The International Congress of Experimental Psychology, Held in London, August, 1892

The golden section and American psychology, 1892-1938

The golden section has been said by many to be the most beautiful proportion. Fechner was the first to investigate it experimentally, and several late-nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century American psychologists followed up on his work. Among these were four prominent names: Lightner Witmer (1867-1956), Edward L. Thorndike (1874-1949), Robert S. Woodworth (1869-1962), and Robert M. Ogden (1877-1959). Why did such well-known psychologists bother with the golden section? In attempting to answer this question we discovered that the golden section was surprisingly well known during this period, not only in psychology but also in advertising and design. It would have been entirely congruent with their stature for prominent psychologists to take an interest in it.