Name Robert White | Role Psychologist | |
Died 2001, Weston, Massachusetts, United States Books The study of lives, The Abnormal Personality, Ego and reality in psychoan, Lives in progress, The enterprise of living | ||
Robert W. White (1904–2001) was an American psychologist whose professional interests centered on the study of personality, both normal and abnormal. His book The Abnormal Personality, published in 1948, became the standard textbook on Abnormal Psychology.
A historian in perspective, White did not focus entirely on abnormal psychology, but investigated the coping methods of normal people. Diverging from Freud whose thinking dominated psychology at the time, he emphasized the individuals were also driven by needs to be competent and effective in the world.
He began teaching at Harvard University in 1937 and retired from teaching in 1964. During World War II, White became acting director of Harvard's psychological clinic. He was head of Harvard's clinical psychology program and chairman of the social relations department. In 1969 he was awarded professor emeritus.