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 a spin-off from the University of Pennsylvania’s psychology laboratory and provided special child care.

In this article we will see a biography of Lightner Witmer , as well as some of his main contributions to clinical psychology.

Lightner Witmer: biography of this clinical psychologist

Lightner Witmer, formerly David L. Witmer Jr., was born on June 28, 1867 in Philadelphia, USA. The son of David Lightner and Katherine Huchel, and the oldest of four children, Witmer earned a doctorate 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 with other scientists and psychologists of the time, Witmer grew up in the context of the post-Civil War USA , around an emotional atmosphere strongly charged with concern and at the same time fears and hopes.

Moreover, Witmer was born in Philadelphia, which in the same context had been marked 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 this led Witmer to develop a special concern for using psychology as a tool for social improvement.

Education and academic career

After graduating in political science, and trying to continue studying law, Witmer met the experimental psychologist James McKeen Cattell, who was one of the most influential intellectuals of the time.

This last reason to Witmer to start his studies in psychology. Witmer soon became interested in this 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 staying 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 parents of psychology, Wilhelm Wundt) and after having accepted 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 leaves the university, and the laboratory, and Witmer starts working as Wundt’s assistant at the University of Leipzig, Germany. After obtaining his doctorate, Witmer returned to the University of Pennsylvania as director of the psychology laboratory, specializing in research and teaching in child psychology.

The first psychology clinic in the United States

As part of her work in the psychology laboratory of the University of Pennsylvania, Witmer founded the first childcare psychology clinic in the United States .

Among other things, he was responsible for working with different children, with the aim of helping them overcome what he called “defects” in learning and socialization. Witmer argued that these defects were not illnesses, nor were they necessarily the result of a brain defect, but rather a state of mind that was part of the child’s development.

In fact, he said that these children should not be considered as “abnormal”, because if they deviate from the average, this happens because their development is at an earlier stage than most. But, through appropriate clinical support, supplemented 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 on the hereditary or environmental determination of behaviour, which dominated much of the psychology of the time, Witmer initially positioned himself as one of the advocates of hereditary factors. However, after starting the interventions as a clinical psychologist, Weimer argued that the development and the capacities of the child were strongly conditioned by environmental elements and by the socioeconomic role.

From there, his clinic focused on expanding the study of educational psychology and what used to be called special education. In addition, he is credited with being 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 defended the separation of psychology and philosophy , especially advocating the division 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 defended that the research carried out in psychology, in the laboratories, as well as the theories developed by the great intellectuals, could have a practical and direct use to improve the quality of life of people. Likewise, at the base of the development of clinical psychology is the premise that practice and research are inseparable elements for this discipline.

Bibliographic references:

  • Lightner, Witmer (2018). Wikipedia The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved August 30, 2018. Available at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lightner_Witmer.
  • Juárez, A. R. (2016). Lightner Witmer and the first children’s psychological clinic in the United States. VIII International Congress of Research and Professional Practice in Psychology. XXIII Jornadas de Investigación XII Encuentro de Investigadores en Psicología del MERCOSUR. School of Psychology – University of Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires.
  • Thomas, H. (2009). Discovering Lightner Witmer: A Forgotten Hero of Psychology. Journal of Scientific Psychology. pp. 3- 13. Retrieved August 30, 2018. Available at http://www.psyencelab.com/uploads/5/4/6/5/54658091/discovering_lightner_witmer.pdf.