Mary Henle

Mary Henle (July 14, 1913 – November 17, 2007) was an American psychologist who has been known most notably for her contributions to Gestalt psychology and for her involvement in the American Psychological Association. She was involved in the writing or editing several books, including the first psychology laboratory manual, which was published in 1948 and based on the work of Kurt Lewin. Henle was a professor at the New School of Social Research in New York.

Schooling and life

Mary Henle was born to a Jewish family on July 14, 1913, in Cleveland, Ohio. While pursuing her master's degree, Henle met with James J. Gibson, Eleanor J. Gibson and Kurt Koffka, all renowned in psychology. Henle's encounter with Koffka aroused her interest in Gestalt psychology, motivating her to want to know more about the subject. Henle went on to earn a Ph.D. at Bryn Mawr College. The college hired her as an assistant for Harry Helson. Under Helson she developed a solid understanding of experimental methods. Henle then met Donald W. MacKinnon (who had studied Gestalt psychology in Berlin), which led to her meeting Kurt Lewin. Lewin introduced her to the experimental methods he used in his research in social psychology. Later Henle turned to intensively researching the history of ideas in psychology.

Henle strove to make clear the Gestalt theory associated with the Berlin school (Wertheimer, Köhler, Koffka, and others), underlining the school's ideas to psychologists in the United States. She was known for her defense of their views and for challenging misleading interpretations.

In 1961, Henle published the anthology Documents of Gestalt Psychology, which followed up on the 1950 third edition of the original 1938 A Source Book of Gestalt Psychology. Her Documents anthology included papers by Max Wertheimer (on ethics and democracy and freedom), Wolfgang Köhler (evolution and psychology), Rudolf Arnheim (the psychology of expression), Hans Wallach (perception and cognition), Solomon E. Asch (metaphor), and Henle herself (motivation and cognition), among others.

In 1971, Henle and Solomon Asch published the anthology The Selected Papers of Wolfgang Köhler. The anthology pulled together previously scattered essays Köhler had written about the epistemological, psychophysical, and cognitive ideas associated with Gestalt theory.

In 1986, Henle published 1879 and All That: Essays in the Theory and History of Psychology. The date 1879 in the title refers to the year Wilhelm Wundt established the first experimental psychology laboratory although the book traces psychology back to Aristotle. She covers psychology in general; the book, however, lays particular emphasis on Gestalt psychology. Henle also criticizes Gestalt psychotherapy, writing that the equating of Gestalt psychology and Gestalt psychotherapy is a mistake.

In the field of psychotherapy theory one of her papers, Gestalt Psychology and Gestalt Therapy (1975), Henle, in response to the criticism, noted that she already justified her views on Perls, observing that in the publications by Perls that she cited, Perls had explained his earlier works in retrospect. In addition, she did not pass judgment on the psychotherapeutic treatment method, but came to grips with some meta-theoretical statements of Perls and their relation to Gestalt theory.

In German-speaking countries today people base Gestalt Theoretical Psychotherapy on Henle's work, and in particular her work on the Gestalt psychology of substitution as well as her phenomenological approach to personality theory.

In 1978 Henle published in the American Psychologist an essay/tribute to Wolfgang Köhler. In that piece she underlined his bold stand in Nazi Germany in which he struggled against the persecution of his Jewish colleagues.

Mary Henle was President of Division 26 (History of Psychology, 1971–1972) and President of Division 24 (Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology, 1974–1975) of the American Psychological Association (APA). In 1981-1982 she was President of the Eastern Psychological Association (EPA). In 1983 she was awarded an honorary doctorate of the New School for Social Research.

Death and legacy Mary Henle died at the age of 94 in Haverford, Pennsylvania in 2007. Henle's legacy includes writing eight books, her presidency of the APA's Division of the History of Psychology (1971–1972), presidency of the APA's division Philosophical Psychology (1974–1795), and as the president of the EPA (1981–1982).