From 1911 to 1921, Helen Thompson Wooley served as director of the Vocation Bureau of the Cincinnati Public Schools. In this position she designed and supervised a massive longitudinal study comparing the development of adolescents who remained in school with those who left school to go to work. Although the original goals of this study were not accomplished, the achievements of the Vocation Bureau brought national recognition to the city and to Helen Wooley. The accomplishments of the bureau reflected Wooley's view of the role of experimental psychology in contributing to the scientific understanding of adolescents and to educational and social reforms.

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Signal detection analysis was used to examine the effects of scopolamine, amphetamine, and physostigmine on a brightness discrimination task. Four groups of rats were exposed to different reinforcement contingencies for correct responses in the presence of S+ stimuli and correct response failures in the presence of S- stimuli. Under non-drug conditions, orderly signal detection data were obtained with the group design. Contrary to a disinhibition hypothesis of cholinergic effects, scopolamine disrupted stimulus sensitivity and not response bias, but only when the discrimination was difficult. Drugs did not affect sensitivity of an earlier, simpler discrimination. The drug effects on response tendency for this simple discrimination task were difficult to interpret.

At the end of the 19th century, psychology was among the most hospitable of the sciences in admitting women to its ranks. Among this so-called first generation of women psychologists were a number of individuals who aggressively challenged the prevailing stereotypes concerning the psychological characteristics of women and men. Further, many of these women actively promoted equal educational and professional opportunities for women.

A history of psychology course designed as a prerequisite for advanced work in experimental psychology is described. Research design and methodology are introduced in an historical context. Students conduct experimental projects by asking research questions that are appropriate to a particular historical figure of theorist. Advantages and disadvantages of teaching the history of psychology course in this way are discussed.