Henry A. Murray
Henry A. Murray (1893-1988) was a prominent American psychologist known for his innovative contributions to the field of personality psychology. He developed personology, which examines individuals through physiological, psychoanalytical, and social lenses, and he is best known for creating the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT), a projective psychological test that explores individuals' motivations and perceptions through storytelling. Murray's academic journey began at Harvard University, where he transitioned from history to medicine, ultimately earning his medical degree in 1919. Influenced by Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung, he incorporated depth psychology into American scholarship and introduced Freudian and Jungian concepts into Harvard's curriculum.
Murray's research focused on understanding personality as a system of social needs influenced by environmental factors, which he articulated through his Theory of Needs. His notable publication, "Explorations in Personality," became a key text in personality theory. During World War II, he served in the Army, where he played a crucial role in selecting and training personnel for intelligence operations. Murray's legacy endures through his holistic approach to psychology, his emphasis on understanding the whole person, and the lasting impact of his testing methods and theoretical frameworks on contemporary psychological practice.
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Subject Terms
Henry A. Murray
- Born: May 13, 1893
- Birthplace: New York, New York
- Died: June 23, 1988
- Place of death: Cambridge, Massachusetts
TYPE OF PSYCHOLOGY: Personality
Murray is well known as the developer of personology, the integrated study of the individual from physiological, psychoanalytical, and social viewpoints, and the primary developer of the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT). In addition, his concept of motivation significantly influenced the theories of psychology.
Life
Henry A. Murray entered Harvard University in 1911 as a history major. In 1915, he entered the Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York, earning a medical degree in 1919.
In 1925, Murray first met the Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung, who had a lasting influence on his work. Drawing on the writings of Herman Melville, the author of the novel Moby Dick (1851), Murray began to develop his theory of personality, using Melville as a case study. Though never published, the biography of Melville, according to Murray, had a significant influence on the scholars of that time. Also during this period, Murray’s published articles and book chapters introduced the application of Jung’s “depth psychology” to the American community of scholars.
After earning his doctorate in 1927, Murray became an instructor at Harvard under Morton Prince, a psychopathologist who had founded the Harvard Psychological Clinic. Murray became an assistant professor at Harvard in 1929, associate professor in 1937, and professor of clinical psychology in 1948. Murray continued his work with the Harvard Psychological Clinic after the death of Prince. With the assistance of a neuropsychiatrist colleague, Stanley Cobb, Murray moved the focus of the clinic from experimental research in hypnosis and multiple personality to Freudian and Jungian psychoanalysis. He also introduced these subjects into the Harvard curriculum. Under the umbrella of personology, Murray and his interdisciplinary research team studied single individuals on various levels. Murray published Explorations in Personality: A Clinical Study of Fifty Men of College Age with his staff in 1938. For decades, this remained the principal text for personality theory.
As interest in the newly emerging field of psychoanalysis grew in the 1930s, two important projective techniques introduced systematic ways to study unconscious motivation: the Rorschach or inkblot test, developed by the Swiss psychiatrist Hermann Rorschach, and the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT), developed by Murray and C. D. Morgan, an American psychologist. Both of these tests are frequently included in contemporary personality assessments. The TAT, an important tool in clinical psychology, requires the subject to tell stories about a series of pictures from which the therapist makes interpretations.
Murray served in the Army from 1943 until 1948, selecting personnel for the Office of Strategic Services, later known as the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and training agents in the United States and abroad. After his discharge from the Army as a lieutenant colonel, Murray joined Gordon Allport in the newly established Department of Social Relations at Harvard. There, with anthropologist Clyde Kluckhohn, he began studying personality in society and, from the viewpoint of the dyadic interaction, the idea that a relationship between two people could be viewed as a single system with equal input from both partners. He also studied the role of mythology in personality and society. Murray was best known for developing a human motivational system of social needs at this time. He described behavior as a function of the interaction of individual needs, such as a need for achievement or a need for affiliation, and the “press” of the environment.
Murray held numerous honorary doctorates and was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He retired from Harvard in 1962 as a professor emeritus. Murray died in 1988 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, at the age of ninety-five. In his memory, Radcliffe College established the Henry A. Murray Research Center for the Study of Lives. In the twenty-first century, Murray’s legacy in the field of psychology lies in his willingness to understand the whole person within his patients. His Thematic Apperception Test and his Theory of Needs greatly impacted modern psychology. Murray’s Explorations in Personality (1938) promoted a more complex and holistic understanding of personality psychology. Finally, Murray had a lasting impact on patient assessment and clinical psychology practice.
Bibliography
Cherry, Kendra. "Murray's Theory of Psychogenic Needs." Verywell Mind, 17 Oct. 2023, www.verywellmind.com/murrays-theory-of-psychogenic-needs-2795952. Accessed 25 Sept. 2024.
"Henry Murray - Department of Psychology." Harvard Psychology, psychology.fas.harvard.edu/people/henry-murray. Accessed 25 Sept. 2024.
Mumford, Lewis, and Henry A. Murray. In Old Friendship: The Correspondence of Lewis Mumford and Henry A Murray, 1928-1981. Edited by Frank G. Novak. Syracuse: Syracuse UP, 2007. Print.
Murray, Henry A. Explorations in Personality: 70th Anniversary Edition. New York: Oxford UP, 2008. Print.
Robinson, Forrest G. Love’s Story Told: A Life of Henry A. Murray. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1992. Print.
Schneidman, Edwin S., editor. Endeavors in Psychology: Selections from the Personology of Henry A. Murray. New York: Harper, 1981. Print.