Leta Stetter Hollingworth
1886-1939
Leta Stetter Hollingworth was a pioneer of her times. Not only was she a respected psychologist, but an educator and a feminist. She is best known for her work with exceptional children, but also opened the doors for the psychology of women. She challenged many of the misconceptions of her time surrounding women, and paved the way for feminist everywhere.
Family Life
Leta Stetter Hollingworth was born May 25, 1886, to Margaret Elenor Danley and John G. Stetter in Chadron, Nebraska.
Her mother kept a very detailed book of the first year of her life. In it, she talks about the absence of her father and the disappointment he felt at having a daughter rather than a son.
The untimely death of her mother, after she had given birth to her third daughter in 1890, never allowed her the chance to know her mother. The only memories she had were detailed by her mother in her descriptions of her first year of life.
As a young child, Leta Stetter Hollingworth had a love for words. She began writing poetry at an early age and continued throughout her life.
Education and Career
1902 graduated from the University of Nebraska with high honors
Known around campus for her creative writing, and though this was her true love she wanted something more practical for her future. She received her degree in literature and her teaching certificate
After graduating, she began teaching in Nebraska high schools for the next two years.
At her first placement she was disappointed by the lack of motivation by the students to learn and she was unable to teach the courses she desired.
She left for a new placement after a year and found better conditions.
1908 marries Harry Levi Hollingworth, a graduate student at Columbia University
She was forced to assume the role of the domestic housewife because married women were not hired as teachers, making it impossible for her to find work.
1911 began taking courses in education and sociology at Columbia University
1913 received a M.A. in Education degree from Teacher's College at Columbia University and began work administering mental tests at The Clearinghouse for Mental Defectives
1915 Clinical Psychologist at Bellevue Hospital and was New York City's first civil service psychologist (consulting psychologist to NYPD)
1916 received her Ph.D. in Educational Psychology under E.L. Thorndike and a position from Columbia University and remained here for the rest of her life
Publications
1920 The Psychology of Subnormal Children
1923 Special Talents and Defects
1926 Gifted Children: Their Nature and Nurture
1928 The Psychology of the Adolescent
1942 Children Above 180 IQ Standford-Binet: Origin and Development
Areas of Interest
Psychology of Women
Disproved the variability hypothesis which assumed men to be more variable than women making them superior. This logic was based on Darwinian theory
- Felt the explanation for sex differences was related to an unknown
variable and studies could not support the conclusion of male superiority
Her master thesis challenged the hiring practices of her time. Women were considered deficient during their menstrual cycle
- She conducted a study under E.L. Thorndike of 6 women and 2 men daily over three months and found no differences in performance during the different phases of the menstrual cycle.
Active speaker in the suffrage movement, and advocated the use of science to challenge the beliefs of women
Psychology of Exceptional Children
Became intrigued with gifted children after testing a child who had an IQ over 180 on the Stanford-Binet
First to use the term "gifted" and advocated special programs geared toward these children
Aided in founding an experimental public school (Speyer School)l for the study of gifted and mentally deficient children
Clinical Psychology
One of the founders of the American Association of Clinical Psychologists
Leta Stetter Hollingworth accomplished much during her career. Despite the hardships she faced being a female; she managed to become a prominent psychologist. Some considered her to be one of the "foremothers" of psychology. Leta Stetter Hollingworth died in 1939, at the age of 53, but her memory still lives on. The Hollingworth Center was established in 1983, by Kathi Kearney to provide parents with support and aid in helping their gifted child. This center is a non-profit organization named in honor of Leta Stetter Hollingworth.
References
Hollingworth, H. L. (1990). Leta Stetter Hollingworth: A Biography. Bolton, MA: Anker Publishing Company.
Klein, A. (1996). Leta Stetter Hollingworth. (2002). Distinguished Women Past and Present. Retrieved March 02, 2003, from http://www.distinguished women.com/biographies/holling.html.
Plucker, J. (1998). Leta Stetter Hollingworth. (1998). Retrieved March 02, 2003, from http://www.indiana.edu/~intell/lhollingworth.html.
The Hollingworth Center for Highly Gifted Children. (2002). Retrieved March 02, 2003, from http://www.hollingworth.org/aboutcenter.html.
Thorne, B. M. & Henley, T. B. (2001). American Forerunners of Functionalism. Connections in the History and Systems of Psychology (2nd ed., pp. 273-274). Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company.
Tyler, L. E. (1956). The Gifted. In R. M. Elliott, G. Lindzey, & K. MacCorquedale (Eds.), Century Psychology Series: The psychology of human differences (3rd ed., pp. 405-407). New York: Appleton-Century Crofts.