Lightner Witmer: biography of this American psychologist.

One of the main promoters of child care in psychotherapy in the United States.

Lightner Witmer (1867-1956) was an American psychologist, recognized to this day as the father of clinical psychology. He founded the first child psychology clinic in the United States, which began as an offshoot of the psychology laboratory of the University of Pennsylvania and provided special care for children.

In this article we will take a look at a biography of Lightner Witmeras well as some of his main contributions to clinical psychology.

Lightner Witmer: biography of this clinical psychologist.

Lightner Witmer, who was formerly called David L. Witmer Jr. was born on June 28, 1867 in Philadelphia, United States. The son of David Lightner and Katherine Huchel, and the eldest of four siblings, Witmer earned a Ph.D. in psychology and soon became a member of the University of Pennsylvania. He also had training in the arts, in finance and economics, and in political science.

As was the case with other scientists and psychologists of the time, Witmer grew up in the context of the postwar period. grew up in the context of post-Civil War America, in a highly charged emotional atmosphere.Witmer grew up in the post-Civil War atmosphere, in an emotional atmosphere of both worry and fear and hope.

Moreover, Witmer was born in Philadelphia, which in the same context had been characterized by various events that marked the history of the country, such as the Battle of Gettysburg and the various struggles for the prohibition of slavery. All of the above led Witmer to develop a special concern for using psychology as a tool for social improvement.

Education and academic career

After graduating with a degree in political science, and attempting to pursue law school, Witmer met experimental psychologist James McKeen Cattell, who was one of the most influential intellectuals in the world. experimental psychologist James McKeen Cattell, who was one of the most influential intellectuals of the time. of the time.

The latter motivated Witmer to begin his studies in psychology. Witmer soon became interested in that discipline, partly because he had previously worked as a history and English teacher with children of different ages, and had noticed that many of them had various difficulties, for example, in distinguishing sounds or letters. Far from standing on the sidelines, Witmer had worked closely with these children, and his help had been instrumental in increasing their learning.

After meeting Cattell (who had also trained with another of the fathers of psychology, Wilhelm Wundt) and then agreeing to work as his assistant, Witmer and Cattell founded an experimental laboratory where the main objective was to study the differences in reaction times between different individuals.

Cattell soon left the university, and the laboratory, and Witmer began working as Wundt's assistant at the University of Leipzig in Germany. After earning his doctorate, Witmer returned to the University of Pennsylvania as director of the psychology laboratory, and specialized in child psychology research and teaching.

America's first psychology clinic

As part of his work in the psychology laboratory at the University of Pennsylvania, Witmer founded the first psychology clinic in the United States. founded the first child psychology clinic in the United States..

Among other things, he worked with a variety of children to help them overcome what he called "defects" in learning and socialization. Witmer argued that such defects were not diseases, nor were they necessarily the result of a brain defect, but rather a mental state peculiar to the child's development.

In fact, he said that these children should not be considered as "abnormal", since if they deviated from the average, this was because their development was at an earlier stage than most. But, through adequate clinical support, complemented by a training school that functioned as a hospital-school, their difficulties could be compensated.

Witmer and the beginnings of clinical psychology.

In the debate about the hereditary or environmental determination of behavior, which dominated much of the psychology of the time, Witmer initially positioned himself as one of the advocates of hereditary factors. However, after he began interventions as a clinical psychologist, Weimer Weimer argued that the child's development and abilities were strongly conditioned by environmental elements and socioeconomic role. and by the socioeconomic role.

From there, his clinic focused on broadening the study of educational psychology and what was previously called special education. In addition, he is credited as the father of clinical psychology because he was the first to use the term "Clinical Psychology" in 1896, during a working session of the American Psychological Association (APA).

In the same context, Witmer advocated the separation of psychology and philosophy.In the same context, Witmer advocated the separation of psychology and philosophy, especially the splitting of the APA from the American Philosophical Association. Since the latter generated various controversies, Witner and Edward Titchener founded an alternative society for experimental psychologists only.

Witmer strongly advocated that the research conducted in psychology, in laboratories, as well as the theories developed by great intellectuals, could have a practical and direct use to improve the quality of people's lives. Likewise, at the basis of the development of clinical psychology is the premise that practice and research are inseparable elements for this discipline.