A Scientific Career of a Female Psychologist in the 20th Century: Magda B. Arnold
Magda B. Arnold was born in 1903 as Magda Barta-Blondiau in Moravská Třebová (Mährisch-Trübau), a small German-speaking enclave which today is part of the Czech Republic. Obviously, it had not been laid into Magda Arnold’s cradle to pursue an academic career: She grew up as a fatherless child of an errant opera singer whom she barely knew. She was raised by two step-mothers under the most humble circumstances, without any chance of receiving a profound education. Against all odds, Magda Arnold became one of the most influential female psychologists of the 20th century: She developed new methodologies for assessing motivational concepts in a clinical setting, directed attention toward the cognitive processes determining emotional experiences, and studied the relation between memory and brain functions. Moreover, her scientific aspirations and achievements as a female psychologist are deeply interwoven with her personal life. The present paper analyzes these interconnections between her biography and her work in commemoration of her 120th birthday.
https://doi.org/10.29364/epsy.488
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