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Amy Eliza Tanner (March 21, 1870 – February 1, 1956) was an American
Psychological Bulletin: An Illustration of the Psychology of Belief by Amy E. Tanner, February 15, 1907.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tanner, Amy 1870 births 1956 deaths American women psychologists 20th-century American psychologists Anomalistic psychology American women writers American skeptics Clark University alumni Critics of parapsychology University of Chicago alumni Wilson College (Pennsylvania) faculty People from Owatonna, Minnesota American women academics Critics of Spiritualism
psychologist
A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and explanation, interpretatio ...
who became well known for discrediting the then-famous medium Leonora Piper
Leonora Piper (née Leonora Evelina Simonds; 27 June 1857 – 3 June 1950) was a famous American trance medium in the area of Spiritualism. Piper was the subject of intense interest and investigation by American and British psychic research asso ...
after Tanner was allowed to attend six séances with a fellow researcher.
Biography
Tanner was born inOwatonna, Minnesota
Owatonna ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Steele County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 26,420 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Owatonna is home to the Steele County Fairgrounds, which hosts the Steele County F ...
. She earned a doctoral degree in philosophy
Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...
from the University of Chicago
The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...
in 1898, finishing ''magna cum laude''. Following her graduation from the University of Chicago, and unable to find employment elsewhere, she worked as an associate at the university's philosophy department. Four years later, she became a professor of philosophy at Wilson College in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania
Chambersburg is a borough in and the county seat of Franklin County, Pennsylvania, Franklin County, in the South Central Pennsylvania, South Central region of Pennsylvania, United States. It is in the Cumberland Valley, which is part of the Gre ...
.
Although she had earned her Ph.D. in philosophy, her interests and her work led her to psychology and social psychology. Her unpublished dissertation was titled ''Association of Ideas: A Preliminary Study,'' and she published her subsequent research in psychology journals.
In 1907, Tanner became an "Honorary University Fellow" 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 ...
, a position she held until 1916. While at Clark University, she investigated mediumship
Mediumship is the practice of purportedly mediating communication between familiar spirits or ghost, spirits of the dead and living human beings. Practitioners are known as "mediums" or "spirit mediums". There are different types of mediumship or ...
with the psychologist G. Stanley Hall
Granville Stanley Hall (February 1, 1844 – April 24, 1924) was an American psychologist and educator who earned the first doctorate in psychology awarded in the United States of America at Harvard University in the nineteenth century. His ...
. She published her findings as sole author in the book ''Studies in Spiritism'' (1910) which documented the tests she and Hall had carried out in the séance
A séance or seance (; ) is an attempt to communicate with spirits. The word ''séance'' comes from the French language, French word for "session", from the Old French , "to sit". In French, the word's meaning is quite general and mundane: one ma ...
sittings held with the medium Leonora Piper
Leonora Piper (née Leonora Evelina Simonds; 27 June 1857 – 3 June 1950) was a famous American trance medium in the area of Spiritualism. Piper was the subject of intense interest and investigation by American and British psychic research asso ...
. Hall and Tanner had proven by tests that the "personalities" of Piper were fictitious creations and not discarnate spirits.
She left Clark (and academic work) in 1919, and remained in Worcester, Massachusetts
Worcester ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Massachusetts, second-most populous city in the U.S. state of Massachusetts and the list of United States cities by population, 113th most populous city in the United States. Named after Worcester ...
. She was the director of the Worcester Girls Club for many years and represented the local Woman's Club on the Worcester Censorship Board. She purchased the Majestic Theater in Worcester in 1919 and operated it for a few years. She died on February 1, 1956.
Selected publications
* * * * * * * * "Association of Ideas: A Preliminary Study." Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Chicago, Chicago. (1900)References
Further reading
* *Psychological Bulletin: An Illustration of the Psychology of Belief by Amy E. Tanner, February 15, 1907.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tanner, Amy 1870 births 1956 deaths American women psychologists 20th-century American psychologists Anomalistic psychology American women writers American skeptics Clark University alumni Critics of parapsychology University of Chicago alumni Wilson College (Pennsylvania) faculty People from Owatonna, Minnesota American women academics Critics of Spiritualism