13 Molly Harrower

General Biography

Molly Harrower is someone in the field of psychology that people referred to as creative and as original as they came. Her story began in 1906, when she was born while her parents were traveling in Johannesburg, South Africa, although she grew up in Great Britain. Harrower found her passion in journalism and psychology while taking courses at Bedford College in London (Dewsbury, 2019). Wanting more, she decided to move to the United States, where she attended Smith College. Working under Kurt Koffka, she received her Ph.D. in 1934. This feat is unique on its own, however, because Smith College did not have a Ph.D. program.

After receiving her Ph.D., Harrower decided to get a fellowship at the Rockefeller Foundation, which she was part of for three years. During this time, she also began work on a group Rorschach test (Dewsbury, 2019). After marrying a neurosurgeon named Theodore Erickson, she moved to Wisconsin, but after a divorce, she decided to move to New York. Harrower decided to open her own private practice during her time in New York. This practice was the first of its kind, utilizing methods such as psychodiagnostic, consulting, and eventually psychotherapy. She worked in this practice for 22 years, ending her practice in 1966 after the death of her second husband.

After his death, Harrower moved to Florida, where she retired and decided to shift the focus of her life to writing and research. She lived in Florida until her death on February 20, 1999 (Dewsbury, 2019). Forever someone who strove to contribute to society, Harrower died beloved by all.

Important Achievements

Molly Harrower was a talented psychologist who mainly focused on psychosomatic medicine and projective techniques. Psychology often uses projective techniques to measure different aspects of one’s personality or thoughts. Because projective techniques are often ambiguous and left open to interpretation, studying how people respond to them can help us better understand the individual, their behavior, and their personality. The Rorschach Inkblot Test is among some of the most well-known projective tests. Harrower was fond of the Rorschach test and used it in various settings. One of her most well-known uses of the Rorschach test was administering the test to WWII soldiers and even Nazi Soldiers after the end of World War II.

The Rorschach test was developed by Hermann Rorschach, a Swiss doctor who worked in psychiatry in Zurich. The test is administered by showing participants a series of different inkblots and asking them to describe what pictures they can make from the inkblot; their responses are thought to indicate different personality traits (Dubey, 2019). Molly Harrower took the Rorschach inkblot test and developed the first large-scale multiple choice question Rorschach test during WWII. This test commonly screened military personnel for personality traits and mental illness. Harrower devoted much of her time understanding each card and diving into how different responses could be interpreted. Harrower also extended her research with the Rorschach test to study Nazis during WWII.

Harrower’s use of the Rorschach test with Nazi war criminals was administered in order to determine whether the personality traits of Nazi war criminals were similar or entirely different than that of a control population (Harrower, 1976). In addition, researchers wanted to determine whether Nazis were afflicted with any mental disturbance that others were not. Upon Harrower’s assessment of the results, it was determined that the personalities of the 17 Nazi war criminals did not differ significantly from that of the general population. This was an important finding, as it indicated that the personalities of Nazi war criminals were not significantly different from the average personality. Furthermore, this test led many to believe anyone could become the same type of criminal if given the right environment and other outward influences (Harrower, 1976). Overall, Harrower’s work with the Rorschach test was influential in progressing psychosomatic therapy and using projective techniques within psychology. Not only was Harrower meaningful in the continuance of projective techniques in psychology, but she was also a pioneer for women in psychology, as she was among the first to open her private practice.

In 1945, Molly Harrower opened up her clinical psychology private practice in New York. Within her private practice, she used diagnostic techniques on her patients and developed her own diagnostic techniques. Harrower extensively used the Rorschach test not only with her work during WWII, but for many years in her private practice as well. Furthermore, Harrower loved poetry and believed it could be used in the therapy of patients and suggested that the structure of poetry emulated that of our biology. “Poetry is seen as related to biological rhythms… ‘Poems with regular rhymes that most nearly approximate the beat of the human heart’ affect patients most deeply” (Harrower, 1969, p.440). Harrower did not focus on any specific type of poetry but rather poetry in a general sense. She believed patients could use poetry to cope with disturbing thoughts or images and make sense of them through written words (Harrower, 1969).

The achievements of Molly Harrower were monumental in the field of psychosomatic psychology and therapy. Her contributions helped to expand the field of psychology at that time and into the present. Not only were her contributions important, but they were made even more significant because she is a woman and helped to pioneer the way for women in psychology, especially those who someday wish to open their private practice.

Historical Context 

Harrower’s childhood upbringing and personal experiences are required to understand the motives behind her contributions. After graduating with a Ph.D, Harrower personally encountered her friend undergoing surgery and emerged with an altered personality. This incident attracted Harrower to clinical psychology, wanting to understand real-world phenomena. With post-doctoral fellowship support from the Rockefeller Foundation, she worked with Kurk Goldstein in New York and, later, neurosurgeon Wilder Penfield at the Montreal Neurological Institute. Harrower married neurosurgeon Theodore Erickson, continued her clinical psychology work, and studied the Rorschach tests as her central endeavor of both research and practice (Dewsbury, 2000). As such, she developed the Rorschach group test and accepted contracts from the U.S. Army, Air Force, and the U.S. state department.

Within one study, Harrower was limited to traditional one-on-one assessments while working alongside famous psychiatrist Roy Grinker, with the task of developing ways to assess stress tolerance in pilots (Waugh, 2016). Among other stimuli, Rorschach images were displayed on movie theater-length screens. When these enormous inkblots appeared, many patients rapidly reacted with panic attacks, acute breakdowns, and a few suicide attempts (Waugh, 2016). While these tests were early interpretations of Rorschach inkblots, Harrower drew careful attention to helping the patients develop individual coping strategies. After doing this work, Harrower divorced Theodore Erickson and moved to New York City to study psychoanalysis.

Harrower moved to New York City during the post-second world war, and the U.S. demanded psychological intervention of soldiers returning home from war. As mentioned earlier, Harrower opened her private practice and maintained it for 22 years (Dewsbury, 2000). Afterward, Molly grew interested in assessments of personality psychology. As such, she sought to better understand the psychological causes of the Jewish genocide during the second world war, later publishing her work in the Journal of Personality Assessment in 1976 (Dewsbury, 2000). Within this publication, Harrower concluded that the Nazis had various forms of personalities, a range of normal personalities to unhealthy ones. She further concluded that without a selective range of personalities, the events of the second world war could happen again anywhere, given the same circumstances.

Along with Molly Harrower’s remarkable odyssey, she counted the mentors that inspired her: Kurt Koffka, Arnold Gessel, Edward G. Boring, Kurt Goldstein, and Wilder Penfield. Harrower spent most of her life in practice but managed to publish around 140 books, chapters, and articles (Dewsbury, 2000). Her contributions led to a better understanding of the Rorschach inkblot test, which is still currently utilized worldwide.

Historical Impact 

Molly Harrower impacted the field of psychology in a plethora of ways. For instance, she helped pave the way for women in psychology. During the mid-1900s, women faced discrimination daily in multiple aspects of their lives. Donald Dewsbury’s Biography of Molly Harrower explained Molly’s experiences of gender discrimination, noting: “With the aid of helpful mentors [she] was determined not to let it cause her to deviate from her professional goals” (Dewsbury, 2000). Harrower was aware of the challenges she would face as a woman in a professional field during this time, but she was also aware that it would not hold her back. She had faced obstacles, but it was never anything she could not overcome. Harrower’s impact on the field of psychology was undoubtedly strong because of her perseverance and determination, which would help her become “the first woman permitted to use the doctors’ dining room at the Montefiore Hospital and one of the first permitted to set foot in the faculty club at McGill University” (Dewsbury, 2000). Harrower paved the way for women in the professional field of psychology due to her hard work ethic, and her work created a tangible and lasting impact on psychology.

Harrower was also highly impactful with her work during World War II and continued influencing the field of psychology for years after. Harrower lived an entire life in her field, and “as the post-World War II demand for intervention increased and psychiatrists were deluged with cases, she identified a niche for psychologists and opened an early, full-time, private practice of psychodiagnostics in New York. She maintained the practice for 22 years” (Dewsbury, 2000). Even after her work during WWII, Harrower went on to practice privately for over two decades and continued helping to change lives through psychodiagnostics. Thus, creating a lasting, positive impact on people’s lives and the field of psychology.

References

Dewsbury, Donald A. “Biography of Molly Harrower.” Https://Www.apadivisions.org, https://www.apadivisions.org/division-35/about/heritage/molly-harrower-biography.

Dewsbury, Donald. “Obituary: Molly R. Harrower (1906-1999).” Shibboleth Authentication Request, 2000, https://web-p-ebscohost-com.unr.idm.oclc.org/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=0&sid=f46369c6-3853-4632-9bfb-5ae9dba00b44%40redis.

Dubey, Banerjee, P., & Dubey, A. (2019). Inkblot personality test : understanding the unconscious mind (1st edition.). SAGE Publications Pvt Ltd.

Harrower. (1976). Rorschach Records of the Nazi War Criminals: An Experimental Study after Thirty Years. Journal of Personality Assessment, 40(4), 341–351. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327752jpa4004_1

Harrower, M. R. (1932). Organization in higher mental processes. Beiträge zur Psychologie der Gestalt. XXV. Herausgegeben von K. Koffka [Contributions to Gestalt psychology. XXV. Edited by K. Koffka]. Psychologische Forschung, 17, 56–120. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02411955

Harrower. (1969). Poetry Therapy: The Use of Poetry in the Treatment of Emotional Disorders. The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 149(5), 440–441. https://doi.org/10.1097/00005053-196911000-00009

Joyce, N. (2009, March). In search of the Nazi personality. Monitor on Psychology. Retrieved October 19, 2022, from https://www.apa.org/monitor/2009/03/nazi.html

Waugh, M. H. (2016). Mentors, muses, and memories: Personal narratives from psychological assessment. Journal of Constructivist Psychology, 29(1), 80–99. https://doi.org/10.1080/10720537.2015.1026428