dunlap

Knight Dunlap Page

Alfred Kornfeld
Department of Psychology
Eastern Connecticut State University
Willimantic, CT 06226-2295

"No one can accept the fundamental hypotheses of scientific psychology and be in the least mystical." --- Knight Dunlap

General Information

Knight Dunlap (1875-1949) has been called the "forgotten man" of American psychology. While some behavior therapists associate his name with "negative practice," he is probably unknown to the majority of psychologists. Although it is highly unlikely that Dunlap will ever be a household name, this page attempts to redress the neglect of Dunlap's many contributions to the history of American psychology.

Dunlap received his Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1903 under Hugo Münsterberg, whose interest in applied psychology influenced Dunlap. (Dunlap's gift for building laboratory equipment greatly impressed Münsterberg.) In 1906, following a brief and unproductive stay at Berkeley (1904-1906), Dunlap was appointed an instructor in psychology at Johns Hopkins University and would rise to the rank of "professor of experimental psychology" in 1916. At Johns Hopkins, Dunlap published pioneering and highly influential critiques of imagery, consciousness, and instincts. His monograph on "Habits," published in 1932, was prescient in its depiction of the interrelationship of cognition and learning. (see below- basic Dunlap bibliography.) In the wake of John B. Watson's forced resignation from Johns Hopkins, Dunlap became chair of the psychology department and was instrumental in resurrecting the moribund Ph.D. psychology program. He would remain at Johns Hopkins until 1936, when he accepted an offer to develop a graduate psychology program at UCLA. Johns Hopkins' increasing indifference to its psychology department and the poor economic conditions at that institution resulting from the Great Depression were major causes for Dunlap's move to UCLA. Dunlap would ultimately chair both departments of psychology.

One reason for the current neglect of Dunlap is that he is overshadowed, perhaps unfairly, by the towering figure of John. B. Watson. In 1908, Watson, enticed by the offer of a full professorship and a dramatic increase in salary, left the psychology department at the University of Chicago and joined Dunlap at Johns Hopkins. As a full professor and later chair at Johns Hopkins, Watson viewed the less well known Dunlap as a decidedly "junior" colleague. Watson was not initially impressed with Dunlap, but he soon came to recognize Dunlap's abilities and calling him the "best second man" of any psychology department. While it is clear that Dunlap and Watson mutually influenced one another, we can not be certain about the exact nature of their interactions. Dunlap would later argue that he had never received proper credit for his contributions. However Watson, in his 1936 autobiography, generously admitted that "To Dunlap I owe much . . . he has probably stated my indebtedness to him better than I can express it myself." Dunlap does seem to have played a role in helping Watson to move away from the introspective analysis of consciousness and instinctive explanations of behavior. He probably also encouraged Watson to think about practical applications of psychology.

Dunlap was an independent and sophisticated thinker who was not shy about expressing his opinions. He was often highly critical of Watson, especially when it came to the latter's ultimate complete rejection of the role of cognition in psychology. (He did, however, share Watson's antipathy towards psychoanalysis.) Their association at Johns Hopkins and Watson's generous but unintentionally misleading pronouncements about the role Dunlap played in fathering behaviorism are responsible for the commonly held belief that Dunlap was a kind of proto-behaviorist. In actuality, Dunlap believed that the oversimplifications of behaviorism had impeded the progress of scientific psychology. In its emphasis upon practical applications, commitment to physiological concomitants of behavior, and broad view of the nature of psychology, Dunlap's program for psychology was a logical outgrowth of functionalism.

In contrast to Watson's avoidance of brain explanations of behavior, Dunlap developed a neuropsychological model that proposed consciousness was correlated with integrated patterns or systems of neural circuits that included connections to the motor system. His model of consciousness emphasized the role of the cerebellum, a structure that has captured the interest of some contemporary students of consciousness.

While he clearly rejected the object-content analysis of consciousness, Dunlap nevertheless believed that conscious experience was a type of behavior and that it could be studied scientifically if it were reconceptualized as a process, i. e., awareness.

In contemporary terms, Dunlap is probably closest to the cognitive-behavioral orientation. For example, he argued that cognitive (e.g., expectations about treatment outcome) and motivational factors played a decisive role in the treatment of abnormal behaviors. It is ironic that the increasingly cognitive orientation of current psychology has moved it much closer to Dunlap's views than those of his more famous and erstwhile colleague, John B. Watson.

Dunlap's Contributions

Dunlap (1930) believed his major contributions to psychology to include:

1. The attack on classical introspection.

2. The insistence on responses or reactions as the basis of mental processes.

3. The critiques of the "real object" theory of images and the instinct concept.

4. The reformulation of consciousness from an abstract concept to a fact of experience.

Dunlap's other contributions to American psychology include: president of APA (1922); first editor of the Journal of Comparative Psychology (originally Psychobiology.); critique of the group mind concept; pioneer in arguing for an experimental approach to social psychology; developer of the "negative practice" technique for the treatment of maladaptive habits; creation of a theoretical system called "Response Psychology;" invention of the Dunlap chronoscope, Dunlap tapping table, and the Dunlap chair (for vestibular research). Dunlap conducted important research on color vision, audition, and the nystagmatic reflex. He was also among the first to demonstrate practice effects in intelligence testing. Dunlap's mind was wide-ranging and he wrote books on physiological psychology, the psychology of religion, social psychology, general psychology, psychoanalysis, and personal adjustment. He also was an important leader of national and regional organizations including APA, the Western Psychological Association, the National Institute for Psychology, the National Research Council, and the Southern Society for Philosophy and Psychology. Dunlap's papers are housed at the Archives of the History of American Psychology, University of Akron.

Basic Knight Dunlap Bibliography

Dunlap, K. (1912). The case against introspection. Psychological Review, 10, 404-413.
This article was published shortly before Watson's classic (1913) "Psychology as the Behaviorist views it." Dunlap's critique of consciousness is less radical than Watson's, but still was recognized by the latter as "a strong theoretical paper." You can view this paper online at Classics In Psychology. Bertrand Russell’s trenchant critique of “The case against introspection” is presented in the “The Analysis of Mind”

Dunlap, K. Images and Ideas. (1914). The Johns Hopkins University Circular, 33, 25-41. (Available at Eisenhower Library Archives, Johns Hopkins University. See N. J. T. Thomas below for a discussion of this paper and how it influenced J. B. Watson.)

Dunlap, K. (1919-1920). Are there any instincts? Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 14, 307-311. (Although Gardner Murphy described this paper as the "first of the anti-instinct" bombshells in American Psychology, Dunlap opposed abuses of the instinct concept and not the concept itself.)

Dunlap, K. (1920). Mysticism, freudianism, and scientific psychology. St. Louis: C. V. Mosby. (Cited and labeled "polemical" in Richard Noll's The Jung Cult, this work clearly illustrates Dunlap's strong opposition to psychoanalysis.)

Dunlap, K. (1922). Elements of scientific psychology. St. Louis: C. V. Mosby. (An introductory text; a good source for Dunlap's views on consciousness, habit, instinct, and thinking.) The 1936 revision was entitled "Elements of Psychology."

Dunlap, K. (1924). Social psychology. Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins.

Dunlap, K. (1925). Old and new viewpoints in psychology. St. Louis: C. V. Mosby Co.

Dunlap, K. (1925). The theoretical aspect of psychology. In C. Murchison (ed.), Psychologies of 1925. Worcester, MA: Clark University Press.

Dunlap, K. (1930). Response Psychology. In C. Murchison (ed.), Psychologies of 1930. Worcester, MA: Clark University Press. (Dunlap's final formal presentation of his theoretical system)

Dunlap, K. (1930). Repetition in the breaking of habits. Scientific Monthly, 30, 66-70. (First published account of clinical applications of negative practice. Some of the case study material suggests a relationship between negative practice and flooding.)

Dunlap, K. (1932). Autobiography. In C. Murchison (ed.), A history of psychology in autobiography. Vol. 2., pp. 271-278. Worcester, MA.: Clark University Press.

Dunlap, K. (1932). Habits their making and unmaking. New York: Liveright.
(This work clearly demonstrates Dunlap's appreciation of the role of cognition in the learning process. It also includes an extensive, but somewhat diffuse discussion of negative practice.)

Dunlap, K. & Gill, R. S. (1933) The Dramatic Personality of Jesus. Baltimore: The Williams & Wilkins Co. (A highly speculative account of the persona of Jesus.)

Dunlap, K. (1946). Religion its function in human life. A study of religion from the viewpoint of psychology. New York: McGraw-Hill.
(This work is more in the way of a social psychological study in contrast to being focused on the indvidual.)

Dunlap, K. (1946). Personal adjustment. New York: McGraw-Hill.
(This book contains an updated discussion of negative practice. The work itself is a rather peculiar mixture of forward looking and anachronistic ideas.)

Dunlap's Contemporaries

Dorcus, R. M. (1950). Knight Dunlap (1875-1949). The American Journal of Psychology, LXIII, 114-119.
Dorcus' obituary contains useful information about Dunlap's life. A close colleague and friend of Dunlap, Dorcus provides an authentic if somewhat idealized account of Dunlap's life and academic career.

Bentley, A. F. (1935). Behavior, knowledge, fact. Bloomington, Indiana: The Principia Press. This distinguish political theorist argues that Dunlap is guilty of using "linguistic devices" in an effort to hide the inherent weaknesses of an "imperfect" solution to the mind-body issue.

Sullivan, H. S. (1927). The common field of research and clinical psychiatry. Psychiatric Quarterly, 1, 276-291. The eminent American psychiatrist and personality theorist, Harry Stack Sullivan, cites Dunlap's observations on the dangers of overly inclusive research programs. In the previous year (1926), Sullivan reviewed Dunap's Old and New Viewpoints in Psychology, describing it as a " . . . 163-paged gem for the psychiatrist who wishes to know "what it is all about." (American Journal of Psychiatry, 442-447).

A contemporary's review of Dunlap's 1914 "Psychobiology" text

Contemporary Dunlap Scholarship

The following short list reflects the scarcity of the contemporary Dunlap literature.

Blumenthal, A. L. (1977). Wilhelm Wundt and Early American Psychology. In R. W. Rieber & K. Salzinger (eds.), The Roots of American Psychology: Historical Influences and Implications for the Future. New York: The New York Academy of Sciences. (Blumenthal ends his article with a long quotation from Dunlap in which the latter observes that American Psychology , while rejecting the theories of German Psychology, was nevertheless indebted to the experimental techniques developed in German psychology laboratories.

Burnham, J. C. (1987). How superstition won and science lost. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.

Burnham cites Dunlap's self appointed role as the "keeper of the gate" against "philosophical mysticism."

Dewsbury, D. A. (1984). Comparative psychology in the twentieth century. Stroudsburg, PA: Hutchinson Ross Publishing Co.

Dunlap's contribution to the development of comparative psychology is noted; includes a brief biographical sketch of Dunlap.

Dewsbury, D. A. (1998). A note on the early editorial policies of the Journal of Comparative Psychology. Journal of Comparative Psychology, 112, 406-407.

An analysis of Dunlap's role as co-editor (with Robert M. Yerkes) of the Journal of Comparative Psychology during 1921-1943. Dewsbury reveals that Dunlap actually functioned as the managing editor and was largely responsible for editorial decisions. On a more negative note, Dunlap may have used the journal for self-promotion.

Epstein, R. (1987). Comparative Psychology as the praxist views it. Journal of Comparative Psychology, 101, 249-253.
Argues that Dunlap's (and such contemporaries as Zing-Yang Kuo) proposal for a new multi disciplinary model of the comparative study of the mind was derailed by Watson's radical behaviorism. (Dunlap is only briefly discussed in this article)

Hilgard, E. R. (1978). American psychology in historical perspective. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
(Concise discussion of Knight Dunlap's presidential address to the APA emphasizing his views on the newly emerging experimental approach to social psychology.)

Kornfeld, A. D. (1991). Contributions to the history of psychology: LXXVI. Achievement, eminence, and histories of psychology: The case of Knight Dunlap. Psychological Reports, 68, 368-370.

(Article Abstract : Knight Dunlap, an important contributor to early twentieth century American psychology, is largely ignored by contemporary histories of psychology. This article outlines his major achievements and speculates about some of the reasons for his current position of relative obscurity.) ©Psychological Reports 1991

Kornfeld, A. D. (1997). Researching cognitive processes. American Psychologist, 52, 178-179. A brief comment that includes a discussion of Dunlap's role in American Psychology; Nelson's rebuttal follows the comment on pages 179-180.

Kornfeld, A. D. (2000). Knight Dunlap. In A. E. Kazdin (Ed.), Encyclopedia of
psychology. New York: Oxford University Press. A brief overview of Dunlap's life and work.

Pauly, P. J. (1986). G. Stanley Hall and his successors: A history of the first half-century of psychology at Johns Hopkins., In S. H. Hulse & B. F. Green, Jr., (Eds.), One hundred years of psychological research in America: G. Stanley Hall and the Johns Hopkins tradition.
Includes an account of Dunlap's stewardship as chair at Johns Hopkins and the reasons for his move to UCLA.

Thomas, N. J. T. (1989). Experience and theory as determinants of attitudes toward mental representation: the case of Knight Dunlap and the vanishing images of J. B. Watson. American Journal of Psychology, 102, 395-412. Thomas proposes that J. B. Watson's ultimate rejection of images may be understood as a "creative misconstrual" of Dunlap's motor theory of imagination. This article is available online at: http://www.calstatela.edu/faculty/nthomas/dun-wat.htm

Winston, A. S. (in press). Knight Dunlap. In J. Garrity (Ed.), American national biography. New York: Oxford University Press.

Robert H. Wozniak, Bryn Mawr University (1997). Commentary on: "Psychology as the Behaviorist View It" John B. Watson (1913). Originally published as "Behaviorism," In Bringmann, W.G., Luck, H.E., Miller, R., & Early, C. E. (Eds.). A pictorial history of psychology. Chicago: Quintessence, 1997. Dunlap is included in a discussion of the evolution of behaviorism. The article may be accessed at: Classics in the History of Psychology

Equipment and illusion Images (Use the back function on your browser to return to this page for viewing the other images.)

Complication apparatus This image is taken from Dunlap, K. (1917). A new complication apparatus. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 2, 89-91.

Voice Key Apparatus This image is taken from Dunlap, K. (1921). An improvement in Voice Keys. Journal of Experimental Psychology,4, 244-246.

Dunlap's Figure (illusion) This illusion is found in Dunlap, K. (1936). Elements of psychology. (page 211).

Dunlap's method of measuring Anoxia in WW I Aviators

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E-mail to kornfeld@easternct.edu

Alfred Kornfeld
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Department of Psychology
Eastern Connecticut State University
Willimantic, CT 06226-2295

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This page was last updated on October 5, 2001.