James chose Münsterberg to replace him as director of the Harvard Psychology Laboratory. At first, Münsterberg concentrated on performing controlled laboratory experiments, but his interests turned more and more to the application of psychological principles to problems outside of the lab- oratory. In developing his applied psychology,
Münsterberg did pioneer work in clinical, forensic, and industrial psychology. Although at one time he was one of the most famous psychologists in the world, he died in obscurity because his efforts to improve relations between the United States and Germany came at a time when the U.S. populace was disgusted with German military and political aggression. Mary Whiton Calkins invented the paired-associate technique while studying verbal learning under Münsterberg’s supervision. She also did pioneering work on short-term memory. Although meeting all of Harvard’s requirements for the PhD, she was denied the degree because she was a woman. Nonetheless, she went on to become the first female president of the APA (1905), and through her self-psychology, she influenced the development of a U.S. brand of personality theory.