Leta Stetter Hollingworth Biography

Leta Stetter Hollingworth Biography History and Biographies Print Leta Stetter Hollingworth Biography By Kendra Cherry facebook twitter Kendra Cherry, MS, is an author, educational consultant, and speaker focused on helping students learn about psychology. Learn about our editorial policy Kendra Cherry Updated on August 07, 2019 More in Psychology History and Biographies Psychotherapy Basics Student Resources Theories Phobias Emotions Sleep and Dreaming Leta Stetter Hollingworth was an early pioneer in psychology who is best known for her contributions to the study of intelligence testing and giftedness. While some of her contemporaries believed that intelligence was largely the result of genetic inheritance, Hollingworth felt that education and environment played a more critical role. Best Known For Research on exceptional childrenThe psychology of womenWork in clinical psychologyWork in educational psychology Birth and Death May 25, 1886 - November 27, 1939 Leta Stetter Hollingworths Early Life Leta Stetter was born in Nebraska on May 25, 1886. Letas early life was marked by tragedy when her mother died giving birth to her third child. Her father abandoned the family and left the children to be raised by their mothers parents, only to return a decade later to reclaim the children and force them to move in with him and his new wife. Stetter later described the household as abusive, plagued by alcoholism and emotional abuse. Her education became a source of refuge, allowing her to explore her talents as a writer. When she was just 15 she was hired to write columns for the town newspaper, and she left home for good when she graduated high school in 1902. Stetter enrolled in college at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln when she was only 16 years old. Leta completed her bachelors degree and teaching certificate in 1906 and married Harry Hollingworth in 1908. Her Career and Theories Stetter Hollingworth began her career as a teacher and assistant principal in Nebraska high schools.  She soon moved to New York to be with her husband as he completed his doctoral studies. While she had originally planned to continue teaching, New York did not allow married women to teach school at that time. Frustrated and bored, she soon enrolled at Columbia University and went on to earn a Masters in Education in 1913. She took a position at the Clearing House for Mental Defectives where she administered and scored Binet intelligence tests. She went on to continue her psychology studies under the guidance of famed psychologist Edward L. Thorndike. She completed her Ph.D. in 1916 and took a job at Columbias Teachers College, where she remained for the rest of her career. Research on the Psychology of Women Hollingworths earliest research interests centered on the psychology of women. One of her early experiments challenged the notion that men were intellectually superior to women. She looked at data for 1,000 males and 1,000 females and found that there was no difference in giftedness between the male and female participants. In further research on the psychology of women, Hollingworth challenged the notion at the time that women were essentially semi-invalid while menstruating. This belief had a major impact on womens rights since many employers refused to hire women because they believed they would be incapable of performing their duties for about one week each month. Over a three-month period, she tested 23 women and two men on a variety of tasks that tested mental abilities and motor skills. She found that there were no performance differences at any point in a womans menstrual cycle. Research With Gifted Children Hollingworth is also famous for her work with gifted children. As part of her work administering intelligence tests, she became interested in the psychology of giftedness. She believed that educational services often neglected these students because educators and parents believed that these gifted could simply take care of themselves. Instead, Hollingworth suggested that it was important to create a curriculum designed to foster the specific needs of gifted children. Hollingworth also wrote the first comprehensive book about gifted children as well as taught the very first college course on giftedness. Hollingsworths studies of gifted children coincided with Lewis Termans famous study of highly intelligent people. The two thinkers never actually met, but purportedly held each others work in high esteem. One of the major differences between their approaches was that while Terman believed that intelligence was largely genetic, Hollingworth was more concerned with the environmental and educational factors that contributed to intelligence. Selected Publications Through her work, Stetter Hollingworth left a major mark on the field of psychology. Some of her most frequently cited publications include: Hollingworth, L. (1914). Variability as related to sex differences in achievement. American Journal of Sociology, 19, 510-530. Hollingworth, L. (1916). Sex differences in mental traits. Psychological Bulletin, 13, 377-384. Hollingworth, L.S. (1927). The new woman in the making. Current History, 27, 15-20. Hollingworth, L.S. (1928). The psychology of the adolescent. New York: D. Appelton and Company. What Were Leta Hollingworths Contributions to Psychology? Leta Stetter Hollingworth pioneered the psychological study of women and her work helped to dispel a number of myths that were often used to argue against womens rights. As a psychology professor, she also mentored a number of students who went on to become important psychologists, including Florence Goodenough. Hollingworth died on November 27, 1939 of abdominal cancer. While her early life was marked by hardship and despite the fact that she died young, she managed to become one of psychologys most eminent thinkers and left an indelible mark on the field of psychology.