Anastasi, Anne

Anne Anastasi (1908–2001) was a distinguished American psychologist and writer, best known for contributing to a better understanding of psychological tests and measurement. Throughout her long career as a university professor, she produced more than 200 scholarly articles and books addressing not only the fine points of testing and evaluation but also questioning many of the assumptions on which they were built. Her books, particularly Psychological Testing (last edition, Anastasi & Urbina, 1996), have been translated into many languages and used around the world.

Her emphasis on the important roles of context and culture in testing and her portrayal of the naturenurture issue continue to have important implications for research today. In 1972, she became the third woman president of the American Psychological Association (APA), the first woman to hold that office in 51 years. By the time of her death, she had become a nearlegendary figure among psychologists, not only for her far-ranging contributions to psychology but also for her striking personality.

Anastasi was born December 19, 1908, to Anthony and Theresa Gaudiosi Anastasi, Italian immigrants who settled in New York City. Her father died when she was a year old. She later said that his death was a pivotal point in her development. It resulted in her unusual upbringing, in a household consisting of her mother, maternal grandmother, and her mother's brother. In accordance with her grandmother's wishes, she was homeschooled until she was 9 years old; a regular public school teacher was hired to conduct lessons for her in the afternoon (Hogan, 2003). Her entry into high school presented problems with overcrowded classrooms and overworked teachers, and she dropped out after only 2 months. Rather than return, she spent 2 years at a preparatory school and applied directly to Barnard College, where she was admitted in 1924, at age 15 (Anastasi, 1972).

She began college with the intention of majoring in mathematics but changed her mind in her sophomore year. She became interested in psychology when she took a course from Harry Hollingworth, the chairman of the psychology department. Soon after, she read a paper by British psychologist and statistician Charles Spearman on correlation coefficients, which convinced her she could pursue psychology but still retain her interest in mathematics. Her career path was settled. She earned her BA degree in psychology from Barnard at age 19 (Anastasi, 1972).

Anastasi immediately enrolled at Columbia University to study for a PhD in general experimental psychology, having already taken some graduate courses in psychology during her undergraduate years. It took her only 2 years to complete her degree; [Page 82]she received her PhD in 1930, at age 21, describing those years as among the most stimulating in her life. In 1929, she received a summer research assistantship to study with Charles Davenport and to assist him in devising culture-free tests. In September of that year, she attended the nineth International Congress of Psychology, held at Yale University, the first such Congress to be held in the United States. Among the speakers she heard there were several notable European psychologists, including Ivan Pavlov and Wolfgang Kohler. She also worked on her dissertation, later published as “A Group Factor in Immediate Memory” (1930).

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