| Code | BPS/GB/43 |
| Name | Flugel; John Carl (1884-1955); Professor; HonFBPsS |
| Title | Professor |
| Forenames | John Carl |
| Surname | Flugel |
| Dates | 1884-1955 |
| Epithet | HonFBPsS |
| Other Names | J.C. Flugel |
| Gender | Male |
| Nationality | British |
| DatesAndPlaces | Born Liverpool 13 June 1884 Died London 6 August 1955
? Liverpool 1884-1902
Oxford 1902-1906
Wurzburg 1906-1909
London 1909-1955 |
| Address | London |
| Relationships | Flugel was the only child of Karl Rudolph Dietrich Flugel (nd), a wealthy German merchant and his wife, Mary nee Eccles (nd)
Married Sophie Mabel Ingeborg (nd), daughter of Richard Theodore Klingberg (nd), merchant 20 December 1913. |
| Activity | J.C.Flugel was privately educated, a congenital foot defect preventing school attendance. in 1902 he went to Balliol College, Oxford graduating BA in Greats (1906). Here he came under William McDougall's (1871-1938) influence, and began a lifelong relationship with fellow student Cyril Burt (1883-1971). A spell at Wurzburg, studying psychology under Oswald Kulpe (1862-1915), followed.
After returning to Oxford in 1908 he won a John Locke scholarship in mental philosophy. In 1909 he became C.E.Spearman's (1863-1945) first assistant at University College, London as demonstrator in the psychology laboratory. Flugal remained at UCL until his death, being appointed senior lecturer (1920), assistant professor (1929) and special lecturer following his official retirement (1944). His first experimental work (with McDougall on perception) appeared in 1909; several further papers (often cited by Spearman) on perception and hearing appeared into the 1920's. The experimental work culminated in Practice, Fatigue and Oscillation (1928). In October 1913 he co-founded the London Psycho-Analytical Society with Ernest Jones (1879-1958), and later, in 1919 the British Psycho-Analytical Society. He became secretary of the International Psycho-Analytical Association (1919-1924) and assistant editor of the International Journal of Psycho-Analysis. From 1920 until his death Flugel taught psychoanalysis on the University College undergraduate course complementing Spearman's psychometric factor approach. This enabled him to collaborate harmoniously with Spearman and from 1931, Burt (1883-1971) on the jointly taught introductory course.
Flugel played central roles in the British Psychological Society as Honorary Secretary (1911-1920), Honorary Librarian (1921-1932) and President (1932-1935), combined with memberships of the Society for Psychical Research (dating from undergraduate days), the University of London Council for Psychical Investigation (1934), the Royal Anthropological Institute, and the Folklore Society. He received the University of London Carpenter medal (1931) and delivered the 1941 Conway memorial lecture ("The moral paradox of peace and war"). In 1950 he became President of the psychology section of the British Association. He was Chairman of the programme committee for the 1948 International Congress on Mental Health. Additionally he received an honorary fellowship of the British Psychological Society and honorary membership of the Indian Psychological Association.
Sources: Graham Richards, Flugel, John Carl (1884-1955), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [accessed 11 Jan 2005: <available at>http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/60995.
Compiled by Mike Maskill, BPS Archivist for the History of Psychology Centre. |
| OtherInfo | Contributed greatly as popularizer, fixer, teacher and diplomat to British Psychology's fortunes. |
| Related Name | BPS/GB/124 |
| PublishedWorks | Selected Bibliography:
A Hundred Years of Psychology, 1833-1933
Andover, Hants: Duckworth 1933
The Psycho-Analytic Study of the family
London: Hogarth Press, 1921
Man, Morals and Society
Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1955
The Psychology of Clothes
Hogarth Press 1930
Men and their Motives
Kegan Paul, Trench And Co, 1934
Population, Psychology and Peace. Introduction by
C.E.M. Joad. London: Watts & Co, 1947. Thinker's Library, No. 117. |
| Source | Sources: Graham Richards, Flugel, John Carl (1884-1955), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004[accessed 11 Jan 2005: <available at>http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/60995 |
| Conventions | International Standard Archival Authority Record for Corporate Bodies, Persons and Families - ISAAR(CPF) - Ottawa 1996 ISBN ISBN 0-9696035-3-3
National Council on Archives, Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997 |