Henry Murray
Encyclopedia
Henry Alexander Murray (May 13, 1893 – June 23, 1988) was an American psychologist
who taught for over 30 years at Harvard University
. He was Director of the Harvard Psychological Clinic in the School of Arts and Sciences after 1930 and colluded with Stanley Cobb
, Bullard Professor of Neuropathology at the Medical School to introduce psychoanalysis into the Harvard curriculum but to keep those who taught it away from the decision-making apparatus in Vienna. He and Cobb set the stage for the founding of the Boston Psychoanalytic Society after 1931, but both were excluded from membership on political grounds. While personality theory in psychology was becoming dominated by the statistics of trait theory, Murray developed a theory of personality
called Personology, based on "need
" and "press". Patterned after the Henderson-Hasselbach equation upon which the measurement of the different constituents of blood plasma are measured all at the same time, Personology was a holistic approach that studied the person at many levels of complexity all at the same time by an interdisciplinary team of investigators. Murray was also a co-developer of the Thematic Apperception Test
(TAT) with Christiana Morgan, which he always fondly referred to as "the second best-seller that Harvard ever published, second only to the Harvard Handbook of Music."
with a poor performance, but compensated with football
, rowing
and boxing
. At Columbia College he did much better in medicine
, completed his M.D. and also received an M.A. in biology
, in 1919. For the next two years he was an instructor in physiology at Harvard and in 1927 received his doctorate in biochemistry
at Cambridge.
A turning point occurred in Murray's life at the age of 30; after seven years of marriage, he met and fell in love with Christiana Morgan
but experienced serious conflict as he did not want to leave his wife, Josephine. This raised his awareness of conflicting needs, the pressure that can result, and the links to motivation. Carver and Scheier note that it was Morgan who was "fascinated by the psychology of Carl Jung" and it was as a result of her urging that he met Carl Jung
in Switzerland. He described Jung as "The first full blooded, spherical - and Goethian, I would say, intelligence I had ever met." He was analyzed by him and studied his works. "The experience of bringing a problem to a psychologist and receiving an answer that seemed to work had a great impact on Murray, leading him to seriously consider psychology as a career" (J. W. Anderson). Jung's advice to Murray concerning his personal life was to continue openly with both relationships.
, whose process philosophy
marked his philosophical and metaphysical thinking throughout his professional career (Laughlin 1973).
During World War II
, he left Harvard and worked as lieutenant colonel
for the Office of Strategic Services (OSS)
. James Miller, in charge of the selection of secret agents at the OSS during World War Two, reports that Murray was the originator of the term "situation test". This type of assessment, based on practical tasks and activities, was pioneered by the British Military. Murray acted as a consultant for the British Government (1938) in the setting up of the Officer Selection Board. Murray's previous work at The Harvard Psychological Clinic enabled him to apply his theories in the design of the selection processes used by WOSB and OSS to assess potential agents. The assessments were based on analysis of specific criteria (e.g. "leadership") by a number of raters across a range of activities. Results were pooled to achieve an overall assessment. The underlying principles were later adopted by AT&T in the development of Assessment Center
methodology, now widely used to assess management potential in both private and public sector organisations.
Murray's identification of core psychological needs (Murray's Psychogenic Needs
, Murray's system of needs
), including Achievement, Affiliation and Power (1938) provided the theoretical basis for the later research of David McClelland
and underpins development of competency-based models of management effectiveness (Richard Boyatzis
), Maslow's hierarchy of needs
, and ideas relating to Positive psychology
. However, Murray's contribution is rarely acknowledged in contemporary academic literature. McClelland, Boyatzis and Spencer went on to found the McBer Consultancy.
Commissioned by OSS boss, William "Wild Bill" Donovan
, in 1943 Professor Murray helped complete Analysis of the Personality of Adolph Hitler
. The report was done in collaboration with psychoanalyst Walter C. Langer
, Dr. Ernst Kris, New School for Social Research, and Dr. Bertram D. Lawin, New York Psychoanalytic Institute. The report used many sources to profile Hitler including a number of informants such as Ernst Hanfstaengl
, Hermann Rauschning
, Princess Stephanie von Hohenlohe
, Gregor Strasser
, Friedelinde Wagner, and Kurt Ludecke
. The groundbreaking study was the pioneer of Offender profiling
and political psychology, today commonly used by many countries as part of assessing international relations.
In addition to predicting that if defeat for Germany was near, Adolf Hitler
would choose suicide, Professor Murray's collaborative report stated that Hitler was impotent as far as heterosexual relations were concerned and that there was a possibility that Hitler had participated in a homosexual relationship. The 1943 report stated that: "The belief that Hitler is homosexual has probably developed (a) from the fact that he does show so many feminine
characteristics, and (b) from the fact that there were so many homosexuals in the Party
during the early days and many continue to occupy important positions. It is probably true that Hitler calls Albert Forster
"Bubi", which is a common nickname employed by homosexuals in addressing their partners."
Having returned to Harvard 1947, Murray lectured and established with others the Psychological Clinic Annex and was a chief researcher at Harvard. Alston Chase's book Harvard and the Unabomber: The Education of an American Terrorist tells of the MK ULTRA
experiments that Theodore Kaczynski
is reported to have undergone at Harvard, under the direction of Henry Murray. Chase connects these experiences to Kaczynski's later career as the Unabomber.
When Murray became emeritus professor at Harvard, he earned the Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award from the American Psychological Association and Gold Medal Award for lifetime achievement from the American Psychological Foundation.
Murray died from pneumonia at the age of 95.
Psychologist
Psychologist is a professional or academic title used by individuals who are either:* Clinical professionals who work with patients in a variety of therapeutic contexts .* Scientists conducting psychological research or teaching psychology in a college...
who taught for over 30 years at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
. He was Director of the Harvard Psychological Clinic in the School of Arts and Sciences after 1930 and colluded with Stanley Cobb
Stanley Cobb
-External links:* can be found at The Center for the History of Medicine at the Countway Library, Harvard Medical School....
, Bullard Professor of Neuropathology at the Medical School to introduce psychoanalysis into the Harvard curriculum but to keep those who taught it away from the decision-making apparatus in Vienna. He and Cobb set the stage for the founding of the Boston Psychoanalytic Society after 1931, but both were excluded from membership on political grounds. While personality theory in psychology was becoming dominated by the statistics of trait theory, Murray developed a theory of personality
Personality psychology
Personality psychology is a branch of psychology that studies personality and individual differences. Its areas of focus include:* Constructing a coherent picture of the individual and his or her major psychological processes...
called Personology, based on "need
Need
A need is something that is necessary for organisms to live a healthy life. Needs are distinguished from wants because a deficiency would cause a clear negative outcome, such as dysfunction or death. Needs can be objective and physical, such as food, or they can be subjective and psychological,...
" and "press". Patterned after the Henderson-Hasselbach equation upon which the measurement of the different constituents of blood plasma are measured all at the same time, Personology was a holistic approach that studied the person at many levels of complexity all at the same time by an interdisciplinary team of investigators. Murray was also a co-developer of the Thematic Apperception Test
Thematic Apperception Test
The Thematic Apperception Test, or TAT, is a projective psychological test. Historically, it has been among the most widely researched, taught, and used of such tests...
(TAT) with Christiana Morgan, which he always fondly referred to as "the second best-seller that Harvard ever published, second only to the Harvard Handbook of Music."
Personal background
Henry Murray was born into a wealthy family in New York in 1893. He had an older sister and a younger brother. Carver and Scheier, in "Perspectives on Personality" p100, note that "he got on well with his father but had a poor relationship with his mother", resulting in a deep-seated feeling of depression. They hypothesize that the disruption of this relationship led Murray to be especially aware of people's needs and their importance as underlying determinants of behavior. At Harvard, he majored in historyHistory
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
with a poor performance, but compensated with football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
, rowing
Sport rowing
Rowing is a sport in which athletes race against each other on rivers, on lakes or on the ocean, depending upon the type of race and the discipline. The boats are propelled by the reaction forces on the oar blades as they are pushed against the water...
and boxing
Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
. At Columbia College he did much better in medicine
Medicine
Medicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
, completed his M.D. and also received an M.A. in biology
Biology
Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy. Biology is a vast subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines...
, in 1919. For the next two years he was an instructor in physiology at Harvard and in 1927 received his doctorate in biochemistry
Biochemistry
Biochemistry, sometimes called biological chemistry, is the study of chemical processes in living organisms, including, but not limited to, living matter. Biochemistry governs all living organisms and living processes...
at Cambridge.
A turning point occurred in Murray's life at the age of 30; after seven years of marriage, he met and fell in love with Christiana Morgan
Christiana Morgan
Christiana Drummond Morgan was a lay psychoanalyst at Harvard University best known for her work co-authoring the Thematic Apperception Test, one of the most widely used projective psychological test. She administered one of the earliest versions of the test to one of the first diagnosed anorexic...
but experienced serious conflict as he did not want to leave his wife, Josephine. This raised his awareness of conflicting needs, the pressure that can result, and the links to motivation. Carver and Scheier note that it was Morgan who was "fascinated by the psychology of Carl Jung" and it was as a result of her urging that he met Carl Jung
Carl Jung
Carl Gustav Jung was a Swiss psychiatrist and the founder of Analytical Psychology. Jung is considered the first modern psychiatrist to view the human psyche as "by nature religious" and make it the focus of exploration. Jung is one of the best known researchers in the field of dream analysis and...
in Switzerland. He described Jung as "The first full blooded, spherical - and Goethian, I would say, intelligence I had ever met." He was analyzed by him and studied his works. "The experience of bringing a problem to a psychologist and receiving an answer that seemed to work had a great impact on Murray, leading him to seriously consider psychology as a career" (J. W. Anderson). Jung's advice to Murray concerning his personal life was to continue openly with both relationships.
Professional career
In 1927, at the age of 33, Murray became assistant director of the Harvard Psychological Clinic. He developed the concepts of latent needs (not openly displayed), manifest needs (observed in people's actions), "press" (external influences on motivation) and "thema" - "a pattern of press and need that coalesces around particular interactions". Murray used the term "apperception" to refer to the process of projecting fantasy imagery onto an objective stimulus. The concept of apperception and the assumption that everyone's thinking is shaped by subjective processes provides the rationale behind the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT). This was developed by Murray and Morgan (1935). In 1937 Murray became director of the Harvard Psychological Clinic. In 1938 he published Explorations in Personality, now a classic in psychology, which includes a description of the Thematic Apperception Test. During his period at Harvard, Murray sat in on lectures by Alfred North WhiteheadAlfred North Whitehead
Alfred North Whitehead, OM FRS was an English mathematician who became a philosopher. He wrote on algebra, logic, foundations of mathematics, philosophy of science, physics, metaphysics, and education...
, whose process philosophy
Process philosophy
Process philosophy identifies metaphysical reality with change and dynamism. Since the time of Plato and Aristotle, philosophers have posited true reality as "timeless", based on permanent substances, whilst processes are denied or subordinated to timeless substances...
marked his philosophical and metaphysical thinking throughout his professional career (Laughlin 1973).
During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, he left Harvard and worked as lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant colonel is a rank of commissioned officer in the armies and most marine forces and some air forces of the world, typically ranking above a major and below a colonel. The rank of lieutenant colonel is often shortened to simply "colonel" in conversation and in unofficial correspondence...
for the Office of Strategic Services (OSS)
Office of Strategic Services
The Office of Strategic Services was a United States intelligence agency formed during World War II. It was the wartime intelligence agency, and it was a predecessor of the Central Intelligence Agency...
. James Miller, in charge of the selection of secret agents at the OSS during World War Two, reports that Murray was the originator of the term "situation test". This type of assessment, based on practical tasks and activities, was pioneered by the British Military. Murray acted as a consultant for the British Government (1938) in the setting up of the Officer Selection Board. Murray's previous work at The Harvard Psychological Clinic enabled him to apply his theories in the design of the selection processes used by WOSB and OSS to assess potential agents. The assessments were based on analysis of specific criteria (e.g. "leadership") by a number of raters across a range of activities. Results were pooled to achieve an overall assessment. The underlying principles were later adopted by AT&T in the development of Assessment Center
Assessment center
An assessment center is a process used in the selection of qualified individuals for a job or role in an organization. As another hiring tool for recruiting employees, the assessment center, in my eyes, can be ideal for an employer to get an idea of how the applicants will perform in the...
methodology, now widely used to assess management potential in both private and public sector organisations.
Murray's identification of core psychological needs (Murray's Psychogenic Needs
Murray's psychogenic needs
This is the list of needs identified in Explorations in Personality, edited by Henry A. Murray in 1938....
, Murray's system of needs
Murray's system of needs
In 1938 Henry Murray published his system of needs in Explorations in Personality in order to describe personality. He states that humans have all basic needs and that everyone has unique varying dispositional tendencies towards a level for each need...
), including Achievement, Affiliation and Power (1938) provided the theoretical basis for the later research of David McClelland
David McClelland
David C. McClelland was an American psychological theorist. Noted for his work on need theory, he published a number of works from the 1950s until the 1990s and developed new scoring systems for the Thematic Apperception Test and its descendants...
and underpins development of competency-based models of management effectiveness (Richard Boyatzis
Richard Boyatzis
Richard Boyatzis is a professor of Organizational Behavior at Case Western Reserve University and an expert in the field of emotional intelligence. He has published numerous books and articles in the vein of emotional intelligence, behavior change, competencies and leadership...
), Maslow's hierarchy of needs
Maslow's hierarchy of needs
Maslow's hierarchy of needs is a theory in psychology, proposed by Abraham Maslow in his 1943 paper A Theory of Human Motivation. Maslow subsequently extended the idea to include his observations of humans' innate curiosity...
, and ideas relating to Positive psychology
Positive psychology
Positive psychology is a recent branch of psychology whose purpose was summed up in 1998 by Martin Seligman and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi: "We believe that a psychology of positive human functioning will arise, which achieves a scientific understanding and effective interventions to build thriving in...
. However, Murray's contribution is rarely acknowledged in contemporary academic literature. McClelland, Boyatzis and Spencer went on to found the McBer Consultancy.
Commissioned by OSS boss, William "Wild Bill" Donovan
William Joseph Donovan
William Joseph Donovan was a United States soldier, lawyer and intelligence officer, best remembered as the wartime head of the Office of Strategic Services...
, in 1943 Professor Murray helped complete Analysis of the Personality of Adolph Hitler
Analysis of the Personality of Adolph Hitler
Analysis of the Personality of Hitler: With Predictions of His Future Behavior and Suggestions for Dealing with Him Now and After Germany's Surrender was a report prepared by Henry A. Murray for the United States Office of Strategic Services during World War II...
. The report was done in collaboration with psychoanalyst Walter C. Langer
Walter C. Langer
Walter Charles Langer was a Cambridge, Massachusetts psychoanalyst best known for his role in preparing a World War II psychological analysis of Adolf Hitler in 1943 for the Office of Strategic Services, that predicted his suicide as the "most plausible outcome" among several possibilities...
, Dr. Ernst Kris, New School for Social Research, and Dr. Bertram D. Lawin, New York Psychoanalytic Institute. The report used many sources to profile Hitler including a number of informants such as Ernst Hanfstaengl
Ernst Hanfstaengl
Ernst Franz Sedgwick Hanfstaengl , was a Harvard-educated German businessman who was an intimate of Adolf Hitler before falling out of favor and defecting. He later worked for Franklin D...
, Hermann Rauschning
Hermann Rauschning
Hermann Rauschning was a GermanConservative Revolutionary who briefly joined the Nazis before breaking with them. In 1934 he renounced Nazi party membership and defected to the United States where he denounced Nazism...
, Princess Stephanie von Hohenlohe
Stephanie von Hohenlohe
Princess Stephanie Julianne von Hohenlohe was a member of a German princely family by marriage and a close friend of Adolf Hitler who spied for Nazi Germany.-Early life:...
, Gregor Strasser
Gregor Strasser
Gregor Strasser was a politician of the National Socialist German Workers Party...
, Friedelinde Wagner, and Kurt Ludecke
Kurt Ludecke
Kurt Ludecke was an ardent German nationalist, a playboy and international traveler who joined the Nazi party in the early 1920s and who used his social connections to raise money for the NSDAP...
. The groundbreaking study was the pioneer of Offender profiling
Offender profiling
Offender profiling, also known as criminal profiling, is a behavioral and investigative tool that is intended to help investigators to profile unknown criminal subjects or offenders. Offender profiling is also known as criminal profiling, criminal personality profiling, criminological profiling,...
and political psychology, today commonly used by many countries as part of assessing international relations.
In addition to predicting that if defeat for Germany was near, Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
would choose suicide, Professor Murray's collaborative report stated that Hitler was impotent as far as heterosexual relations were concerned and that there was a possibility that Hitler had participated in a homosexual relationship. The 1943 report stated that: "The belief that Hitler is homosexual has probably developed (a) from the fact that he does show so many feminine
Femininity
Femininity is a set of attributes, behaviors, and roles generally associated with girls and women. Though socially constructed, femininity is made up of both socially defined and biologically created factors...
characteristics, and (b) from the fact that there were so many homosexuals in the Party
National Socialist German Workers Party
The National Socialist German Workers' Party , commonly known in English as the Nazi Party, was a political party in Germany between 1920 and 1945. Its predecessor, the German Workers' Party , existed from 1919 to 1920...
during the early days and many continue to occupy important positions. It is probably true that Hitler calls Albert Forster
Albert Forster
Albert Maria Forster was a Nazi German politician. Under his administration as the Gauleiter of Danzig-West Prussia during the Second World War, the local non-German population suffered ethnic cleansing, mass murder, and forceful Germanisation...
"Bubi", which is a common nickname employed by homosexuals in addressing their partners."
Having returned to Harvard 1947, Murray lectured and established with others the Psychological Clinic Annex and was a chief researcher at Harvard. Alston Chase's book Harvard and the Unabomber: The Education of an American Terrorist tells of the MK ULTRA
Mk Ultra
Mk Ultra was an American alternative band that played between 1994 and 1999. The group formed in the Bay Area in the early nineties and went on to become a hit in local circles. Mk Ultra's career culminated in a national tour in 1999 but came to a rapid end when guitarist John Tyner decided to...
experiments that Theodore Kaczynski
Theodore Kaczynski
Theodore John "Ted" Kaczynski , also known as the "Unabomber" , is an American mathematician, social critic, anarcho-primitivist, and Neo-Luddite who engaged in a mail bombing campaign that spanned nearly 20 years, killing three people and injuring 23 others.Kaczynski was born in Chicago, Illinois,...
is reported to have undergone at Harvard, under the direction of Henry Murray. Chase connects these experiences to Kaczynski's later career as the Unabomber.
When Murray became emeritus professor at Harvard, he earned the Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award from the American Psychological Association and Gold Medal Award for lifetime achievement from the American Psychological Foundation.
Murray died from pneumonia at the age of 95.
Works
- Murray, H. A. (1938). Explorations in Personality. New York: Oxford University Press
- Murray, H. A. (1940). What should psychologists do about psychoanalysis? Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 35, 150–175
- OSS Assessment Staff. (1948). Assessment of Men: Selection of Personnel for the Office of Strategic Service. New York: Rinehart.
- Murray, Henry A. and Clyde Kluckhohn. (1953) Personality in Nature, Society, and Culture. New York: Knopf