Mary Whiton Calkins

Explanation:
Mary Whiton Calkins (1863–1930) was a trailblazer in early American psychology. Despite completing all doctoral requirements at Harvard, she was denied a PhD due to her gender. Her contributions include the development of self‑psychology, emphasizing the self as a unified, conscious entity. She created the paired‑associate learning method, demonstrating how associations between stimuli affect memory—a foundational cognitive psychology finding.
Her election as the first woman president of the APA (1905) marked a milestone for women in science.

Example:
Her memory work is still reflected in techniques such as pairing names with images to improve recall.

Citation:
Furumoto, L. (1980). Mary Whiton Calkins. American Psychologist, 35(6), 557–564.