Lucy May Day Boring (27 August 1886 – 26 July 1996) was an American psychologist.

Early life

Lucy May Day was born on 27 August 1886 in

Framingham, Massachusetts Framingham () is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States. Incorporated in 1700, it is located in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Middlesex County and the MetroWest subregion of the Greater Boston ...

. She attended

Mount Holyoke College Mount Holyoke College is a Private college, private Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in South Hadley, Massachusetts, United States. It is the oldest member of the h ...

, obtaining her B.A. in mathematics in 1908. She completed a doctoral degree in

experimental psychology Experimental psychology is the work done by those who apply Experiment, experimental methods to psychological study and the underlying processes. Experimental psychologists employ Research participant, human participants and Animal testing, anim ...

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

under

Edward Titchener Edward Bradford Titchener (11 January 1867 – 3 August 1927) was an English psychologist who studied under Wilhelm Wundt for several years. Titchener is best known for creating his version of psychology that described the structure of the mind: ...

, receiving her Ph.D. in 1912. Her dissertation focused on peripheral

color vision Color vision, a feature of visual perception, is an ability to perceive differences between light composed of different frequencies independently of light intensity. Color perception is a part of the larger visual system and is mediated by a co ...

. Though Titchener was her advisor, she was unable to join his research and discussion group, the "Titchener Experimentalists," as he adamantly refused to allow women to participate. On one occasion, however, she listened in from a neighboring room with its door ajar. In 1914, she married Edwin G. Boring, a fellow Cornell student under Titchener. They became engaged in October 1911, and were married the day after he received his doctorate. She taught briefly at

Vassar College Vassar College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States. The college be ...

and

Wells College Wells College was a private liberal arts college in Aurora, New York, a village in the Finger Lakes region of the state. From its founding in 1868 until it became coeducational in 2005, Wells was a women's college. The college maintained acad ...

before, in her own words, "giving up a career for family life" when the first of their four children was born in 1916. However, she continued to assist her husband with his work, and "read (and advised) every book and article" he wrote. She held an honorary fellowship at

Clark University Clark University is a private research university in Worcester, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1887 with a large endowment from its namesake Jonas Gilman Clark, a prominent businessman, Clark was one of the first modern research uni ...

from 1919 to 1922, where she and her husband (also a fellow) became friends with Marjory Bates Pratt and Carroll C. Pratt.

Later life

In 1951, the Borings bought a farm in Harborside, Maine; they split their time between there and

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

. Lucy Boring died on 26 July 1996 in

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is a suburb in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, located directly across the Charles River from Boston. The city's population as of the 2020 United States census, ...

Works

"A note on learning in paramecium"
(with Madison Bentley) in ''Journal of Animal Behavior'', vol. 1 (1911)
"The effect of illumination on peripheral vision"
in ''American Journal of Psychology'', vol. 23 (October 1912)
"Temporal judgements after sleep"
(with Edwin G. Boring) in ''Studies in Psychology Contributed by Colleagues and Former Students of Edward Bradford Titchener'' (1917)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boring, Lucy May American women psychologists 20th-century American psychologists Experimental psychologists American women centenarians Cornell University alumni 1886 births 1996 deaths Mount Holyoke College alumni