Lightner Witmer (June 28, 1867 – July 19, 1956) was an American psychologist. He introduced the term "clinical psychology" and is often credited with founding the field that it describes. Witmer created the world's first "psychological clinic" at the University of Pennsylvania in 1896, including the first journal of clinical psychology and the first clinical hospital school in 1907.
Witmer contributed to numerous branches of psychology including school psychology. He contributed to the field of special education.
Little is known about Witmer's life. He is described as an introverted and private person.
Early life
Witmer was born in Philadelphia on June 28, 1867. His birth name was David L. Witmer Jr., but he changed it to Lightner at age 50. His parents were devout Catholics: his father, David Witmer, a Germantown, Philadelphia, pharmacist who graduated from a Philadelphia college in 1862, and his mother, Katherine Huchel, about whom little is known. He was the eldest of four children, followed by Albert Ferree, Lilly Evelyn, and Paul DeLancey. Later in life, Witmer became a faculty member at the University of Pennsylvania. Ferree earned his doctorate in physiology from the University of Pennsylvania, Lilly Evelyn received her bacteriology medical degree in Berlin, and Paul DeLancey earned a doctoral degree in pharmacy. By the end of 1905, Witmer and his siblings had all become doctors in a range of disciplines.
Education As a young man, Witmer wanted a better future and a better world after the social problems he saw as a result of the American Civil War. In 1880, Witmer and his brother Ferree enrolled in the Episcopal Academy of Philadelphia, a preparatory school and one of the best schools in America at the time.
Witmer showed his intelligence and reasoning ability at prep school. Witmer and two other boys were told to build a canoe, each having everything they needed to complete their task. His two schoolmates were arguing over who would build the canoe first, but Witmer thought and told the other children, "I wish to finish last as I will learn from others' mistakes and build the best canoe."
He graduated with high honors at age 17. In 1884, Witmer enrolled at the University of Pennsylvania to study art, but after a couple of years he transferred to the Finance and Economy Department, from which he obtained a bachelor's degree in 1888 (aged 20). During his first year, he was chosen as the class president and earned a reputation as an outstanding student. After a stint as a teacher, Witmer decided to return to the University of Pennsylvania for his graduate studies in political science.
Rugby Academy
During the fall of 1888, Witmer was offered a job as an instructor at Rugby Academy, a male secondary school. He taught history and English.
While he was teaching at the academy, Witmer noticed that a 14-year-old student who wished to attend college had extreme difficulty distinguishing between sounds, as well as other speech problems that might today be called dyslexia. Witmer decided to help him correct his problem; the child progressed satisfactorily and was able to continue studying, eventually enrolling at the University of Pennsylvania. This success made Witmer believe that children with learning difficulties could satisfactorily engage in education with support, dedication, and special education.
The following year, Witmer decided to attend graduate school at the University of Pennsylvania and was accepted into the Philosophy Department. He intended to study law and to work towards an advanced degree in political science.
Career
James McKeen Cattell and the Experimental Psychological Lab While at UPenn, Witmer was introduced to experimental psychologist James McKeen Cattell, who inspired him to begin studying in the emerging field of psychology. George Stuart Fullerton, a faculty member of the university, brought Cattell to join the faculty. At the time, Cattell was known as one of the best-trained psychologists, educated by the influential psychologist Wilhelm Maximilian Wundt. Witmer accepted Fullerton's offer to become Cattell's assistant. He decided to resign from the Rugby Academy and attend graduate school at UPenn.
Witmer and Cattell worked together to found an experimental psychology laboratory to study individual differences by examining a range of subjects. Witmer's main lab tasks were to gather data on individual differences in reaction times. Through these, he gained knowledge of psychological experiments. While at the lab, Witmer published a manual that explained how experimental psychology should be properly conducted. Witmer intended to get his doctoral degree under Cattell's supervision, but Cattell suddenly left the university—effectively abandoning his students and laboratory—to obtain a higher-paying position at Columbia University. Witmer also left in search of a new teacher.
Under Wundt's Supervision Cattell helped Witmer to get a job as an assistant to Wilhelm Wundt at Leipzig University in 1891; Witmer also took classes with Oswald Külpe and Ludwig Strümpell. Historians have found no letters he wrote to colleagues while under Wundt's supervision. However, it is said that while Witmer was Wundt's assistant, they had several disagreements. One of those disputes was that Witmer desired to continue working on the study of reaction times he had previously started with Cattell, but Wundt insisted that they should study the aesthetic value of different visual forms, and other branches of psychology, such as educational psychology and developmental psychology. Witmer obtained his PhD in 1892 from Wundt.
Return to Pennsylvania In 1892, Witmer left Germany and returned to the University of Pennsylvania, becoming the director of the laboratory of psychology. He was interested in teaching child psychology and taught several different courses. He also began researching individual differences in sensory-perceptual variables and presented papers in experimental psychology. In 1896, he taught public school teachers at the university. During March of that year, Margaret Maguire, a Philadelphia public-school teacher, brought a special case before Witmer: a fourteen-year-old student who was having extreme difficulties learning to spell, yet was quite able and excelled in other subjects. This case offered a special challenge to Witmer and was in line with his developing view that psychology should be of practical benefit. He soon began remedial work with the youth. Needing a workspace, Witmer established the first psychological clinic at the university. In 1896, he presented a plan of organization for practical work in psychology to the American Psychological Association, in which he first used and defined the term "clinical psychology". Witmer was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1897.
In 1902, he started advising graduate students and published a laboratory manual. He married Emma Repplier, a prominent graduate from the Agnes Irwin School, in 1904. She was a writer who worked for the American Philosophical Society, to which both she and Witmer belonged. In 1908, he established and staffed a small, private residential school near Wallingford, Pennsylvania, an institution dedicated to the care and treatment of the developmentally disabled and children with what are now recognized as emotional and behavioral disorders. Later, he established a similar, but larger facility in Devon, Pennsylvania. He founded the world's first speech clinic in 1914.
American Psychological Association
By 1896, Witmer, Stanley Hall, William James, and James McKeen Cattell decided to create a new association for psychology professionals during a meeting of the American Psychological Association (APA). Witmer and other experimental colleagues proposed that the APA should accept only psychological papers, be separated from the American Philosophical Association, and have a better selection process for choosing new members. These proposals sparked a debate among APA members because many of the current members did not want the field to separate from philosophy. Their proposals were rejected, so Witmer attempted to start an association with Hall, exclusively for experimental psychologists, but Hall refused. In 1904, Edward B. Titchener accepted Witmer's proposal to separate psychology from philosophy and decided to abandon the APA and help Witmer create a society solely for experimental psychologists, the Society of Experimental Psychologists (SEP).
Witmer told Titchener that the association should be only for men and that women should be excluded because they were too emotional when discussing scientific issues. He eventually changed his attitude and decided to teach female students; he accepted women to work at his clinic and later appointed a woman to manage it.
Witmer wrote and published articles for the APA. In one article, "The Organization of Practical Work in Psychology", he expressed his desire to assist children academically and described a plan for organized education. He proposed that schools should become more involved with their students' classes and grades, that schools should have better educational tools, and that faculty members should receive teaching reflecting psychological findings.
First psychological clinic
Witmer opened the first psychological clinic at the University of Pennsylvania in 1896 to study children with learning or behavioral challenges. Witmer's main participants were children who attended public schools in Philadelphia and the surrounding areas and were brought to the clinic by their teachers or parents. Witmer's clinic was appreciated by many because it proactively applied psychology. In the clinic, Witmer regularly dealt with issues such as speech difficulties, sleep disturbances, behavioral problems, hyperactivity, and refusal to stay in school. Every child was given a complete mental and physical examination, which often ruled out physiological symptoms. His method of aiding children with psychological problems involved breaking down information to a level that they could understand. He would focus on specific problems and work with the child in those areas, often improving several areas at once.
In 1907, Witmer founded the journal The Psychological Clinic. In its first issue, he published the article "Clinical Psychology", which explained its definition in the following way:
Witmer's "Clinical Psychology" was published and received a lot of attention because it focused on the study of individual children. In his article, Witmer presented the idea that all kinds of children (smart or intellectually disabled) could reach their full potential with help. He included definitions of retardation using two different terms: "physiological retardation" referred to individuals who had not acquired a normal development for their chronological ages, whereas the other term, "pedagogical retardation", referred to children who did not develop their full capacities when they reached adulthood.
In the first issue of The Psychological Clinic, he criticized some of his colleagues and their departments because they had rejected ideas he proposed to the American Psychological Association. In 1908, in a later issue of his journal, he criticized William James for what he felt was his unscientific attitude, calling James "the spoiled child of American Psychology".
Witmer always defended his ideas and beliefs, even if it seemed that he did not care about other points of view. This and other disagreements caused Witmer to lose the friendship of his colleagues, who decided not to attend Witmer's meetings.