.frostburg.edu/mbradley/psyography/datelines_jamesangell.html
* Kneessi, D. F. (2002). Datelines: james rowland angell. Retrieved from http://faculty.frostburg.edu/mbradley/psyography/datelines_jamesangell.html {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160822082131/http://faculty.frostburg.edu/mbradley/psyography/datelines_jamesangell.html |date=2016-08-22 }}
* Thilly, F. (1905) Untitled. [Review of the book: Psychology: An Introductory Study of the Structure and Function of Human Consciousness]. The Philosophical Review, 14, 481-487.
* Thilly, F. (1905) Untitled. [Review of the book: Psychology: An Introductory Study of the Structure and Function of Human Consciousness]. The Philosophical Review, 14, 481-487.
⚫
* {{Cite book |last=Hunter |first=W. S. |url=https://www.nasonline.org/publications/biographical-memoirs/memoir-pdfs/angell-james-r.pdf |title=James Rowland Angell 1869—1949: A Biographical Memoir |publisher=[[National Academy of Sciences]] |year=1951 |location=[[Washington, D.C.]]}}


==External links==
==External links==
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* [http://www.brocku.ca/MeadProject/Angell/Angell_1906/Angell_1906_00.html ''Psychology: An Introductory Study of the Structure and Function of Human Consciousness'']
* [http://www.brocku.ca/MeadProject/Angell/Angell_1906/Angell_1906_00.html ''Psychology: An Introductory Study of the Structure and Function of Human Consciousness'']
* [http://www.brocku.ca/MeadProject/Angell/Angell_1961.html Autobiographical article]
* [http://www.brocku.ca/MeadProject/Angell/Angell_1961.html Autobiographical article]
*[http://www.nasonline.org/publications/biographical-memoirs/memoir-pdfs/angell-james-r.pdf Memoir by W. S. Hunter]
⚫
* [http://www.nasonline.org/publications/biographical-memoirs/memoir-pdfs/angell-james-r.pdf National Academy of Sciences Biographical Memoir]
* {{Find a Grave}}
* {{Find a Grave}}
*James Rowland Angell, president of Yale University, records (RU 24). Manuscripts and Archives, Yale Univ. Library. [http://hdl.handle.net/10079/fa/mssa.ru.0024]
*James Rowland Angell, president of Yale University, records (RU 24). Manuscripts and Archives, Yale Univ. Library. [http://hdl.handle.net/10079/fa/mssa.ru.0024]
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[[Category:Presidents of the American Psychological Association]]
[[Category:Presidents of the American Psychological Association]]
[[Category:People from Ann Arbor, Michigan]]
[[Category:People from Ann Arbor, Michigan]]
[[Category:Members of the American Philosophical Society]]

Latest revision as of 13:12, 10 January 2024

James Rowland Angell
14th President of Yale University
In office
1921–1937
Preceded byArthur Twining Hadley
Succeeded byCharles Seymour
Personal details
Born(1869-05-08)May 8, 1869
Burlington, Vermont, U.S.
DiedMarch 4, 1949(1949-03-04) (aged 79)
Hamden, Connecticut, U.S.
Spouse(s)
Marion Isabel Watrous
​
​
(m. 1894; div. 1931)​

​
​
(m. 1932)​
EducationUniversity of Michigan (BA, MA)
Harvard University (MA)
Scientific career
FieldsPsychology
InstitutionsYale University
University of Chicago
University of Minnesota
Doctoral studentsJohn B. Watson

James Rowland Angell (/ˈeɪndʒəl/; May 8, 1869 – March 4, 1949) was an American psychologist and educator who served as the 16th President of Yale University between 1921 and 1937. His father, James Burrill Angell (1829–1916), was president of the University of Vermont from 1866 to 1871 and then the University of Michigan from 1871 to 1909.

Biography[edit]

Early life and education[edit]

Angell was born on May 8, 1869, in Burlington, Vermont. He was born into one of the stellar academic families in American history. A sixth-generation descendant of Thomas Angell who settled Providence, Rhode Island, James's father, James Burrill Angell, was the president of the University of Vermont and thence president of the University of Michigan. He was the youngest of three children, with an older brother and sister. When Angell was two years old, his family moved to Ann Arbor so that his father could take up the presidency of the University of Michigan. His maternal grandfather, Alexis Caswell, was a professor of mathematics and astronomy at Brown University, later becoming its president. He was also a charter member of the National Academy of Sciences. His brother Alexis C. Angell became a professor of law of Michigan, and later a federal judge. His sister's husband, Andrew C. McLaughlin, was head of the history department at Michigan. His cousin, Frank Angell, founded psychology laboratories at Cornell and Stanford Universities.

Angell graduated from the University of Michigan with his bachelor's degree in 1890. He worked closely with John Dewey, earning a master's degree under his supervision in 1891. At Michigan he was a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity (Omicron chapter). He then went to Harvard University where he received a second master's degree in 1892 in psychology. He studied for a doctorate in philosophy in Berlin and Halle. His dissertation on the treatment of freedom in Kant was accepted, but required stylistic changes, which he never completed.[1] Instead, he decided to take up a post at the University of Minnesota. He did, however, receive 23 honorary degrees during his lifetime.[2]

Academic career[edit]

Portrait of Angell

In 1895, Angell was offered a position at the University of Chicago by John Dewey, who had moved from Michigan the year before. Almost immediately, he co-authored an article with his Chicago colleague Addison W. Moore[3] that simultaneously settled a nasty dispute between Cornell psychologist Edward Bradford Titchener and Princeton psychologist James Mark Baldwin as well as laying the foundations for the school of Functionalism. Later, while still at Chicago, Angell published the textbook Psychology; An Introductory Study of the Structure and Functions of Human Consciousness in 1904,[4] which became the major statement of the functionalist approach to psychology. Angell noted that the goal of psychology was to study how the mind helps the organism adjust to the environment and functionalism was a method in which to study consciousness and how it improves the organism relationship with the environment.[2] In 1905 (the year after Dewey left Chicago for Columbia University), Angell became the head of the newly created psychology department at Chicago. During this time he served as the 15th and youngest president of the American Psychological Association. He also supervised the young John B. Watson, who would later go on to found the behaviorist school of psychology. In 1908, Angell was raised to the level of Dean at Chicago, leaving the psychology department to another of his former students, Harvey Carr. During the last year of World War I Angell worked for the military under the supervision of Northwestern University psychologist Walter Dill Scott. The following year (1918), he returned to Chicago to serve as Acting President. The school would not make him president on a permanent basis, however, because he was not Baptist. In 1919 he left Chicago to head the National Research Council. In 1920, he headed the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

Yale presidency[edit]

In 1921, Angell was appointed President of Yale University, the first non-Yale graduate to hold the position since the early 18th century. That same year, he was elected as an honorary member of the Connecticut Society of the Cincinnati. At Yale, he oversaw a major expansion of Yale's physical campus, including the completion of the residential college system and Sterling Memorial Library. He remained president of the university until his retirement in 1937, at which point he became educational counselor of the National Broadcasting Company (NBC). He was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society in 1924 and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1932.[5][6] As president of Yale, Angell was a proponent of eugenics.[7]

NBC[edit]

Angell's role at NBC was to "devise and suggest methods by which we may more capably serve radio's listening millions".[8] He often wrote about that topic and lectured about it. Angell was a driving force behind the development of the art-appreciation program Art for Your Sake, which debuted on NBC radio in October 1939. He was also chairman of the Board of Trustees of the National Art Society, which devoted efforts to "'mass production plus mass distribution' of cultural products".[8]

Death[edit]

Angell died on March 4, 1949, in New Haven, Connecticut.

Marriages[edit]

In 1894, James married Marion Isabel Watrous from Des Moines, Iowa, a fellow graduate of the University of Michigan. He had two children with her, one boy and one girl, but then she died in 1931. He subsequently married Katharine Cramer Woodman in 1932,[9] who brought great joy to his life because of the interest she took in his students and problems.[citation needed] Katharine Angell founded the New Haven Restaurant Institute, later known as the Culinary Institute of America.[10][11]

Functional psychology[edit]

He was greatly influenced by the thought of John Dewey and is closely identified with functional psychology.

Angell laid out his three major points about functionalism during his presidential address for the American Psychological Association.

  1. Functional psychology is interested in mental operations by way of mental activity and its relation to the larger biological forces. Angell believes that functional psychologists must consider the evolution of the mental operations in humans as one particular way to deal with the conditions of our environment. Mental operations by themselves are of little interest. Functional psychology is not conscious elements .
  2. Mental processes aid in the cooperation between the needs of the organism and its environment. Mental functions help the organism survive by aiding in the behavioral habits of the organism and unfamiliar situations.
  3. Mind and body cannot be separated because functionalism is the study of mental operations and their relationship with behavior. The total relationship of the organism and the environment and the minds function/place in this union is at question.[12]

By stating these points, Angell drew the difference between functionalism as a study to discover how mental processed operate, what they accomplish that has kept them around, and the conditions in which they occur or the how and why of consciousness and its predecessor, structuralism, which focused on individual mental elements or the what of consciousness.[12]

Criticisms[edit]

James Angell did have some criticism come his way for his views. The backlash from some about his implication of leaving out the structuralism model in studies and having a completely functionalist view did not sit well amongst some of his peers. There was also the dissecting of his works and the assumption that he contradicted himself in his view of what consciousness was and its function. Some think that he portrayed consciousness as more of a deux ex machina entity in its function due to his claim that the function of the conscious was to appear when the organism was in trouble and then disappear soon after the trouble had passed.[13] In her book Primate Visions: Gender, Race, and Nature in the World of Modern Science, Donna Haraway writes that "Angell paradigmatically represented the elaborate interconnections of university, industry, philanthropy, and science policy in the development of the material structures and ideologies of scientific management of society." (p. 67)[14]

Published books and articles[edit]

  • Psychology: An Introductory Study of the Structure and Function of Human Consciousness'
  • Chapters from Modern Psychology
  • "The Influence of Darwin on Psychology" (part of a larger collection, Darwinism: Critical Reviews from Dublin Review, Edinburgh Review, Quarterly Review)
  • "The Evolution of Intelligence" (part of a larger collection, The Evolution of Man: A Series of Lectures Delivered before the Yale Chapter of the Sigma Xi during the Academic Year 1921-1922)

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ Dewsbury, D. (2003). James Rowland Angell, Born Administrator. In G. A. Kimble & M. Wertheimer (Eds.), Portraits of Pioneers in Psychology (vol. 5). APA & LEA
  2. ^ a b Kneessi, D. F. (2002). Datelines: James Rowland Angell. Retrieved from http://faculty.frostburg.edu/mbradley/psyography/datelines_jamesangell.html Archived 2016-08-22 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ Angell, J. R. & Moore, A W. (1896). Studies from the psychological laboratory of the University of Chicago: 1. Reaction-Time: A study in attention and habit. Psychological Review, 3, 245-258. http://www.brocku.ca/MeadProject/Angell/Angell_Moore_1896.html
  4. ^ "James Rowland Angell: Psychology: Preface and Table of Contents".
  5. ^ "APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved 2023-08-23.
  6. ^ "Book of Members, 1780-2010: Chapter A" (PDF). American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 18 April 2011.
  7. ^ Conniff, Richard (May–Jun 2012). "God and white men at Yale". Yale Alumni Magazine. LXXV (5). Yale Alumni Publications, Inc. Retrieved 7 November 2017.
  8. ^ a b Mazow, Leo G.; Benton, Thomas Hart (2012). Thomas Hart Benton and the American Sound. Penn State Press. p. 130. ISBN 978-0-271-05083-6. Retrieved December 13, 2023.
  9. ^ Kimble, Gregory A.; Wertheimer, Michael (2003). Portraits of Pioneers in Psychology. Psychology Press. p. 1942. ISBN 9781135705336.
  10. ^ Schiff, Judith (Jan–Feb 2008). "Angell of the CIA". Yale Alumni Magazine. Retrieved 23 April 2014.
  11. ^ "Katharine Angell Dies; Led Culinary Institute". New York Times. 26 July 1983. Retrieved 24 April 2014.
  12. ^ a b Arnold, F. (1907) Untitled. Review of the article: The Province of Functional Psychology. The Journal of Philosophy, Psychology and Scientific Methods, 4, 276-27
  13. ^ Thilly, F. (1905) Untitled. [Review of the book: Psychology: An Introductory Study of the Structure and Function of Human Consciousness]. The Philosophical Review, 14, 481-487.
  14. ^ Haraway, Donna (1989). Primate Visions. Routledge. pp. 67. ISBN 0-415-902940.

References[edit]

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to James Rowland Angell.
Wikisource has the text of a 1922 Encyclopædia Britannica article about "James Rowland Angell".
Educational offices
Preceded by 15th President of the American Psychological Association
1906–1907 		Succeeded by
Academic offices
Preceded by President of Yale University
1921–1937 		Succeeded by
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